Make serendipity happen...

It's a very strange phenomenon. You can spend all day roaming Fort Collins and never stop to talk with anyone. Yet if you roam a city in a foreign country where you don't speak the native tongue, and few of the natives speak yours, you'll find you make friends in a hurry. While stopping for lunch in a restaurant, we had trouble telling the waiter to return after we had a chance to struggle through the menu. Four girls at the next table interceded on our behalf and bought us some time. The next morning as we tried to decide which bus to board for our tour of Turgen Gorge, we heard a young voice say hello. Sure enough, the 4 girls were planning to take the same tour! (3 buses later we finally found ourselves in the right bus - but that's another story.) We had a great visit. Two of the girls are Civil Engineering students at USC. We took pictures and encouraged them to email us - and offered them a place to stay if they could make it to Colorado. After only a few weeks we have "close" friends from Canada, Bulgaria, Virginia, South Carolina, and Kazakhstan. The oddity of finding someone speaking English seems to be enough to warrant a conversation. And everyone who speaks English is interesting! Is it because we are starved for companionship? Is it because those travel to faraway places are interesting? Is it because those who learn English as a 2nd (or 3rd or 5th) language are naturally brighter and more open? Or do we just need to start talking to more people at home too?

Switchbacks are for wimps - Part 4

OK, it finally happened. A truly enjoyable hike! As part of a bus tour (another whole story in itself) we took a trip to Ecyk lake. This lake bore the brunt of a massive mudslide in 1963 which broke the natural dam, dropped the water level dramatically, built up massive amounts of silt in the lake, and killed hundreds of people. The drainage looked much like Big Thompson Canyon after the flood or the alluvial fan of Lawn Lake. Up river from the lake is a nature preserve with a very pleasant *flat* hike. For about an hour we penetrated deeper and deeper into the hills and enjoyed stellar views of the mountain range. At the end of the hike was a Georgian designed mudslide dam. This massive structure built of concrete "timbers" is designed to hold back rock, soil, and silt, while allowing water to filter through. The hope is that this will prevent a repeat of the Ecyk Lake disaster.

A beach day always beats a work day...

The dean of the college used us as an excuse for a "team building" day at Kapshagay reservoir. The whole college staff tried to sneak off campus at 9AM - tough to do when you're riding in a 20 passenger van with the school logo and slogan on the side. Nothing could diminish the party atmosphere - not even the fact that the destination beach was closed due to downed electrical lines from the storm the previous evening. In good male tradition, the driver headed onward, never revealing that he had no idea where he was going. Sometime after loosing sight of water, a groundswell emerged to force the driver to turn back. This led us to take a promising looking road, which got progressively narrower, but ultimately led to a beach. For only a small fee, were were able to drive out onto the sand where we set up "camp" amidst the locals and the free-roaming cows (was I back in India?) For only a few more tenge we were set up with tables, chairs, and umbrellas. While the guys set out for a quick dip in the water, the women loaded the table with all sorts of food and beverage. (I know this sounds sexist, but it's the way it happened.) We had no idea that there would be such a great feast. Of course, we could have guessed when we stopped by a roadside fruit stand (of which there had been hundreds along the way) and purchased a few hundred kilos of fresh fruit. I just had not idea where all the bread, meat, cheese, cookies, vodka, etc. all came from. Other than the challenge of digging the van out after it sank quickly into the sand, it was an awesome day of fun and sun.

Switchbacks are for wimps - Part 3

You'd think we'd have learned by now. But we struck out yet again for a hike on the trails outside Medeo hoping for an invigorating hike with excellent scenery. We did get the scenery, but the hike was a bit more invigoration than we'd hoped for. Once again we found that the trails in Kazakhstan climb relentlessly - this time with over 1200' gain in about 1.3 miles. The views are stunning, and even the rain during the hike added to the overall beauty of the trail. We climbed a ridge line with Almaty to our right and Madeo to our left. We never did reach the promised meadow, but we were rewarded with beautiful views of the Tian Shen mountain range. Maybe we'll get that gentle trail the next time!

