I read a Facebook post yesterday from a trekking guide based on Tusheti. He says that one of the important passes there for trekkers will be snow-closed until about August 10, if left to itself to melt; or it can be cleared in about 10 days by a determined crew, with shovels. He says the latter will be made to happen, not to worry!
Things have been late here in Svaneti too, with several passes still bearing snow and trekkers anxiously asking about conditions on a daily basis. SOME of the passes, like from us in Etseri up and down to Mazeri (top of Becho) are open. Others, like the long and high Guli Pass from there towards Mestia, apparently are not yet as I write this. There can be considerable slipperiness on hard-frosted morning snow, so conditions are not something to shrug off. Mountains can kill a person without noticing it, and safety on them is a thing to take seriously. “Down” can be a long, hard, fatal way away.
(Young people know they will live forever… but as I knock on 60, I feel different.)
Our cherries are coming in nicely. Not so the apples or plums, which seem not to have survived late frosts on their flowers nearly so well. The pears we are hoping for, and some have appeared: I think this fruit the best of everything we grow.
Although our list of useful things grown, raised or otherwise produced here on our Svanti land might be far shorter than the 85-odd things on my in-laws’ land in Kakheti, it’s nonetheless amazing to me. (Deep breath:) Mentioned above: apples, plums, cherries, pears. Add: strawberries, raspberries, walnuts, onions, garlic, cabbages, lettuce, beans, potatoes, parsley, mint, anise, dill, mountain marjoram, pumpkins, carrots, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, beetroot, nettles (naturally occurring) dandelions (ditto), roses, cows, chickens, a pig once, hay, and we’re at 32 things if my count is correct. Most simultaneously; a few one-off (the pig), rare (pumpkins) or gone, like all the remaining livestock. One consistent failure was hazelnuts, which we tried to import as seedlings from Zugdidi, but maybe our winters were too harsh for the type. I leave them off the numbered list for this reason. I also leave out the flowers, of which there are many, as they are mostly decorative, stunning though they are.
All these things will have fortunes waxing and waning according to the weather and climate. It might be a wonder that there is time for anything to spring up here, given the short growing season. Hail can kill much of it, as we once experienced; early snow or late frost can do similar.
Then there’s our crop of tourists. Not just late because of the late-melting snow, but advance bookings down too. Maybe because Georgia is sandwiched between Russia-Ukraine and US/Israel-Iran? Not that it’s getting us down: some days in previous years have been VERY hard work, what with cooking so many dishes, setting the tables, serving, washing up and laundry. Rinse, repeat, with occasional back-to-back groups of 15-18 people. Water problems? Who, us? At least the 1000L water tank, pump and its backup allow some peace of mind. We didn’t get many tourists from Israel, though other places did, and these numbers are definitely down over recent years.
But on July 1 (Happy Canada Day!) it IS early to say how the remainder of the tourist season will play out, in Svaneti and all over Georgia. Well, we hope, for us all all involved.
By Tony Hanmer
Tony Hanmer has lived in Georgia since 1999, in Svaneti since 2007, and been a weekly writer and photographer for GT since early 2011. He runs the “Svaneti Renaissance” Facebook group, now with over 2000 members, at www.facebook.com/groups/SvanetiRenaissance/
He and his wife also run their own guest house in Etseri: www.facebook.com/hanmer.house.svaneti
