Our first destination' Shenako'

Here is the heart of Tusheti for some - Shenako, with Nino and Zao's homestead centre left, our home for four wonderful days. Nino is one of the finest cooks in Tusheti while Zao is an excellent host but never take him on when drinking Chacha.

Shenako and a view from a terrace looking down on the village.

This assortment of homes (some ruined, some decaying but inhabited, some restored) is one of the most magical places I have ever been to. A community of wonderful souls whose generosity knows no limit.

The following images are an assortment of pictures Melissa and I took over four days during the village festival.

This is Shenako winter village, with only a couple of inhabited houses, the rest abandoned and rapidly becoming ruined. These are the houses the villagers moved to in the winter months of extreme cold and deep snow (the summer village being too exposed to the elements). Only one couple stay all year round now, the rest leave Tusheti in the winter (October - May) and live elsewhere.

My daughters. India on the right and her younger sister Iona on the left. This picture was taken on the track leading into Shenako

The Church in Shenako has recently been renovated .Our friends Eka and Irma's father played an important role as priest and inspiration for the restoration project With his enthusiasm and help from the village the church has been revitalised. We attended a wedding blessing this summer and I have to admit we all cried , it was a moving sight for everyone . Hats off to everyone in Shenako .

I'm not sure where the eventual and all important financial support came from .If anyone has an idea please leave me a comment and I can give them credit in this account.

Another shot of Nino's home and her cow barn. The following pictures are a selection of Nino ,our host at work, with her cows, making cheese and her life in general.

Nino described her kitchen as something out of the last century and I guess she is right. When we I asked for hot water to wash in, Nino had to boil the water over the fire and not simply turn on a hot tap. A very tough life and it made me think twice about needing hot water.

Life in Shenako a selection of images

I hope the following selection of images will give insight into life in Shenako. They are not meant to be a romantic idea of life in Tusheti but life as we observed it on a daily basis. If I've edited out anything that might alter the true picture of life, it's us all getting very drunk on Chacha - local vodka. I'll leave that to your own imagination.

Above is one of the village bread ovens, shared by many families.


Bread making in Tusheti is an essential part of life. Unlike at home where Melissa would make a couple of loaves and freeze some for eating later this lot has got to last the whole week and often shared with neighbours or relatives.


The girls tried hard at milking but it obviously needs a great deal of practice to get as good as Nino and her family ,who made the task appear effortless.


What is it about toilets? When travelling it's what many people from more wealthy countries cringe at. No flushing loo's ,my goodness how could they? Well I'm very fond of this dry toilet, it's right in the middle of the cow field and at night we all had great fun making our way past the cows for a quick pee.

Making Khinkali, a sort of meat dumpling, is as important to Georgians as! Well I was going to say as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding is in the UK but that's an insult to Georgia. Take it from me this is 'the' national dish bar none.

Here's India collecting her water for the day at the sweet well, down by the winter village. When you look into this well there is a trout swimming contentedly. He/she has been put there to eat any frogs or creepy crawlies that might find their way into the well. Who needs technology when you have a fish to do the work?

A Tush saddle. Simple even basic but brilliant for the mountains. No fuss and all you need plus a nice cushion and a good horse .

Nino's parlor and through the door you can see her kitchen. I seem to have made a habit of hitting my head as I went through the door. In 2008 I fell over ( while worse for ware) and broke a rib which didn't help .

This is a picture of the oldest man in Shenako. The house is typical of the Shenako vernacular architecture. We sat opposite each other during part of the festival although he kept falling asleep. A wonderful man and I think he lives in Shenako all year round but I may be wrong.

My very good friend Zao, Nino's husband. A brilliant sportsman, football player and certainly knows how to party. Although neither of us can speak each others language he taught me a great deal about life. A true Tush with a heart of gold.

The girls playing football at dusk against the Shenako boys with Zao on their side. They won. Hooray!

Here is Iona looking out from Nino's old winter house, no longer in use.




The gang.

Elene who is Nino's daughter is on the left. Behind her is Iona in the green. In front with the long hair and glasses is India. Behind India next to Iona is Goggi, our horseman and brother of Elene. Then we have Irma, our very good friend, guide and translator. And finally Carlo who was Goggi's best friend, Irma's cousin and good friends with all the girls. This crew had some amazing times together and experienced a summer never to be forgotten.

Melissa, my wife, in a contemplative moment looking down over Shenako.

The lads after a few, well more than a few Chacha's (local Vodka's).

This house would have been magnificent in it's day . Now it just needs some love to bring it back to life.
Not a very flattering picture of our room. Simple and a place where I slept like a baby.

The Shenako Festival

It all starts first thing in the morning behind the church with no women. First take your ram, cut his head off, shake a bit of blood on the Shrine and then eat some bread, cheese and plenty of Chacha (vodka). I always seem to be good at the Chacha bit which is often my undoing.

If you don't have a son the deal is the Shenako lads will throw you over this wall as part of the picnic festival. This year a German chap broke his arm and there were a few other casualties. I was sleeping off the alcohol and so missed my chance to make a fool of myself, thank goodness.

Beka (baseball hat and pink shirt), the nephew of a great friend of ours from Tbilisi pitched up in Shenako which is an amazing coincidence. The chap dancing is a hot headed Chechen, nice guy but not someone to get in to a scrape with.

Beka with Melissa, India and Iona and the Sholta who is a sort of party maker and who's job it is to get everyone going and enjoying themselves.

More Chechen dancing. This guy has style.

The Tamada or toast master for the festival. An elder of the village who makes the toasts. The other gentlemen are of a similar stature but kept quite.

The band who had boundless energy for good times and great music.

In this picture our very good friend Alex from the US looks on as I talked to a gentleman from Docho ( up the valley) who I found out later, wanted his son to marry India. We called him 'no problem' because he decided that the marriage would of course be 'no problem'. A nice guy but I'm not so sure India would have agreed to the marriage settlement.

The girls party was something else. These women can tuck it away. Cacha that is.

More Chacha in the obligatory 'no name' plastic bottle.

In Shenako everyone will know this guy. He has a pint of beer tattooed on his arm, which he shows off at any and every given moment, hence the missing sleeve for the world to see.

Here is Nino's sister in law who's marriage was later was blessed in the church. I think the little girl is her grand daughter, she was very sweet.

Many Tushetians can play the squeeze box, and quite a few people own one. This provides music for dancing (remember no CD players as there is no electricity) and for singing often around campfires in the evening. Everyone knows the words to all the traditional Tushetian songs as did we by the end of our holiday.

The Patriarch's of the village after a good lunch

In the late afternoon sun this flock of turkey's were walked slowly through the village .

Melissa and a very drunk but happy husband.

More dancing by the Wills family.

This summers festival saw a marked difference in the appearance of horses. In 2007 we saw horses charging about all day long ending with a spectacular race. This year no race and only a few visiting horsemen. However, later in this account you can find some great racing pictures taken in another village.

A couple of the men nursing sore heads.

The Shenako festival occurs over three days or so. As a result, there appear to be numbers of spontaneous gatherings or just the odd drink at friends houses. These sessions can mean a bottle of Chacha and that's between two, then the girls start.

All you need is to hear the music in the background and it's difficult to stop dancing.

I like this picture. The goal posts and the Church. Two religions living as one in Shenako.