Guin Dalera in the Armenian Highland

“Mountains give the passwords to the unwritten laws of living”, says vlogger Guin Dalera talking with Armenian Geographic.

In 2020, Guin Dalera joined Armenian Geographic and started discovering Armenian mountains with us. On her YouTube channel, she talks about the sights, mountains and culture of Armenia. She travels around Armenia and creates videos about her adventures.

How the idea was born?

Before the pandemic, Guin Dalera was working as a cultural guide. She says that she always had the idea of doing something like that. “I don’t have many subscribers for now, but all of them are from different corners of the world, which is very exciting. I always had this idea, but there was no time to bring it to life. I always imagined that this idea should be realized outside of religion or churches. It seemed almost impossible, since my job was to travel to the churches of Armenia and introduce them to tourists. The main attractions of our tours were churches, but I didn’t want to present Armenia only from that perspective. Of course, Armenia is a religious country, but going from one church to another and making videos about them was not what I wanted to do. The pandemic of 2020 totally freed me from my working schedule, and I decided to realize what I had been planning for a long time”.

We asked her what new she had learned about Armenia during this time. Guin Dalera answered that over the years she had managed to learn a lot about Armenia, but she still didn’t discover Armenia from the emotional side. “During this time, I got to know myself and discovered what I feel when I am in Armenia. I always say that for 10 years I have constantly seen Armenia, but only on 2020 I started enjoying it. I began to enjoy myself in Armenia and saw it outside walkie-talkies and memorized Armenian history”.

Why people should visit Armenia?

The vlogger finds it difficult to shortly answer the question why people should come to Armenia. She can talk about it for hours. “It’s really difficult to explain to people why they need to visit Armenia, as Armenia is about feelings. Being in Armenia is an experience of many feelings. It is difficult to talk about these feelings, because they are individual for everyone. Armenia is not only about cuisine, people, or mountains. Armenia is much deeper”.

Guin Dalera has noticed that often people come to Armenia when they have nowhere else to go. For such people, Armenia is usually the 76th, 89th or 126th country they have visited. “These are real numbers that I ask our tourists for my own statistics. However, when they come to Armenia, at the end they always say something like this: “Armenia is one of the countries where you should start your trip around the world in order to know the world, ancient civilizations and culture””.

She believes that people should come to Armenia to find new friends and learn about real friendship. “You need to come and stay in Armenia to feel the sincere warmth that friends and relatives give each other. You need to come to Armenia to see the highlands and beautiful landscapes. I am not even talking about the cuisine, because food in Armenia is very organic, here people feel the real taste of the food. It seems like we lack seasonings, but for many people it’s like heaven, as they feel the real taste of food. Our cuisine is very rich and should not be underestimated. The tourists are very fond of our national cuisine, nature, people, culture, history, architecture, they like everything in Armenia”.

It’s difficult to leave Armenia

Guin Dalera noticed that tourists leave Armenia very impressed with everything. “They are experiencing a cultural shock, as they do not expect that being such a small country Armenia can be so diverse, rich and spiritual, and this applies not only to religion. They begin to feel a strong connection with Armenia and its people. I have many foreigner friends who fell in love with Armenia, with language, with people. They moved to live here and enjoy Armenia despite all its disadvantages”.

Talking about how she chose hiking in the mountains as a way to explore Armenia, Guin replied that this was the only way left for her to discover Armenia. “I was very suspicious and felt jealous of hikers as they seemed to be those almighty people who could climb the mountains and I felt too weak for that. However, this year all the stereotypes were broken thanks to my hiker friends who encouraged me to do it and not give up. So I joined them and was convinced that they were right”.

Guin Dalera thinks that hiking lifestyle gives many interesting sensations and experiences that you miss living in a city. “When you are in the mountains, you experience many emotions. You cannot understand how you lived without these emotions before. I think hiking lifestyle gives new ways of self-expression, it inspires you, makes you happy. You feel free and independent. When you climb the mountains, it feels like you are flying to the peak. You feel as free as eagles soaring in the sky. Mountains give the passwords to the unwritten laws of living”.

Why you should hike in Armenia?

Guin Dalera loves hiking destinations where she can see mountain lakes. She says that it is difficult to choose one interesting episode from her hiking trips, since the entire hike is a volcano of different emotions. “Sometimes reaching the summit is not the most important episode that I remember from the trip. Sometimes the most important and memorable is the time spent with your friends, the emotions, love and feelings you experience together. People who hike with you and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings with you are worth mountains”.

The vlogger has advice for those who visit Armenia. She says that they should climb the mountains: “When you come to Armenia, besides the visits of museums, where you get acquainted with the culture and history of Armenia, it is very important to see Armenia from its heights. Every new history, culture, people and food you have learnt or tried are becoming complete in Armenian mountains. Seeing those mountain ranges that are following one another you start to realize the soul of Armenia. As a beginner hiker I started to believe fairy tales, as when I sit on the peak of the mountain and see 7 mountain ranges I start to believe that beyond 7 mountains fairytale exists, and that’s a very warm feeling”.

Guin Dalera sees and shows Armenia to the world from the mountain peaks, which helps her to know herself and her inner world.

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