Off to Camp...

Good Morning all! All is grande!

We are up bright and early and have just enjoyed our jam, bread & CHEESE breakfast at Envoy!! Hmmm loving the Armenian cheese! We are all packed and excited as today we are off to CAMP! yay!! More about that later though as we will fill you in on the busy day we had yesterday, no rest for the wicked!

We had a meeting yesterday at noon with the Commissioners of NUGGGS (National Union of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, of Armenia) at their office; Amalya, Aya, Tatevik, Lilit and Satenik.  To get there we had to take two taxi's and our route reminded Caroline of Grand theft Auto - plus we are yet to ride in a taxi with an intact, non damaged windscreen - all the cool taxi men of Armenia have at least a 4 inch crack in their windscreen!! Score!

Once at the office we discussed the plans for the project, camp arrangements and the traveling /accommodation for the Activity Days in the north of the Country post Camp.  A few amendments were made yet all happy with the project as it means we are spending a few more nights in the northern regions and not so many in Yerevan. The four regions that we will be visiting are all situated along Lake Sevan, so it will be a beautiful backdrop to our trainings! We then sorted all our resources for Camp - job done!! So we left the ladies to their meeting and headed back to Envoy for lunch.

We then took a walk to the market in the afternoon sun - Caroline had been reading her travel book and was desperate to explore the olde market.  We saw everything from the contents of old Armenian men's garages to the beautiful craft works of traditional Armenia to the lovely bright orange, blue and red t-shirt declaring 'I heart Armenia' - tempting!  We were also accompanied by one of the Armenian Guiders, Lilit - or media Lilit as she is better known to us - and she became quite the David Dickenson, minus the fake tan, similar hair, and haggled our prices down for us!  And after some retail therapy and a much need cool drink in the shade - small rest from working on the tan :) - we headed to the cascade.  It is a focal point in Armenia and overlooks the entire city so naturally i made the team race to the top... the didnt like me at the top!  However, the views of Yerevan are worth the climb to the top - on a clear, bright day you can get the most stunning views of Mount Ararat - another time maybe! Or an evening view? The team are not quite keen on my 6am sunrise idea but i will keep working on them!  

We had more than earned our dinner after the climb so the team plus Lilit headed to Jazzve, a cafe restaurant beside the concert square in Yerevan where we all a hearty meal plus a few cheeky desserts for some! Exhausted yet still keen to see Yerevan life before we head to Southern Armenia we headed to the fountains!

The fountains are in Republic Square in the Centre of Yerevan and is a social meeting space for most.  There you can watch the most elaborate fountains that are all coloured and and choreographed along to music! Kelly was so keen to get good pictures she nearly fell in - opps - just a sore knee to content with yet all is grande!  Then at 11 pm after a busy day we said goodbye to Lilit and headed back to Envoy for some well deserved kip! 

Well that was the intention - we were all rather excited and eager for camp so started packing! Late night early mornings - welcome to GOLD!

So we are now about to check out of Envoy and head to the Office and go to Camp - WHAY! - Armenian Styleeeeee! We have a 5 hour - ish bus journey ahead of us and will be at Camp in the town of Sisian until next Monday so it will be all silent on the blog front as we will not have any internet! But dont worry we shall fill you in on all the goings on, on our return on Monday  1st August.

We all all having a ball - all safe and well and cannot wait to officially start our trainings and GOLD Adventure at Camp! 

Woop woop!

Cara & Team 2011 xx