Piraketa Khevsureti

Khevsureti is divided into to parts: Piraketa ("hither") Khevsureti and Pirikita ("tither") Khevsureti. Piraketa Khevsureti is the southern part and Pirikita Khevsureti is the northern part Of Khevsureti. The division is because of Caucasian slope that divides the northern and southern parts. Piraketa Khevsureti is known for its three lakes: the Green, Blue and White ones _ the Abudelauri Lakes. Pirikita Khevsureti is known for villages such as Shatili, Mutso, Arkhoti...

Firstly, I went to Piraketa Khevsureti. It was my first hiking into the mountains of Georgia. I had a backpack full of bottles of water, some food and clothes. It was a sunny day and it was really hot despite the autumn. Well at the end I realised it'd better be hot than cold and rainy.

I knew we had to walk some kilometers but I didn't ask how many. So we walked uphills and downhills, valleys and swamps... The more metres we walked the more people we left behind and some were already ahead of us. Then there was only two of us walking together, three were way ahead and the rest were behind. We didn't know the road but we noticed someone had made signs and those sound led to the very lakes we've come to see. So we followed them and followed and followed and followed. You know, one of the phrases people say while hiking is "just this one more hill and we're there" and we were repeating this phase to ourselves over and over. Despite the fact that we were really tired of soon-expecting-to-see the first lake, or was hard not to notice those fascinating landscapes as the Sun some down on the fields and on the rocks fat away from us and so we appreciated them.

Then we noticed someone not very far away. He was sitting on a rock. We didn't recognise him and are scared and we stood there for about five minutes till he shouted at us: "where are the others? " then it was clear he was one of us. Surprisingly there was the first lake near him _ the Green lake. There was not much of a beauty but as long as it was one of the lakes we were happy. Our turned out that the Blue lake was nearby too. And, boy, it was gorgeous! I can't describe it. There was something magical in it. The reflections of the mountains and rocks were fascinating. I was looking around admiring those vivid colours of autumn. The Blue Lake is 2580 metres MSL!

There was only one lake left, the White one. As it was getting dark we had to decide whether or not to go up there, because the road to that lake was more dangerous and not everyone could climb there. So some of us decided that it was worth trying and some we were almost there it would be a shame not to see the White lake and that we could do it, so we continued our trip.

The road was all in rocks and stones. I wanted to capture everything on my camera, but it's impossible to record such beauty the way it is. Hills were covered with green-soon-to-be-yellow grass and the rocks were not brown but they were colours of Crema effect of Instagram. They had some vivid yellow, green and light brown dots all over them. We climbed slowly because it was really dangerous not to slip. As we climbed up the rocks became bigger and bigger and then we saw many daisies between them. The scenery was so beautiful I didn't want ever to forget it.

The White Lake is 2830 metres MSL, and the reason why it is white is that the snow from the mountains called "Chaukhi Rocks" goes down and into the lake and, also, the ground beneath gives a colour to the lake.

As it was the beginning of autumn and it was still hot, it was nice to see snow somewhere. It was like when children await for snow and at last they see snowflakes falling from the sky and everything becoming white and they get all cheerful and happy. We were like that too. We so wanted to play in the snow, that we forgot all that tiredness and the long road we had walked through. The scenery was awesome! And we realised that it was worth everything. Truth be told, nature is something that will always fascinate people, no matter how many things we discover, or how deep we go into the ocean, or that we think we have studied all the creatures, things or mysteries of the world of nature, it will still be a mystery and in unpredictable thing for us, people.

Standing there looking at those Chaukhi rocks sinking into the sunset, I remembered this phase which I often see on Facebook _ "you can find freedom only in the mountains. " That picturesque landscape isn't something one sees and forgets easily. I think that's the main reason why people live the nature. They fear it too, but this fear won't even come close to the loving.

Going downhills is harder than uphills, if you ask me. It was really dangerous to walk down those rocks and not to slip your feet. Looking down from above I realised how rough that hill was and I wondered how we got up there. The rocks were so many and so slippery that you should have been very careful all the time, because one small mistake could leave you injured pretty badly and even get you killed. It was getting dark, too and we were supposed to go back from where we started, so that we wouldn't be late than sundown, and we wouldn't have to walk without light. Fortunately, some genius thought of an idea of a flashlight and installed it in mobile devices and we had lights on our way back. Of course, as soon as the Sun stopped throwing its rays on us, it became very, very cold and everyone could feel their fingers and noses freezing.

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