We arrived in Kapan and on the spur of the moment decided to find out about WWOOFing in the area, having been WWOOF hosts in Australia for 20 years, and being WWOOFers in the England Scotland and France a few years earlier. One call and we were to meet Armen and Siranush in 30 minutes to go to their country house, around 20 minutes from Kapan. We got the cute red Lada taxi to the old house, high up in the mountains with fabulous views over the mountains, valley and villages. The weather was perfect and the birds sang happily. We spent four days with them helping them out with the huge amount of work needed to be done on the property.
As you know, Armen and Siranush are building an eco-tourist facility for long distance trekking stays. The house is two room dormitory style, with a makeshift bathroom attached and a lovely deck overlooking the valley. The toilet is a squat toilet out in the garden.
The garden includes plenty of old and new fruit trees, and we munched on the ripe mulberries. They haven’t had a chance to work on it much yet, but plan to clean it up and set up a vegetable garden.
Our work included cleaning up the yard which had many years of accumulated garbage and weeds. We established a small natural shade garden next to the tent camping area. But our big project was to convert a steel water tank and platform into two bunk houses. The water tank was used by Armen and his family as a swimming pool when he was young. We attached timber boards to the outside to soften the look and insulate the bunkroom, and put on a roof frame. Paul was very frustrated, being a professional builder, with the extreme lack of tools, as due to limited funds ARK can't afford for example to have several drills for different purposes to which Paul is used . Besides the quality of tools and instruments and their spare details in the local market is quite law as the importers import only those which the buyer can afford. But progress was great, and we left the completion for others.
As you know, Armen and Siranush are building an eco-tourist facility for long distance trekking stays. The house is two room dormitory style, with a makeshift bathroom attached and a lovely deck overlooking the valley. The toilet is a squat toilet out in the garden.
The garden includes plenty of old and new fruit trees, and we munched on the ripe mulberries. They haven’t had a chance to work on it much yet, but plan to clean it up and set up a vegetable garden.
Our work included cleaning up the yard which had many years of accumulated garbage and weeds. We established a small natural shade garden next to the tent camping area. But our big project was to convert a steel water tank and platform into two bunk houses. The water tank was used by Armen and his family as a swimming pool when he was young. We attached timber boards to the outside to soften the look and insulate the bunkroom, and put on a roof frame. Paul was very frustrated, being a professional builder, with the extreme lack of tools, as due to limited funds ARK can't afford for example to have several drills for different purposes to which Paul is used . Besides the quality of tools and instruments and their spare details in the local market is quite law as the importers import only those which the buyer can afford. But progress was great, and we left the completion for others.
We also got to do a wonderful hike from Vahanavank Monastery to Halitzor Fortress, being forced to stop on the way to join a BBQ and vodka drinking session with the locals, then walking down the hill back to Kapan.
We had many very “interesting” conversations with Armen and Siran during our stay. We soon discovered that our beliefs and values were quite different, and after some intense times, agreed to disagree! But Armen has an incredible knowledge and understanding of history and languages and is a very patriotic Armenian, so we learnt so much from him.
They also have a permaculture garden close to Kapan which we only visited briefly.
Overall we had a lovely time staying in the country house with Armen and Siran. They need lots of help, particularly as Armen’s eyesight is failing, so I can highly recommend a WWOOFing stay there.
Robyn and Paul, Australia
They also have a permaculture garden close to Kapan which we only visited briefly.
Overall we had a lovely time staying in the country house with Armen and Siran. They need lots of help, particularly as Armen’s eyesight is failing, so I can highly recommend a WWOOFing stay there.
Robyn and Paul, Australia