It's just a hut trip...

I love to spend winter weekends climbing a few thousand feet on tele skis to stay in a 10th Mountain division hut above treeline. The huts are quite rustic with outhouses, wood stoves, and no running water. Yet they feel extremely plush after a hard day's climb into the wilderness. It turns out that many of the "deprivations" of hut living feel quite luxurious in the context of a back county adventure. And so it goes for foreign travel. I got through many a night by saying, "Just think of it as a hut trip." When the heat became oppressive because the villagers closed in too tight during a focus group in Bangladesh, it was just a hut trip. When the hotel in Chennai, India had dirty sheets and hard mattresses, it was just a hut trip. When the hot water disappeared on Thursday morning, and was not back on by Monday night as promised in Almaty, Kazakhstan, it was just a hut trip. It seems that setting your expectations low leads to a might higher degree of satisfaction with those things that are going well.

Food is Culture

Our hosts at KIMEP took us out for a fantastic traditional dinner including Kazakh and Uzbek dishes. We were lucky enough to not have to order, but merely sit back and enjoy the feast. Dining at the Tobeteka restaurant involved sitting around a low table with a shelf beneath the table. This way you are able to lay back on cushions, spread your legs out in front of you, and enjoy the feast. The main dishes rely heavily on mutton, beef, and horse in either straight meat or sausage presentations. All are served with breads or pastas as complements. The flavors are extraordinary, and the meals very filling. We also learned quite a bit about the nomadic origins of Kazakhstan and the influence of this on menu choices. The food seems to bring out stories of home and family from the east and the west. The inevitable comparisons of foods and the occasions on which they are served led to yet more stories about upbringing and families. All in all, eating together is a great way to learn about people.

If you want to learn, you have to take risks...

Joyce and I have been working on our risk taking skills this week. We were invited out to a shashlik (meat kabobs) restaurant with some Peace Corps friends. The only hitch was that we had to get across town on our own. Since no buses headed where we were going, we had to "hire" a car. In Almaty, everybody is a potential taxi driver. You just put out your hand and very soon someone pulls over to offer you a ride - for a price. Once you communicate where you are going but telling the driver your desired cross streets, he makes you an opening offer. Then you negotiate. Of course, if he can't understand where you want to go, you've got a problem! We did pretty well butchering the street names in Russian and managed to convince the driver that we knew where we were headed. However, the price he quoted was just too high. There is an "English Speaking" tax on most negotiated prices in Almaty, but we thought we should fight back. We did manage to get the price down to about 1.6X what it would have been if we spoke Russian, so we felt pretty good. Now all we needed to do was find out host's house based on one visit I had made there a week earlier. We actually made it! Another evening we decided to try the Kazakh specialty beshbarmak (see photo.) We carefully selected the restaurant from our guidebook - and then couldn't find it! We did find a restaurant that looked like it could have been the right one, so we ate there. 100% Russian/Kazakh menu, and the waitress spoke no English. So, with poorly drawn pictures of animals and some odd attempts to make animal sounds, we managed to order our authentic dinner. And for the record, horse tastes pretty good!

