We waited thirty minutes for the marshrukta to fill with women and children and speed off to Bokonbayevomidway along the Issy Kol lake. We caught a taxi to Gulmira's Guesthouse that we had booked online. She was also a CBT approved guesthouse. We were greeted with big hugs. She told us she had been a cook and that her husband was a retired policeman.
We settled into our room and were ushered out to an outdoor yurt for tea, bread and jam. Although Gulmira was not a fluent English speaker she had a lot of words and had had a lot of experience hosting foreigners. I gave her some lessons to help her out and she was most grateful and used her new words at every opportunity. There are only 3 or 4 CBT guesthouses in the small village and Gulmira appears to be the co-ordinator so gets first pick of the guests. Her daughter and niece were visiting with their children to escape the hot temperatures in Bishkek so she had a lot of helpers.
Husband , Abrahamsu, took us to the red rock spires of Skazka Canyon outside of the town. When he is not busy he is a taxi service for the guests. We spent a couple of hours scrambling around the sandstone canyon. It was pretty slippery underfoot with little pebbles giving way when you walked on them.
We were looking at some interesting looking plants with red berries and he said they were ephedrine bushes used for medicine. We later learnt they were used for worship and healing.
Along the route back was a huge statue of Manas. The Manas epic is a cycle of oral legends twenty times longer than Homer's Odyssey.It tells the formation of the Kyrgyz people revolving around the exploits of heroic warrior Manas as he carves out a homeland for his people. The epic was only first written down in the mid-19th century. Nearly every city had a statue of Manas. His 1000th anniversary was celebrated in 1995.
Lots of families were lying under umbrellas on the beaches of the lake and picnicking. A large complex of yurts we were told were used as a yoga retreat.
Back at the house we were served tea and cake and joined by two young French travellers, and an American guy. Gulmira organised an eagle show for us and as it started to get dark we were off in a jeep to a rocky quarry. On the drive we could hear squeaking in the back and realised we had the eagle with us.
A second car arrived at the quarry and the driver told us all about the dying art of eagle hunting. He was training the young eagle handler. The golden eagle was only one year old and weighed 5 kilos. We all had a turn putting on the thick leather glove and holding the bird. The bird had a hood over its eyes so was very calm. They were training for a competition and last year went to Qatar. This area is famous for its eagle hunters but not many young men are getting into the sport and they fear it will die out.
The trainer pulled a large rabbit out of his car while the apprentice ran up the top of the quarry with his eagle. It swooped down when he whistled it and landed on the rabbit holding it down. When the trainer picked the rabbit up to return it to his car it bit him on the finger. The eagle is trained to strangle and hold the animal not to kill it.
We had some time to walk around the village and do some washing and catch up with emails regarding our trips ahead.
The village children liked to say hello and wave. A few older ones asked our names. It was common to see the young children in the early evening pushing their baby siblings around the streets. Sometimes 4 or 5 young boys would meet up with their prams and strollers and hang out together. A couple of girls with their siblings came up to say hello and presented us with some apricots.
Gulmira had a hectare of land with most of it planted in potatoes. Around the edges were fruit trees and in the background were mountain peaks with some snow so it was a lovely setting.
Most of the houses are built of mud and straw blocks which they make themselves. Once the walls are up they are smoothed with mud and painted. Those with more money have kiln baked bricks.
The French girls went onto the salt lake to bathe and try their luck at hitching there as they didn't want to spend the money on a taxi. The lake is as salty as the dead sea and the mud on the bottom is smeared over the body for therapy.
Next stop Kochkor.
We settled into our room and were ushered out to an outdoor yurt for tea, bread and jam. Although Gulmira was not a fluent English speaker she had a lot of words and had had a lot of experience hosting foreigners. I gave her some lessons to help her out and she was most grateful and used her new words at every opportunity. There are only 3 or 4 CBT guesthouses in the small village and Gulmira appears to be the co-ordinator so gets first pick of the guests. Her daughter and niece were visiting with their children to escape the hot temperatures in Bishkek so she had a lot of helpers.
Husband , Abrahamsu, took us to the red rock spires of Skazka Canyon outside of the town. When he is not busy he is a taxi service for the guests. We spent a couple of hours scrambling around the sandstone canyon. It was pretty slippery underfoot with little pebbles giving way when you walked on them.
Along the route back was a huge statue of Manas. The Manas epic is a cycle of oral legends twenty times longer than Homer's Odyssey.It tells the formation of the Kyrgyz people revolving around the exploits of heroic warrior Manas as he carves out a homeland for his people. The epic was only first written down in the mid-19th century. Nearly every city had a statue of Manas. His 1000th anniversary was celebrated in 1995.
Lots of families were lying under umbrellas on the beaches of the lake and picnicking. A large complex of yurts we were told were used as a yoga retreat.
Back at the house we were served tea and cake and joined by two young French travellers, and an American guy. Gulmira organised an eagle show for us and as it started to get dark we were off in a jeep to a rocky quarry. On the drive we could hear squeaking in the back and realised we had the eagle with us.
A second car arrived at the quarry and the driver told us all about the dying art of eagle hunting. He was training the young eagle handler. The golden eagle was only one year old and weighed 5 kilos. We all had a turn putting on the thick leather glove and holding the bird. The bird had a hood over its eyes so was very calm. They were training for a competition and last year went to Qatar. This area is famous for its eagle hunters but not many young men are getting into the sport and they fear it will die out.
The trainer pulled a large rabbit out of his car while the apprentice ran up the top of the quarry with his eagle. It swooped down when he whistled it and landed on the rabbit holding it down. When the trainer picked the rabbit up to return it to his car it bit him on the finger. The eagle is trained to strangle and hold the animal not to kill it.
We had some time to walk around the village and do some washing and catch up with emails regarding our trips ahead.
The village children liked to say hello and wave. A few older ones asked our names. It was common to see the young children in the early evening pushing their baby siblings around the streets. Sometimes 4 or 5 young boys would meet up with their prams and strollers and hang out together. A couple of girls with their siblings came up to say hello and presented us with some apricots.
Gulmira had a hectare of land with most of it planted in potatoes. Around the edges were fruit trees and in the background were mountain peaks with some snow so it was a lovely setting.
Most of the houses are built of mud and straw blocks which they make themselves. Once the walls are up they are smoothed with mud and painted. Those with more money have kiln baked bricks.
The French girls went onto the salt lake to bathe and try their luck at hitching there as they didn't want to spend the money on a taxi. The lake is as salty as the dead sea and the mud on the bottom is smeared over the body for therapy.
Next stop Kochkor.
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