2013_09_17 Tuesday: Adishi - Iprali - Mestia

Today was an 8-hour hiking day that felt quite a bit longer. It was an interesting day that involved a couple of runnings with animals on my end (more about this later..).

The folks here have a terrifying dog by the name of Rocky. Here are some pics:

We headed out at 9:00 along with the Flemish couple and the funny/annoying Jewish couple, together with a son of the guesthouse owners and a horse. The reason for the horse is a river crossing 2 hours away. 

There was also a baby horse. Walking behind horses is bad. They keep farting, and it's pretty nasty. As I was about to pass little horsy, I noticed that he keeps blocking my way. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but when he kicked me (yes he did, the little bitch), it was clear this was personal. Anyway, I could tell from his evil look he wasn't in my fan club.

Evil Horse!

We arrived at the river at 11:00 or so, made the crossing and since there were more people there (Israelis..) we felt ok to leave the funny couple and go on our own (faster and without the annoyance).

To the top (about 600m altitude gain, around 2800m) we reached at 13:00. The views throughout were, as usual, great. This time the main attraction was a glacier on one side and a huge valley on the other side.

From the top

At the top we met a family (mom, dad, daughter + boyfriend - Israeli of course..) with a local guide. We ran into them throughout the second part of the hike (the downhill part) to Iprali. They also introduced us to sun flower seed based Chalva, which is far superior to the typical sesame based one. 

On the way I had my second running with livestock: as I lay down on one of our breaks, a cow showed up and started sniffing my pack and was about to chew on my trekking poles, which I managed to salvage.

We arrived at Iprali at 17:00 roughly and then got a jeep to Mestia for 150GEL (~$90), which is a 2-hour, 40km drive. This ride was real fun: high quality vehicle, good music, and great views. 

In Mestia we got some of the good Chalva, and for dinner went to Laila for a pizza. Unfortunately, they ran out if cheese and put the Georgian disgusting cheese instead... Ordering an additional second non cheese pizza resulted in far longer than anticipated wait. So ultimately, the experience wasn't a particularly good one (especially the walk back to the guesthouse in the rain..).