Good morning, good afternoon and good evening readers,

Today was the big day! Finally, after weeks of friendship we FINALLY visited Aparan with the Ambassador!!!

It turns out we didn’t need our visa’s. Dammit. They had cute donkeys on as well. Aparan is actually a very beautiful place. I think because of the emphasis on the ol’ donkeys and the people that lived there being taken the mickey out of, I just thought it would be pretty average. But it was the opposite. Also, I would like to mention that every place we went to we had to take turns in taking photographs. First Amy and I in front of something, then Amy and the Ambassador and then myself and the Ambassador. He hasn’t quite got the hang of technology as he put 100 burst photos… every time.

We went to the monument that the Ambassador has plastered all over his embassy and embassy car. It was HUGE, I had no idea it was that big. The view was incredible with rolling hills and mountains. It looks pretty similar to that Windows screensaver you used to get on our desktop computer. After visiting the monument, we stopped by at a local church which was also beautiful. There was this little kid there with an electronic mini motorbike. He was so cute, but my word was he scared of us. I’m not sure what it is about us, possibly just because we are so white, but children are very wary of us at first. It’s like we have the plague or something. After he had stared at us for a while he jumped back on his mini motorbike and reversed out that car park faster than you can say “weird white girls”.

We then went to the bakery where they have these huge ovens in the ground. There is a video of a man sticking his head in it to place the bread on the walls. To be honest, I think he was just showing off because when we were there they had long rods to do that. There is always one class clown wherever you go! After we got our lunch we made our way to a hidden church which was supported by hundreds of splintered wooden scaffolding poles. Dodgy workmanship right there. The view was astonishing and as a storm thundered on, we ate our masses of bread underneath a wooden shelter. The hidden places in Armenia are so, so beautiful. Have a little look-see at the pictures from our Aparan adventure.

In kindness,
C x