Armenia: The Land of "You Can't"

Whatever quibbles I am having with Armenia right now, the beauty of the architecture in Yerevan is not one.

My first impression of Armenia:  It's definitely not Georgia or Azerbaijan.

My flight left Tbilisi early in the morning.* It was a 30-minute flight to Yerevan, which meant it was still early morning when I arrived in Armenia. Armenia goes into the books as my 46th country visited. Things did not get off to a great start at the passport check. The woman saw the stamp in my passport indicating I recently had visited Azerbaijan. "Why did you visit Azerbaijan?" Tourism. "Do you have any friends in Azerbaijan?"

The hotel is beautiful. Could I get an early check in? I know I have no right to early check in, but I received a curt "Your room will be ready at 3:00 p.m." It was not even noon and it the hotel did not have luggage storage to leave my bags so I at least could explore the area.

I did abandon my bags enough to snap some pictures of the hotel exterior. And wander the interior.

The good news is that they did not make me wait the full amount of time until three o'clock. My room was ready for me to occupy at 2:50 p.m.

The room is large and has a view of a park.

After nearly two weeks in Azerbaijan and Georgia, I was thinking these were the two most friendly countries to which I have ever traveled, with warm, welcoming, helpful. Now that I am in Armenia, I can say without any hesitation that Azerbaijan and Georgia are the two most friendly, most welcoming countries to which I have ever traveled. I reserve the right to change my opinion once I gather more data, but my first impression is set in stone. It is set in the pink tuff stone of which so many buildings in the core of Armenia's capital have been built.

Refreshed by a nap -- I did not get much sleep the night before out of fear I would over-sleep and miss my plane (and be forced to spend more time in Tbilisi) (throw me in that briar patch, please) -- and not having eaten since a muffin at the Tbilisi airport early in the morning, I went searching for supper. Easier said than done.

Again, there is a very nice park right next to my hotel.

With street dogs and historic stones/stela.

And more modern stela:

Yerevan, Armenia's capital, is a beautiful city -- at least in the historic core in which I am staying -- with parks and fountains and greenery and building made of the same pink tuff stone.

This is Republic Square, the heart of Yerevan.

Pink tuff stone buildings and giant fountains:

I believe that building is the Marriott.

This is the building of the Government of the Republic of Armenia:

Again, the architecture and urban design in Yerevan is awesome.

This is the national museum:

I walked through Republic Square to get to the restaurant at which I intended to eat. I will not name it. (It was the Taverna Yerevan.) The restaurant was nearly empty. "Do you have a reservation?" No. "Then we can't seat you." They couldn't seat me in their empty restaurant. Tried another restaurant just down the street. The Sherep. I asked: "Can I eat here?" Answer: "Do you have a reservation?" No. "Sorry." At least the Sherep had the decency to say "sorry" and, at least, the restaurant was half full. Plenty of seats, but at least not empty like the previous restaurant.

So I went to a restaurant where I knew I could get served without a reservation.

 

Mr. Gyro. The food was -- how should I put it? -- better than awful.

After eating, I walked back to the hotel, past many restaurants none of which were even half full. I suspect in each case, I would have been denied entrance for lack of a reservation. Because those are the rules. After two weeks of being in countries were the locals were bending over backwards and contorting themselves into pretzels (figuratively) (not literally) (who's that limber?) to be helpful and accommodating, this "You Can't" attitude is a bit jarring.

 

But at least the city of Yerevan is beautiful, whether in sunlight or lit up after dark.

Footnote *: One concerning moment in the check-in line at Tbilisi Airport to get my flight to Yerevan. The guy behind me in line looked exactly like the point/counterpoint guy from the movie "Airplane": Shana. They bought their tickets. They knew what they were getting into. I say: "Let 'em crash."

