Torsdag/Thursday: Tsalka

Torsdag dro vi til Tsalka, en fjellregion vest for Tbilisi. Der skulle jeg gjoere flere intervjuer for prosjektet jeg jobber med her. Bildet over er tatt paa ca 1.500 m.o.h. og veien var i elendig tilstand, for aa si det pent. Men omgivelsene var nydelige!
Thursday we went to Tsalka, a mountainous region west of Tbilisi. I was doing more interviews for the project I work on here. The picture above was made at about 1,500 metres a.s.l. and the road was in a terrible condition - but the surroundings were awesome!

Giorgio er leder for et prosjekt ECMI har der, og i praksis var han ogsaa sjaafoer for oss denne dagen. Han er en utrolig koselig fyr, veldig kunnskapsrik og engasjert. Og saa liker han aa fiske. Jeg har invitert ham til Norge neste sommer og det kan godt hende han tar med kona og kommer:)
Giorgio is project manager (for an ECMI project there), and in practise he was also our driver this day. He is a really nice guy, very knowledgeable and passionate about what he does. And he likes fishing. I have invited him to Norway next summer and he may very well take his wife and come along!


Paa vei til Tsalka moette vi flere ganger store flokker med sauer (og geiter, og kyr) og gjetere til hest. Dyrene bringes naa ned fra sommerbeitet for vinteren, i november kommer snoe her og fra desember til april er omraadet i praksis isolert og utilgjengelig fra f.eks. Tbilisi. Det var som aa vaere hensatt til en annen tidsalder, paa mange maater, og samtidig ikke ulikt jordbruk og dyrehold i Norge naar alt kommer til alt!
On our way to Tsalka we met several flocks of animals (sheep, goats, cows) that were brought down from their summer pastures by sheperds on horses. In November snow falls here, and from December to April the area is in practise isolated and inaccessible from e.g. Tbilisi. It was just like being left in a time warp, in many ways, yet it is not that different from farming and cattle farming in Norway, all things considered.