Georgia on my mind
I loved Georgia immediately, there is an old and wild magic in this country. The mountains roll on lazily in the distance while the trees catch the light silver, the way a river would.
It's the most Christian country I’ve ever seen. The Marshrutka (taxi? bus? bit of both?) drivers cross themselves whenever they pass a church, which is about every 5 minutes. In the same breath, they encourage you not to wear a seatbelt and speed down the highway weaving through traffic. I feel at home in the chaos.
This is the first day I met Nastya. We started working at the same hostel in Tbilisi on the same day, and that night we took a jacuzzi bath drinking Saperavi wine and smoking the cigarettes she would roll for us. Time stood still, and being naked with Nastya felt just the same as being naked under the moon.
The next day we tried getting a marshrutka to Batumi. This man was meant to be selling tickets but I couldn't bring myself to wake him.
I wait for Nastya to get groceries and notice the lights and shadows on the house across from me, the intricate woodwork on the roof balcony. I want the woman to wander further to the right but she doesn't, I take the photo anyways.
Nastya and I take an 8 hour busride through the night and arrive very early in the morning in Batumi. We sit at a closed restaurant by the water and watch the sunrise, exhausted and happy.
Sunrise over the Black Sea
We wait at the closed restaurant by the sea and I take photos to both kill the time and keep it forever. There's a little sea duck diving in and out of the water, I wait until he swims between the frame of bars and take his picture, but he is too fast for me.
I love the way the water makes patterns with the light under the umbrellas, and the beautiful Georgian writing. I take a million pictures of Nastya as the sun rises.
We finally arrive at the apartment of our couchsurfing host. It is clean and beautiful and he gives us a key, we feel rich.
We spend the day at the Black Sea. It was my first time swimming in this sea. I watch out for jellyfish and fall in love again and again with the sun as it sets and the rocks and my friends. I love the light of the sun on the water.
I make friends with Sergen, a tattoo artist from Istanbul. He shows me a portrait he likes of a man in water, and says he wishes he had something like this for an album he would like to release. I tell him we can take it right there in the sea, and we do.
The Black Sea looking like a childrens book illustration.
Self-Portrait in Batumi Sunset
Nastya watching the sun set from the balcony in Batumi.
At night our couchsurfing host takes us out to a restaurant. Across the street is a huge structure covered in Mosaic. Nastya explains that it is leftover from the Soviet era. I love the shapes and the patterns and the colours and the time it would have taken to create. I want to make a mosaic piece by piece.
View of the rooftops from the balcony in Tbilisi
We are back in Tbilisi for Tbilisoba, the large festival celebrating the coming autumn and the harvest. The pastel colours and old costumes enchant me
A cafe in Mtskheta. Nastya and I take a marshrutka to Mtskheta. I get my period on the way and am bleeding into my underwear as we arrive into the city. We walk to the nearest cafe and I get cleaned up. There is beautiful Parisian music playing and a cafe dog and the light is so tender here.
Cafe in Mtskheta
Cafe in Mtskheta
Cafe in Mtskheta
This is the first church I've been allowed to take pictures of inside, the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral (built between 1010 - 1029 AD) The ancient walls are cold as a mountain and just as full of mystery. Inside there is a wedding going on, and it should be noted that in every church I visited in Georgia, there was some ceremony taking place.
Svetitskhoveli Cathedral
View from Jvari Mount. Atop the mount there sits Jvari Monestary (not pictured, it's behind) me, built between 586-605 AD).The taxi driver Nasty and I took to get up here ended up lying to us about the price, but this was ok because it gave us a good excuse to hitchhike back down to the town.
From a Hike in Borjomi. Nastya and I spend our next two days off in Borjomi where I swear the trees reflect the light a little more silver. She keeps telling me about the bears and it's a big joke, but I'm nervous anyway. Borjomi has famous volcanic mineral water, we drink it right from the spring. She told me that Tchaikovsky once went to Borjomi for its healing waters. On leaving he wrote, "In my opinion, this is one of the most strangely wonderful places in the world".
This is how folklore starts. I love Nastya and love taking her picture. We've only known each other a couple weeks but it feels like years.
Nastya being a good sport and posing for me. The moss is so soft, I tell her to look vulnerable, her expression is so open and honest and generous. We laugh a lot.
Sweet sweet Isa. I worked with her in the hostel as well. She is a gifted story teller and had us laughing every night with her tales from home and travel and work, I swear she takes jobs just for the stories. The first night I arrived she was gone to Batumi, but she left me a chocolate and a note beside my bed.
My final night in Tbilisi with these wonderful women who quickly became my family. Ana and Isa and Nastya. That night I cooked dinner (and really screwed it up I put so much cream into the curry it was hardly edible) but we didn't care we ate so much and drank so much and listened to music. It was also Canadian thanksgiving and I made everyone say what they were thankful for and they all spoke the most poetic gratitudes.