Susan and Fred's Big Adventure: Summertime in Armenia

School has been out for over three weeks, and we have been BUSY!!! For volunteers who teach in the public schools, we have to find "secondary" projects to keep us busy over the summer. Fred has signed up to be a counselor at several summer camps (three for boys and one for international students) and is in the midst of going to the counselor trainings. He also went to the U.S. Embassy to represent the Peace Corps at an event for visitors from the U.S.

I have just finished the Border2Border Walk Across Armenia (see www.walkacrossarmenia.wordpress.com for more details). Our north team started walking in the town of Gogavan, north of Stepanavan on the Georgia border. Our overnight stops along the way included Zoramut, Stepanavan, Vanadzor, Dilijan, Sevan, Gavar, Gherakunik, Martuni, a caravanserai on top of a mountain, and finally Yeghegnadzor. We walked between 30 and 42 km on our walking days, and had teaching days in Zoramut, Vanadzor, Sevan, Gavar, Martuni and Yeghegnadzor. We slept in beds sometimes, on floors more often, and once outside on the top of a mountain. I have never been good at hills, and this walk was no different. The first big uphill challenge was a 15 km uphill with an 8% grade when we walked from Dilijan to Sevan. The second was a 27 km uphill from Martuni at 1500 meters to the Salima Pass at 2410 meters. It was a gorgeous walk, but a very, VERY long uphill for sure. At the top, we camped out at a caravanserai, an old stone shelter used as a stopover by silk road traders. Over the course of the 15 days we had rain, thunder and lightening, hail and lots of sun. Our only really hot day was the last one, which included a 34 km downhill into Yeghegnadzor.

Once in Yeghegnadzor, we taught our last group of 70+ children and had a celebration of our accomplishments. Members of the Armenian Red Cross, Youth Bank, Peace Corps Staff and the PC volunteers who have supported us all came, and it was a wonderful end to the B2B effort.

Here are some of the statistics for our north and south teams: (1) walked a total of 578 kilometers (360 miles) in 172 hours over the course of 15 days; (2) traversed 5 regions (marzes) in Armenia; (3) took a total of 4,310,820 steps as a group; (4) passed through 64 towns and villages; (5) taught more than 500 children about healthy lifestyles and the benefits of exercise and not drinking and smoking; and (6) trained 26 teachers in Armenia on the Border2Border curriculum. This was undoubtedly the most challenging thing I have ever done. Now, some much needed rest before I tackle something else.

The rest of the summer is going to be incredibly busy. We have 41 new trainees in Armenia and we both will be doing some things to help with their training. We will continue our English clubs, do some hiking, help with various camps, and attend our mid-service conference. Somewhere over the summer we hope to take a short vacation, but the calendar is getting pretty full at this point, so we shall see.

Special thanks to my brother for sending our backpacks! Now we can travel in style around the country! Also very special thanks to Connie for the great care package. It took nearly 3 months to get here, but the chocolate is still very, very good!! Thank you!!!

Here are a few photos from the walk. Enjoy.