Anyway I spent the last couple of days with Ivan, Ralf and Hachik (an Armenian volcanologist) up on the flanks of Aragatz Volcano at 2000-3000m. It's massive. It covers 18% of Armenia and it measures about 100km across. It's a big shield volcano which is a big flat volcano with gentle slopes, but this is a complex one as a second phase of activity created a stratovolcano (a classic conical volcano) right on top. So although we were on it, we were a good 20km from the top, looking at some lava flows and some of the many mini-volcanoes on Aragatz' flanks. Brilliant!
We met a lot of Kurdish people today. They have a semi-nomadic existence, living in the high altitudes in tents with their cattle or sheep during the summer months and moving down to the villages for the harsh winter months. Every-so-often we would come across another tent or group of tents, and stop to ask for directions - there are roads everywhere so that they can get the milk from the cattle down to the villages below to sell. All of them invited us to drink coffee with them, and when we stopped to look at some outcrop they would come wandering over, desperate to chat. They all have these massive dogs to watch the cattle - I swear one of them today was possessed by the devil, it had really evil eyes! The last one we stopped at, coffee was brought out for us - rocket fuel. It was like drinking a sweet coffee grain paste!
Armenia used to be one of the Soviet States and it borders Turkey to the West, Georgia to the North, Iran to the South and Azerbaijan to the East. You can see the Soviet influence everywhere from the architecture to every second car being a Lada! Armenia is a country of contrasts - the capital, Yerevan (where we are staying), is like any other rich European city. As soon as you leave it you hit poverty. People live in run down stone houses, villages are full of hens and sheep running around with children all covered in dirt. Off the main highway the "roads" are dirt tracks. And people earn a living selling fruit they grow in orchards at the side of the main highway. It's like entering a different country - there's no half way, they either have lots of money, or none.
Also the countryside varies massively from the dry desert with stifling temperatures of +30°C and very little vegetation, to the high altitude alpine environment with wild flowers and grasses, and temperatures below 0°C at night.
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