Hiking Trip?

Thursday morning, i find myself being pulled out of bed by mom, saying hurry up and take a shower so we can leave. And, it's, like, 7 am. At 9 am, i finally got out of bed and was told to get ready quickly or we would be late. Turns out, we were supposed to go on a tour with this guest service, but by the time we got there, we were 20 minutes late. So I ate my speedily packed breakfast at a cafe, and we decided to take a minibus to Tsakhkadzor resort and visit some friends staying there. The ride took about an hour, with mom sleeping on my shoulder most of the time, as she had not gotten any sleep the night before. We went up to the hotel and met two of mom's friends there. After a little chatting and of course a few pictures, we set off on our hike, promising to come back and say goodbye before we left. As we set out on our hike, it became clear that it was going to be hot. Very hot. And it was. Mom was expecting to find a familiar road that would take us to a mineral water spring. But when we got up to the place, we found the road blocked by construction. So we took a detour this way, then we took a detour that way, but none seemed the right road. Finally, mom saw something that looked familiar. So we went on. Soon, we found ourselves in the middle of some forest, on a road that, as mom said, was not the right one. So we pushed our way through plants and countless spider webs, aiming for what sounded like music. We finally arrived back where the construction was. In fact, there was a lawn where a couple of guys were having a picnic of sorts. I think we sorta startled them, appearing out of the forest and all. Anyway, we found another road and took that one. ("The Road Goes Ever On and On...") This one was, as mom said, more familiar looking. But then we passed a bridge and the road became asphalt. Not right. So, as was our custom by now, we turned back and went under the bridge. The whole time, the sun was beating down upon us, and i was very tired and dehydrated. It was no short distance. So much for promises of shade! Anyway, the road under the bridge (dubbed by me "The Bridge of Khazad- Dum"- did i spell that right?) proved to be the right one, and finally, we made it. We then found ourselves looking skeptically at a small stream of water pouring from a pipe into a river. Mom decided to be the brave one and tried the water. We had found our mineral water spring. Now, the stream didn't look like much, but the water was worth the entire hike, detours and all. It was the best water i had ever tasted. Like non- carbonated mineral water only better. This was straight from the source. We decided to rest on a nearby stone, and eat the rest of my sandwich which i had started on earlier. As is her traditon, mom went off taking pictures while i sat down and enjoyed the cold water and the scenery. That is, the trash left by the people who came before us. Like cheese boxes floating in the water and cheese wrappers on the ground. But it was very pretty nonetheless. After a short rest, we decided to head back as it was already 4 0'clock. The journey back was much more enjoyable, i must say. I was refreshed, there were no detours, and we both were in a better mood. On the way, we picked up some trash others had left there. It was a sight to see, me carrying a plasic bag with pepsi and beer bottles in it, and mom dragging two huge tarps behind her. Then she tried a fruit she thought she knew. Turns out, she didn't know it, and she got a very bitter taste in her mouth. I told her not to get poisoned because i don't know how to dial 911. Anyway, we went down to the village to get some food. We stumbled upon a friendly-looking cafe called Coffee Break. The kabobs and barbeque were deelish and so was the famous local bread. While mom was driking her coffee, she thought she might examine her wallet to see how much money we had left. She looked in her backpack but couldn't find it. I told her to look harder. It was a large backpack. Still, she didn't find it. Then we began to worry. She looked another time, but it wasn't there. Quickly, we told the waiter to hold our coffee and asked if we could leave something of value there while we went to look for the wallet. He said that wasn't necessary. Kinda weird how he trusted us to come back. Anyway, we got in a cab and told the driver to take us back to the mineral water spring. Poor taxi. He had to drive it on a small and very bumpy path which we had conveniently detoured around. He parked nearby, and mom and i literally ran back to the stone where we had rested. We looked on it, around it, beside it, and in the river. No sign of the wallet. The cab driver told us that people stopped by this spot often, and if we had left it here, someone probably took it. But the place looked undisturbed. Then mom said we might have left it at the hotel bathroom, where we refreshed ourselves before the hike. By now, that seemed as likely as anything, since there was another bag missing, which she had also taken out in the bathroom. So we drove back to the hotel. We arrived and looked in the bathroom. No wallet or bag. The cab driver asked the bartender of the nearby bar if they had found anything. The man asked what was inside the wallet and bag. Mom said it contained money and a passport. Then, to our undescribable relief, a woman at the bar handed us our wallet and said one of the maids had found it in the bathroom. We almost cried with relief. The wallet had about 750 dollars in it, and the bag had a house key and passport. Ironically, mom had forgotten to take the money out before we left. So we were walking aroung with almost 800 dollars in our pockets. You can imagine how happy we were. We thanked the bartender (and the Lord), gave the cab driver twice as much as we should have, and went to visit our friends in the hotel. One of them, our former neighbor, said we should reward the barman. But mom didn't feel comfortable with that. Why should you pay someone for being honest. Is honesty really that scarce? We decided to do that later. We went down to the village, paid for the dinner and took a taxi back to Yerevan. We paid whatever local currency we had left to the driver (good thing taxis here are cheap!) and got out at the taxi's stop across town from our house, tired and with no money exchange in sight. No Armenian money, no bus ride home. So we walked and walked until, at last, we found a place, got money, and went home. then we bought a DVD (Second Hand Lions) and watched it, sore feet and all. Let's just say it took a while to describe our journey to Vicky afterwards. Phew!