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Published: September 28th 2007
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Tom and I have not been suffering from ennui in Armenia. . Tom is busy working with GIS data for the White Stork project, helping with our website, grocery shopping in the markets, and going to receptions, parties etc. Yerevan weather is still very warm during the day but the evenings are wonderfully cool.
Cochineal Insects
Last week, as Tom mentioned in his letter, we got up early to go with our entomologist friend to the Ararat Valley to watch the yearly emergence of the Ararat Valley Cochineal Insects ( that produce red dyes for manuscripts and carpets)—they spend their entire life cycle sucking carbohydrates from the roots of a couple grass species, until mid-September when the winged males and the wingless females emerge from their testae to come to the soil surface after 8:00 a.m., find each other, mate, and then the males die while the females head back underground to lay eggs and die. It was an amazing experience to see the first red females on the sandy soil and then to see their numbers increase as the sun rose and Mt. Ararat brightened in the background. By 9:00 a.m. the air was warm and the ground was
littered with red roly-poly looking female insects and the winged May-fly-like males who mated with them. By 9:30 am the activity was mostly over and after our driver gave us coffee, fruit, and rolls—he always has the stove in the car and the coffee pot handy. He makes Armenian coffee which means that he puts a heaping spoonful of finely ground coffee in a small demitasse cup along with a spoonful of sugar, adds boiling water, stirs once, and when the grounds settle, it is ready to drink. Quite wonderful.
Hiking in the forest north of Lake Sevan
We spent last weekend in the town of Dilijian which is about 1.5 hours northeast of Yerevan. The car route takes us along the western shore of Lake Sevan where Tom took a wonderful photo of the lake from the Sevanavank monastery. After leaving Lake Sevan the road climbs up a very steep grade to a 6 km long (approx.) tunnel that opened in 2003. And then the road winds down to the town of Dilijian which is in a forested area of rather low elevation (about 350 meters above sea level). We stayed at the Dili Villa bed and
breakfast where we met a really fun German couple who had come to Armenia for the wedding of a friend of theirs. They are definitely travelers—spent two years in rural Nepal working on soil conservation projects and seem to travel every chance they can.
Our driver took us to the Goshavank monastery on Sunday morning where we saw the most amazing stone cross that had been carved in 1290 A.D.—the embroidery cross. The church itself was a two-story stone church built on top of a Zoroastrian temple, so the entire area had been settled a very long time ago. From there we went to the start of our hike—the Hagartsin church. This is another amazing church complex with several chapels, an ancient dining hall with window casements that are of 1.5 meter thick stone. We, along with many other foreigners are enjoying the book Adventures in Armenia which has a set of 15 hikes that vary in length from a couple hours to nearly all day. The hike we selected (number 4) goes from Hagartsin monastery up a very, very steep forest trail to a ridge crest and then across open meadows and down into the town of Dilijian
where are driver waited for us. The route in the book gives several GPS way point locations so that it is easy to follow—very important in the foggy conditions that often occur in the Armenian mountains. We had a beautiful hike except for the obvious signs of illegal logging where beautiful, large beech trees had been freshly cut (maybe that morning) and removed by dragging behind a truck. Very discouraging to see because Armenia has so little forest left.
Queen Elizabeth II Birthday Party
Monday, we followed this trip with a a special invitation to the Queen’s birthday, sponsored by the British Embassy, and held at the Mother Church of Armenia in Etchmiadzin. Tom and I were lucky to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Salisbury, and to listen to the toast of the Catholicos of the Apostolic Church of Armenia - honoring the Queen of England (her 81st birthday, her 55th year on the throne, and her 60th wedding anniversary) as well as the connections between the Church of England and the Church of Armenia.
And the next day we attended a going away reception for the Environmental Director of OSCE (Office of Security for
Central Europe), Jeanette Kloetzer, a very dynamic and talented woman who has been able to facilitate several large environmental projects in Armenia during her stay here. She is off to be Deputy Director of OSCE in Kazakhstan.
The work week has begun again and we are working on new grants, field trip preparations for the Env. Science Sunday field trip, and resting up—these workdays are quite long.
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Anna B
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Wow, what an honor and experience
I mean this for all of the experiences you have had with your hikes, your visiting the old churches, for seeing the embroidery cross, and for meeting the Archbishop. Your pictures are absolutely wonderful. I do not know how I missed this September posting. The life and mating cycle of the Cochineal insects was very interesting. Is there whole purpose in life to only bring color to a root? Anna