Zachary:
We took a trip to Tekali, a former mining town of about 25,000 lunatics toward the Chinese border. We stayed at a large manor house outside of town called the Iceberg Hotel. A wedding was winding down as we arrived. The wedding party was not. Speedo clad teenagers took turns cannonballing a swimming pool full of cold, gray river water as we settled in and were fed lunch. We met a girl named Aika who works at the hotel which doubles as a farm. She is responsible for feeding and milking the cows and housekeeping. Though she seemed to be one of the few people actually working, she was the only one with a constant smile. Kind of a Cinderella figure it seemed to us.
This morning (Sunday) we went to the mountains with Valari, a great bear of a Russian, and Ernst, our guide. You can see the photo of the rig we took. It's completely sparse, utilitarian and stunk like diesel. We weren't quite sure what to expect from the mountains - or our guides. People here don't open up very quickly. They're very gruff and even hostile until you've spent some time with them. As we drove away from the hotel on a poorly paved road the van rocked and rolled as if having an epileptic seizure. This did not bode well. Not only were our guides not in the mood to talk to us, but the ride was obviously going to be a physical challenge as well.
An infrastructure note: The roads here are in various states of disrepair and neglect. All of them. Sometimes it's better to drive in the breakdown lane (if there is one) to avoid the holes and heaves. People are always swerving around some hazard, taking them over the center line. This of course creates more obvious hazards. So it's best to be on your toes as a driver. And the cows and donkey carts...
We drove back through Tekali, which looks just like any European town - that's been through a civil war, famine and general nuclear holocaust. We came to a pile of boulders. Valari ground the van to a halt. We figured he was stopping to pick up provisions. Instead he jammed into fourth gear and we lurched forward. This was no ordinary pile of rubble. It was the road into the mountains.
The van lurched violently uphill, side to side. I hit my head on the window, the roof - Kai loved it. We rose above Tekali in this goat of a van. It was either the slow. violent struggle against gravity or the tense looks Valeri could see in the rearview mirror that relaxed him. I could see him smile. Aida translated for Valari, "you've heard of Nissan Trooper (an SUV)? This is my 'Ivan Trooper'! hahaha!" We all laughed and relaxed a bit as 'Ivan' muscled its way over boulders, through ditches, down ravines...
We passed sloping fields with tractors, cows, and leathery men. The terrain we crossed is a series of giant fingers that extend down from the mountains. We were essentially winding our way across and up the peaks and valleys of these fingers. It's a testament to human...(what, desperation?) something that people will farm such tough terrain.
We had to stop suddenly as Aida, who was facing backwards toward me, started to wretch and heave. As we watched eagles soar high above the mountains, Valari informed us that we had just covered 14 kilometers and only had four more to go.
We arrived at camp, dusty and tired as if we'd carried Ivan instead of the other way around. Kai was pleased as punch to find a herd of cows. He calls 'Ooooo-oo' when he sees cows - or a field he thinks ought to be holding some.
Peter is an older fellow who spends all summer here tending to the camp and the herd. He gets lonely and looks forward to Valari's weekly trip. They all encouraged us to spend the night. They're not used to such a short trip, but we were eager to get back to Taldy for our Monday Gracie visit.
I'll let April fill you in on camp. I'll just say that it was a much needed escape from Taldy for all of us. Kai had a great time, got a good night sleep and is back to his usual cheerful self again.
Lots of love to all.
Z
April:
First a couple of notes on the photos. Aika (who we all fell totally in love with) is what Aida calls a "real" Kazakh. She says that before the Mongolian invasion, the people in this region had red to blondish hair and slightly Asian eyes. It is incredibly beautiful to see. There were some girls here last year who looked like that, but we never had our camera when we saw them. Aika is as sweet as she is beautiful and we are going back to visit her in a couple weeks and are going to try to see about getting her a visa to the States (can you say au pair?). We NEVER meet people and ask them to move in with us, but there was something about this girl. It will take a long time if it happens at all because the US is so strict about who they let in even to visit thanks to that f#$%*ing Patriot Act. Don't get me started. We are going to try though.
OK, now about the picture of my mom the bandit. This one is for her friend Barbara Mayfield with whom she traveled through Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan and into China. A trip that has passed into family legend such sayings as "Listen! Tonight we INSIST on a room with a doorknob!" Barbara was similarly dressed to mom (although they both had more layers of fabric wrapped around them on that trip) except that instead of sunglasses, Barbara wore swimming goggles. It's best not to ask questions with those two.
Right, now on with today. We got to camp and headed down to the river. It was beautiful, unbelievably cold and we all felt instantly better being there. We threw rocks and dangled our feet, then strolled up to the camp to chat with Peter, Ernst and Valeri while they plied us with cakes, honey and tea. (The honey was outstanding and we ate it by the spoonful).
Zach even did a little fishing with Ernst. We saw eagles and falcons and these amazing bright blue birds that looked like parrots. Then mom made me get all the way in the river with her, twice (she says that's the rule, but who's rule is what I want to know) and so then Zach didn't want to look like a pansy (teeeheee) so he did it too. It was awesome!
As we were leaving, Peter gave us his stash of dried fish which Zach and mom loved but I passed on as I was still into the spoonfuls of honey. On the way back down Kai and Saida fell asleep despite the rocking and bumping (there are no words for the state of this "road"), in fact Kai would wake up when we stopped and fall back asleep when we started up again.
We ate lunch at the hotel and there told Aika that we wanted to invite her to come to the states for a while to live with us. She was shocked and we explained that there is a real possibility that it might not happen but we will do our best. We will go back up there in a couple of weeks to meet her parents and show her pictures of Vermont. Aida is going to help her get her passport and paperwork on this side. There is a Peace Corps volunteer in Tekali who teaches English, so we bought Aika 20 lessons in the meantime. We wanted to show her that we weren't just talk.
Back in Taldy it is 95 degrees and we are exhausted. The only person who slept well last night was Kai. The rest of us were kept up by music, partying, barking dogs, some weird midnight construction and, finally, roosters. I never thought I'd say it, but our neighborhood here is downright peaceful comparatively!
Tomorrow, back to Gracie. At some point today we all said that 1 day of not seeing her was OK, but 2 was too long. Even Kai asked about her in sign language today. OK folks, I'm off to watch mindless television and eat watermelon.
love to you all
p.s. - Kerri, mom told me not to tease you because you are probably in labor as we speak and therefore don't want to hear it but I am going to anyway. Exactly why were we supposed to see the town of Tekali? Did we miss something? It was a poorer Taldy as far as we could see, with a better landscape. We decided that if you lived here fulltime, the charm of Tekali is that it isn't Taldy. Girlfriend, you must have been in sore need of entertainment. The mountains are beautiful though and if we hadn't gone, we wouldn't have had a chance to get up in them. By the way, is that baby of yours planning to come out anytime soon or is it moving in furniture and hanging posters? We are thinking of you (and I have my bracelet on for you). xoxo A&Z
