6/25/07
As you head east from Jeti Oguz you head further into the red canyon. There is grass that grows on top of the red stone, but it looks like peach fuzz. Our bright red Honda minivan follows the road as it winds along the river that runs through the canyon. It’s not quite a road, more like rocks (not pebbles) protruding from the earth in random fashion. The most harrowing part is that about every half kilometer you have to cross the river using a wooden bridge. That’s when I hold on and hold my breath…it’s a miracle these things work. The river has some serious rapids in it. Yesterday I dipped my toes in, I don’t think it’s for swimming. As you continue east the red stone fades away and the road opens up into these gorgeous lush and green pastures. These are jailoo or summer pastures that many Kyrgyz visit for six months a year to tend to their livestock as they live in yurts and go back to their traditions. These green pastures roll of the mountains and they are dotted with trees and wildflowers (yellow, purple, red, white…maybe even poppy).
My mission in coming out here was to ride horses. We stopped at one of the first hurts that we saw and inquired about renting their horses. I got a nice white one. I asked for its name and they looked at me funnily. I guess you don’t name things that you’re going to eat. Anyhow, horse and I (and guide) set out for the trees and wildflowers along the side of the mountain and were aiming for a set of yurts were Yeltsin used to come and ride. We didn’t quite make it that way because there was a very thick forest that we encountered along our way so we diverted for another yurt camp. I’m not sure why my guide is a guide. He has never been here and had no clue where he was going. Hence the GPS coordinates. Handy Dandy. He specializes in hunting and only wants me to go into business with him arranging for American hunters to come and hunt wild Marco Polo sheep. He does not believe that I do not hunt, nor do I really know anyone who hunts. For those of you who do, contact me, so he’ll stop bothering me.
After riding for about 3 hours (again my guide looked so uneasy on the horse, but I was fine) we came back down the mountain and had tea in the yurt of the family who rented us the horses. The couple lives there from April to September and has lots of horses and other animals. They also have their grandchildren for the summer. They were having a tea party when we arrived. The stuffed panda and two Barbie look-alikes were sipping tea from plastic cups and saucers. Glad to know such things exist across all cultures. Inside the yurt was very interesting. There are a lot of mattresses and a table. It doesn’t look like they do the cooking inside this yurt because the top was closed. On one ‘panel’ near the door there was a string and from it hung a casio watch – I guess it’s the equivalent of a kitchen clock. There were bags hanging all around mostly full of clothing and supplies. Their yurt is located next to a stream, which provides nice fresh water. My favorite item inside the yurt (after the clock) was a really nice looking samovar. It provided me my tea. I also had really good fresh bread with fresh blackberry jam.
The place where I’m staying. I haven’t quite figured out what it is yet. At first I thought it was a retirement summer community. Then I thought it was a Kibbutz of some sort. It turns out it’s some sort of resort and all the people here are on vacation. There are a lot of old men and women here. There is this one guy who has these rain boots and tucked into them are his pinstripe pants. He has a matching jacket and a traditional Kyrgyz black and white felt hat. He’s also got that Chinese medicine man goatee going on. But what makes him super interesting is that he wears the Order of Lenin pin. So using my broken* Russian I enquired what it was for. He made a rifle shooting motion and said “germans.” I think that means he’s a veteran of the Great Patriotic War (WWII). He must like this place because they have a statue of Lenin in the main square outside of the meeting hall. There are also Young Pioneers (equivalent of Cubs and Scouts) statues, but they are harder to get to since you have to walk through meter tall grass. There are some younger women here and each one of them is wearing a track suit: Puma, Adidas, Nike, and so on. And then there are tons of cute little children. There is this one little girl who I’ve become friends with. At first she would run to her mother and hide behind her, but now she wants to hold my hand. And she follows me around. Progress.
From here I'm heading into more remote parts of the lake area and into some mountains. I think it'll be at last 2-3 days until I can post again. I'll be riding camels though. Missing you all.
* I say broken, but that’s not really far since my Russian was never fixed. It’s more like gesticulation mixed with a few key words.
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