Guatemala City Tour, Part One, the Mayan Part

Kaminaljuyu is an actual Mayan archaeological site, right in the city of Guatemala City

I had only one full day scheduled for Guatemala City. So I hired a guide to show me the best sights to see in Guate (as the locals supposedly call it) (but I've not heard anyone call it that) (except on google). Off we went at 9:00 a.m. sharp.  First stop:  Guatemala's renowned National Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, or Museo de Arqueología y Etnología.

The museum houses and excellent collection of Mayan artifacts that were found elsewhere in Guatemala. The building is beautiful. It also was closed.

This is going to be a theme. Museum closed. Museum closed. Church locked tight. I'm not complaining. First, no matter how many museums or churches are closed, I'm still on vacation. Second, well, do you need a second? I'm still on vacation! What was strange was that my guide called ahead yesterday and was assured that it would be open. Google Maps says it still open. But it wasn't. I guess I will just have to see the Mayan artifacts in their natural state at Tikal in the Petén.

Or we can go to the authentic, genuine, Mayan archaeological site right within the city limits of Guatemala City: Kaminaljuyu.

At one point, one Mayan tribe ended up in the city limits of the city of Guatemala City.

You can tell the stela (Mayan stone column that tells a story) pictured above is a replica. You can read it! The real ones are over a thousand years old and a barely legible. In case you are unfamiliar with the word "stela" -- don't feel guilty, I was too until I was researching this trip -- stela is defined as "an upright stone slab or column typically bearing a commemorative inscription or relief design." A tombstone is a modern American stela, for example.

Big green expanse at Kaminaljuyu. It also has a small -- very small -- museum on premises.

The collection largely consists of replicas, but there are some authentic pieces with a full certificate of authenticity, such as:

That, to me, based on my extensive research of three weeks, looks like a throne stone. The throne on which Mayan leaders sat was a flat stone that looked, sort of, use your imagination, a stone ottoman. I'm calling that a throne stone unless you've got better information on what it could be.

There are a couple of active archaeological digs on premises.

What is fascinating is that the City of Guatemala City was built on top of these ruins ... without anyone knowing those ruins were there.

This was an important city in the Mayan years. The section that is preserved in this parks dates back to the Mayan "classic" period, which was (roughly) AD 250 to 900.

And here is an American tourist in his very own personal "classic" period.

He looks like a man quite happy to not be at work today.

The Maya are still around, you know. They didn't "disappear." The civilizational structure did. But the Maya people are the people of Guatemala (and Chiapas and the Yucatan in Mexico). Mayan languages still are spoken. Mayan religion is still practiced. Right here in the Kaminaljuyu archaeological site, por ejemplo:

These stones are for ceremonial fires. There was one such ceremony going on when we were there, at the next stone over. I don't take pictures of private religious ceremonies like that. It's one of my random arbitrary rules. And right behind those ceremonial stones are ordinary city streets. We could see the fire from the nearby ceremony still blazing after we left Kaminaljuyu headed for our next destination of the day.

But there was more Kaminaljuyu to see. Let's climb up to see what there is to see:

Off to one side are the urban neighborhoods that were built over top of the rest of Kaminaljuyu:

In other direction, more greenspace:

Which leads to the next active archaeological site in the park:

 

This one is not walk-in-able. Even though there are walkways and a guard nearby.

This stela you can tell is the real deal.

Why? You can barely see anything on it except at the very bottom. And these stelae have been eroded into almost nothing:

Authentic Maya stelae!

And authentic Maya archaeology. Right in the middle of an international capital. Or, to be more precise, right underneath the middle of an international capital.

That will conclude the Maya portion of the city tour of Guatemala City. There's a lot to see and I've only got a day. Why so little time for a city I'm obviously enjoying? I scheduled a one-day safety cushion in Guatemala City, before I head off to Tikal in the North, just in case I had problems with my flight. I thought one day would be more than enough because I had heard so many bad things about Guatemala City. These were mostly along the lines of "You will be robbed. Then you will be killed. Then your corpse will be violated." Well, not one of those three things has happened to me. Yet!