Drugs, guns and cow manure stoves on the route to Iran

Today my partner and I travelled across rural Armenia to Tatev monastery in the south east. On the way we stopped at Naravank and Khor Virab Monasteries with a spectacular view over Ararat at the latter.

We took the wavy serpentine route H45, the only road connecting Iran with Europe, with innumerable ambiguous Iranian lorries travelling westwards, apparently bringing ecstasy and weapons (amongst other things) to Europe.

During the winter, the higher mountainous areas experience temperatures as low as -15 with weeks-long snow blockages to the roads. The houses in the çars (tsars?) – Armenian for ‘village’ – have a dual system of fuel. Along with the gas boilers, the houses are equipped with stoves for burning dried cow manure – ‘atar’. Trees are scarce here and wood is expensive. Whether burning the poo is more sustainable than leaving it lying on the grassy mountain, has puzzled me – an exam question for a prospective sustainability consultant.