Hospitality is the key to new ideas, new friends, new possibilities. What we take into our lives changes us. Without new people and new ideas, we are imprisoned inside ourselves. -Joan D Chittister
WELCOME TO ORBI CITY
добро пожаловать в город Орби
Crossing the threshold into Georgia at night was a rude awakening. Having expected humble mountain homes, we were greeted by a gentrified Russian Las Vegas. But after 5 days on the road sleeping in the van, we were glad to take an elevator to the 11th floor of a luxury apartment for $10/night.
The next morning, our mantra was recited: “what do you want to do today?”
Chance wanted to learn how to cook traditional Georgian food, so we began to scroll online for classes. Easy peasy, there was an Airbnb a few hours drive away in the countryside offering cooking classes as part of the stay.
WELCOME HOME
კეთილი იყოს სახლში დაბრუნება
Arsena greeted us in Kutaisi town. Smiling and warm, Arsena jumped in our van and guided us in perfect English to his family homestead 30 minutes out of town. A massive wooden house greeted us, and his parents came out to welcome us even more enthusiastically than Arsena. Although we spoke no Georgian and they spoke little English, Chance and I felt at home right away.
Good thing, because it was straight to the kitchen for our cooking lesson.
Khachapuri (pronounced hachapuri) was the only Georgian food we knew from cooking videos. It is a flat bread containing cheese and covered in egg-wash. We love carbs!
We also made a corn meal pancake with cheese, cheese balls, and biscuits. There was definitely a theme, and the buffaloes outside seemed to be central to our meal.
Through a banquet of a dinner, we asked and were asked questions about home life. We learned about the war and occupation with Russia, and how this home had housed many refugees. We shared facts about our very different respective lives in Canada, and why we traveled. We began to learn simple words in Georgian, like please (gtkhovt) and thank you (gmadlobt).
And Georgia wins the award for hardest language to speak in all my travels so far!
Spending time with Arsena, we soon learned that he was our age, had traveled the world and now wanted to create a tourism industry in his village. Understanding our limited time-frame in Georgia, he suggested we go hike in the mountains to the East. There we would find the misty mountain homes straight out of fairy tales, and some of the tallest peaks in the Caucasus range.
Arsena warned us not to drive there, as the only thing more dangerous than the narrow winter roads were those driving them. We would hop onto a Mashrutka (local van bus) and arrive there safely. Our GG stayed on the homestead, holding everything we wouldn’t be hiking with in the hills. Glad to be eventually returning to Arsena’s family, we left Kutaisi in search of outdoor adventure.
