The westernization of most places I travel to is no longer a surprise, but the presence of jeans and cell phones never tells the whole story. Beneath the desire of people to imitate America lies the soul of a country — the things that do tell the real story.

What is true is that when the wall fell and the Soviet Union released its iron grasp on the countries it occupied, it left them poor and overwhelmed. How do we move forward, they wondered? How do we restore our own culture, our stories, our religions? All 15 countries had to rise from the ashes of their post-Soviet past.

There is a long list of empires and countries that have occupied Armenia all throughout its history. It’s battered and bruised but proud. Places like this once preserved their culture in secret, praying under their covers, celebrating holidays behind closed doors.

If you want to know why I fight against the corruption in our country, or any talk of changing our form of government, it’s because I’ve traveled through countries that have suffered long from lack of freedom. If you think socialism is an answer to our problems, visit Armenia where the average person brings home $300 a month.

Last year, the Armenians staged a massive protest and were able to install a leader they deemed to have “anti-corruption” campaign promises, and already he has built and repaired roads and set out to improve the lives of the people he governs. You hear the voices of the people rising up all over the world in this way with protests in China, France, Hungary, Germany and other places. One local gentleman I spoke to called it the “great awakening” of the world, where the little people are rising up to demand the end of corruption in their governments. Tired of feeling like serfs on feudal land, and watching oligarchs, corporations and corrupt politicians wield their control over the world’s people, the brave are beginning to speak up, and if only slowly, other voices are joining the chorus.

We traveled to neighboring Georgia after a week in Armenia and it was like going from dark to light. The Georgians have a democracy and their good fortune is evident in the way people live, in the sheer beauty of their capitol city, in their prosperous marketplace and tidy homes. They are an educated people, obviously comfortable in the world, and there are few homeless nor is their abject poverty in the capitol city of Tbilisi.

And what a city Tbilisi is. Knowing so little about it and finding it to be so magical was a pleasant surprise. It looks like a place King Arthur would live, with a beautiful 4th century fortress on a hill overlooking a vibrant city beneath, a river winding its way through the picturesque old town, classic European architecture dominating the busy streets, a cable car joining one end of the valley to the other.

It is one of the great small cities of the world but not widely known in the way Prague or Positano are. It is a place where East meets West, once a Silk Road crossroads where Arab, Ottoman, Mongol and Russian forces have left their cultural mark.

Here, rugs dangle from whitewashed wooden balconies along narrow cobblestone streets. Flea markets and bazaars sell goods from Near East regions, and impressive churches sit next to bakeries that throw dough against the scalding sides of a circular oven in the making of the city’s best bread–thirty cents a loaf.

Georgia is a land of wine; it dominates the culture and the countryside. Repurposed Coke bottles full of local wine are sold in street stalls, bottles of the stuff line the glass shelves in bars and wine stores. The Georgians use the skins of the grape in wine production so that all varieties have a unique flavor and appearance. Wine is a way of life here, a tradition much older than Napa’s viticulture. Georgia has 8,000 years of wine production behind its history.

These post-Soviet countries are slowly coming into their own and finding a way to rejoin the world, and visitors find all kinds of unexpected pleasures. We don’t understand these countries well, but tourism helps to bring about a proper and overdue introduction.

I’ll leave you with a beautiful scene: we had lunch at a modest private home on the owner’s terrace shaded by grape vines. Two older women had spent two days cooking and baking in the small kitchen for our arrival. The friendly man of the house greeted us warmly and treated us to true Georgian hospitality-known throughout the world.

As we were leaving, the family came out together and stood waving to us as the bus pulled away-smiling and waving away as if we were their best friends.

I will remember this.

Most people I meet in the world are so very good.

We are not the problem.