PotLuck, Friends, and Wineries

I woke up refreshed around 9:00am and ready to take a walk around the city- it was very quiet with only a few shops open. I stop at the community hotel and speak with the girl working there who says they only have one room filled and a large group coming in the evening. She made me a coffee even though they were only serving hotel guests at the moment. 

The hotel is just perfect with such traditional Georgian touches. The chefs are in the kitchen with bags or produce and meats ready to cook.
I walk up to an abandoned church with an amazing view and a cute puppy is following behind me- nicest street dogs ever. 

I walk down the hill and there is a man picking persimmons from his tree. He points at me and points at the tree and I nod my head. He walks over and has me open my hand and hands me a whole bunch of them on a branch.  I say, "Thank you" in Georgian and I am happy walking around with a rose I found, persimmons, and now a cake.  I stop at a nice bakery, which I was informed is the best bakery and there is a line of people buying cuts of different cakes. They looked delicious and they were priced at $2 a slice. Some of the cakes were just $7 which is outrageously low for a whole birthday cake. It is nice because she would cut a row off the cake or a portion and sell it that way.  

Next, I stop in the produce shop where I am just standing and admiring the produce- it is unbelievable how fresh everything is anything from pomegranate to heirloom tomatoes, carrots, and fresh green onions. I buy some oranges which she picks out special for me. I visit with my English friend again from the cafe who asks about America and teaches me Georgian. This time she makes me a Turkish coffee and gives me a local fried pastry with creme inside. She watches me take the first bite and says “its very good right” again another food straight out of the oven made from the older Georgian lady in the back kitchen. Many locals are coming in for this same pastry and I can see this shop is a local community spot where "everybody knows your name."

 

We sit and have a talk together. She shows me her boyfriend and tells me she is so happy she just got a new 2013 hynundai shipped in from America and asks me what I think of it. She says how beautiful I am and I say No you are the cutest. She is just 25 and a bit critical of herself saying she hates her teeth and wants to have better skin. She is stunning, adorable, and does not need to change a thing. 
She teaches me Georgian basics and I repeat after her. It is embarassing because I still cannot pick up Georgian, which I would usually know more words by now traveling in a new country. She says she can teach me the bad words too and I tell her to leave those ones out- not my thing-learning the bad words of a country-serves no purpose, but some foreigners find it so entertaining. 
I quickly go back up the hill, which is quite a hike and quite a view.  Bakti has everything prepared as Zoe was helping her set up. She seemed to want to have that time alone with her so I was going to help with the food, upkeep, and cleaning. I swept the house, cleaned the bathroom, and wiped everything down. Bakti was frying dough and giving me some fried dough to try, but I was all doughed out after my morning snack. 

Guests began to arrive again international crowd from the various villages in Kakehti region. 
They started a Facebook group and have various events throughout the year. There were multiple countries for example: UK, Malaysia, France, Germany, Russia, and Azebajan. People were all very friendly, kind and welcoming. 

The German man owns a beautiful guesthouse in the mountains with a pool. He just built dit himself a year ago. A very interesting man and his wife were cyclists who traveled all over cycling from country to country-I mean alllll over.  They were talking about how they were stuck in Ko Samui during the pandemic for 10 months, they were just fascinating individuals with such an interesting skill set and various life experiences. He said he was lucky enough to retire at 40 she seemed very sweet, but I felt like maybe she was sick or had some illness(my heart felt for her). 

The French man, Jean paul is a chef from France, and he brings various pates(duck and chicken liver) and homemade wine from his cellar. Many people in Georgia even ex-pats make their own wine. Bakti has her "horse speciality" that people are loving, but I cannot do it. I apologize to her, but it is a hard No. It feels like a crime. 

We are having such a great conversation and making many jokes the French man says how much he loves India mostly Cashmere and Pakistan, he started traveling to India in 1989. He said he loves to sing in French and we played all kinds of music on YouTube, singing karaoke, and dancing with one another anything from Indian to French to Salsa to American. 

I am connecting with another girl from South Korea. She is tall, full of life, and very interesting and quite beautiful. She moved to a remote village to write a science fiction book. She has a background in business, and once lived in Seattle, she has the funniest stories about Georgian men and she shares a lot of her real experiences and the differences between Asian and European culture.

 

We get along so much that we decided to go out and take a walk and visit a nearby winery as they pulled out the guitar inside and we were interested in fresh air and a wine stop.