Ahhh Kyrgyzstan at last. As gorgeous mountains are replaced by incredible buildings I am now able to reflect on our time in Kyrgyzstan. After leaving Bishkek and our wonderful apartment right downtown, the public bus carried us over the shores of the infamous Issy-Kol lake to Karakol. The small quiet mountain town proved to be relaxing and the small hostel we stayed at hosted many other interesting travelers. We stayed a bit longer in town than we would have liked in order to catch the Independence day celebrations, promises of horse racing, headless goats and games sounded good enough to postpone our hiking. While waiting we went on a beautiful day hike into one of the nearby jailoos( valleys where the nomadic people graze their sheep and cows while living in their yurts). The scenery was spectacular, we hiked all day, encountering lots of sheep and their Shepard's.
On Independence day we spent the day wandering around with a few friends we met at the hostel, Steph and Simone - two Australian women, a german man and another american. Absolutely nothing appeared to to going on. We found out later the games ended up being cancelled due to the presidents request to mourn the lives lost in a recent plane crash out of Bishkek. We found a festival like gathering. We shared a carpet with some Krygyz men and ended up drinking vodka for a few hours together. There was a Russian phrasebook handy and we all played the fun game of pointing at different sentences and handing it back and forth - i got " you are good looking" a few times - keeps Thane on his toes! Ha.
The day after the "celebration" we packed up, bought a few last minute food items and shared a taxi with Steph and Simone to a trail head into the Karakol Valley. For three day we backpacked through the valley, up over a 3,800 meter pass and down into another beautiful valley. The hiking was strenuous, but wonderful. As was the aussies company! The first night, just after the sun had set a herd of horses ran right around our camp and through the river - mountains crashed down from their peaks and the horses waded through the glacial melt water only a few yards away. There was a glacier fed lake at the pass, a blue gem with grey crumbling peaks all around - I had to concentrate hard not to keep looking at the water and focus on my feet as the trail was tricky and steep. The hike ended at a bot springs, private cement little houses where we soaked our tired muscles! The next day we woke up, decided to stay another night and had another wonderful soak. We hiked eight miles back to a town in the cold rain and Thane and I enjoyed the alone time under our hoods, hobbling along.
On Independence day we spent the day wandering around with a few friends we met at the hostel, Steph and Simone - two Australian women, a german man and another american. Absolutely nothing appeared to to going on. We found out later the games ended up being cancelled due to the presidents request to mourn the lives lost in a recent plane crash out of Bishkek. We found a festival like gathering. We shared a carpet with some Krygyz men and ended up drinking vodka for a few hours together. There was a Russian phrasebook handy and we all played the fun game of pointing at different sentences and handing it back and forth - i got " you are good looking" a few times - keeps Thane on his toes! Ha.
The day after the "celebration" we packed up, bought a few last minute food items and shared a taxi with Steph and Simone to a trail head into the Karakol Valley. For three day we backpacked through the valley, up over a 3,800 meter pass and down into another beautiful valley. The hiking was strenuous, but wonderful. As was the aussies company! The first night, just after the sun had set a herd of horses ran right around our camp and through the river - mountains crashed down from their peaks and the horses waded through the glacial melt water only a few yards away. There was a glacier fed lake at the pass, a blue gem with grey crumbling peaks all around - I had to concentrate hard not to keep looking at the water and focus on my feet as the trail was tricky and steep. The hike ended at a bot springs, private cement little houses where we soaked our tired muscles! The next day we woke up, decided to stay another night and had another wonderful soak. We hiked eight miles back to a town in the cold rain and Thane and I enjoyed the alone time under our hoods, hobbling along.
posted by thane at 4:51 AM
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