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Published: September 1st 2015
Well we had a 3 day weekend this week. Yesterday, 31st of August was constitution day. A group of teachers and spouses/children went on a trip to some of the National parks and sights near to us. Our first stop was to Charyn Canyon National Park. We left Almaty with our group in a 18 passenger M. Benz tour bus and just after getting out of the town limits we lost a couple gears on the transmission. The driver found a place to stop and after a hour of so delay he had the linkage bailing wired back on and we were back on our way again. Once you get out of town the roads here leave a lot to be desired to say the least. They can range from pot-holed semi paved to nothing but dirt. At times we were looking forward to the dirt. There are a lot of little towns to stop off at on the way with the local vendors selling their wares on the side of the road. You can find just about any fresh produce you can want with grapes and melons being the most popular it seemed like to me. 200 km and about
4 1/2 hours later we arrived at our first stop...Charyn Canyon. Once your in the parking lot there is a 45 min. hike down to the bottom of the canyon. The scenery is breath taking. It reminded me of a smaller version of the Grand Canyon. Once at the bottom the river that carved the canyon was accessible. The way back up was either hike or catch a ride for 500 tenge(about 2 dollars). After a afternoon there we headed to the town Kurmenty, About 80 km to the south west, and about 15 km north of Kyrgyzstan. more on that in the next entry.....
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Deana Kalberg
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Adventures!
Looks like you are enjoying each day and that fills my heart with joy for you. I look forward to following your adventure here! Hugs to you both. We love you.