Switchbacks are for Wimps - Part 2

Joyce and I decided to visit the ski town of Chimbulak outside Almity. As with everything else, getting there is half the adventure. The #6 bus departs from a stop across from the Hotel Kazakhstan on Dostik. The hotel is a Soviet-era edifice with a "crown" of gold trim on the roof. The rooms are reputed to be expensive, even though many of them are not yet renovated to western standards. The #6 bus departs about every 35 minutes. While there never seem to be many people waiting at the stop, it's amazing to see the crowd emerge as the empty bus arrives. Within seconds we are pushed to the back of the line and find ourselves standing on a crowded, but not yet packed bus. As the bus heads uphill, more and more passengers join the 25 minute ride to Medey. The 50 tenge (40 cents) fare to the skating rink avoids a 1000 tenge cab fare - a 20:1 savings! However, from Medey there is no choice but to pay another 1000 tenge for a cab to Chimbulak. Two chair lifts carry passengers a couple of thousand feet vertical. We didn't realize that each lift was required a separate ticket, so we elected to hike underneath the second chair lift. Again, no switchbacks. It's not clear to me what kind of vehicles are able to make it up these roads. However, and extremely scenic view of Almaty emerged the higher we climbed. We felt transported back to Colorado as the rocky peaks shed their tree coverage. Our high alpine experience peaked at around 9600', but could easily have gone higher if we'd been willing to "do the vertical." The trip back to Almaty involved the same taxi to Medey and bus to town. Again, standing for the whole bus ride. While public transportation is plentiful, it is not always pleasant.

Gorky Park...

Gorky Park - the name alone evokes images of cold war era spy novels with clandestine operations and surreptitious meetings. Our visit to Gorky Park (Central Park) was a bit less exciting, but quite pleasant nonetheless. On a hot Sunday afternoon, we ventured downhill and east of town to find this large and well attended venue. Part amusement park, and part strolling park, there was plenty of people watching to be had. Kids were plentiful - as were doting parents. It looked as if the lakes had been drained for a few years - so that was too bad. But the fortune telling parakeets were quite the sight. And what a treat to watch a movie in Russian - especially one that did not take much translation. We saw Wall-E (or, as locally pronounced, Vall-E.) While we didn't understand all of the finer points, we caught the gist of the movie. And that is probably true of our stay in Kazakhstan so far. We're becoming comfortable in Almaty and beginning to understand much more about what we are seeing.

Joyce Arrives...

After almost a month on my own, I am thrilled to be sharing the rest of my travels with Joyce. She arrived at 2AM on the 4th of July, so we're both recovering from lack of sleep. I took this photo on the square near our apartment (the red roofed building in the background.) It's clear that I have forgotten how much taller I am than Joyce! The second phase of these travels are a "trial run" of our plans to visit other countries for extended periods. We feel strongly that to know a place you need to live in a place. This will be a challenge as we struggle to understand Russian and Kazakh.

Switchbacks are for wimps...

I don't know what hurt me the most on this hike - my first return to 8000' in a month - or my first real exercise in a month. But the two conspired to make this hike out of Medey (location of an Olympic-class ice skating rink) quite a challenge. Actually, I'm blaming it all on the Kazakh's lack of desire to build switchbacks. This seems to be as true on roads as on hiking trails. So, after 3 miles of gaining 700' per mile, the trail started to get steep! And I decided that the more prudent course of action was to return. That earned me my "road rash" as I slipped out on a scree field on my descent. Every the boy scout, I managed somehow to leave my first aid kit (and my water purifier) back in my apartment based on the ever wrong assumption that it would be "just a short hike." Lesson learned. My new Kazakh friend was kind enough to offer antibiotic cream and band aids when I met him later on the trail - how often do you meet someone who has spent time in Fort Wayne, Indiana - let alone a Kazakh! So, all is good, and I'm tired. Time to rest up before my next adventure!

It's All Greek to Me - sort of...

As I struggle trying to read Kazak and Russian, I've been noticing an interesting pattern. Whenever I'm confused, I try interpreting the text as Greek instead. I've met with some pretty good success. For example, the first title is interpreted at rho alpha mu sigma tau omega rho and hence pronounced Ramstor. Ok, so a c doesn't look much like a sigma, but it works! In the second photo you see the spelling of Almaty - alpha lambda mu alpha tau ... whoops! The bI is a single character and seems to be pronounced like a Y. I've done a little research and there are more vowels and consonants in Russian than in English. I'm sure I will slaughter many more words before this is over, but at least I've been able to get a start.