Humanitarian assistance to Ushgulians

After the extreme snowpack of 1986 winter caused major avy destruction in Svanetia, Ushguli residents were given land in Eastern Georgia. But soon many of them moved back to the ancestral home. When we visited the village in 1987, repairs underway were half-finished and everybody was up in the meadows with scythes, making hay for the winter. In the meantime a truck brought "humanitarian assistance" flour sacks, and some piggybacking Gurdzhaani white vine. The store manager asked us to help unloading the truck, and in exchange, to help ourselves with Gurdzhaani. And the kabobs will be there soon. By nightfall, we were in too sore shape to return to our tents, 4 miles up the valley, and the would-be "kabobs" materialized in the shape of a bucket of boiled sinewy joints. After a night on the wooden floor of the warehouse, we were finally ready to curse the famed Svan hospitality and to head back into the mountains. Alpenglow on Shkhara greets us, as the hangover starts to dissipate.