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Published: September 12th 2009
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Day 7, July 1, 2009, Wednesday, Sharshembi: Today is the last day that I can tell people I am Altimish-Alti, since tomorrow is my birthday and I will have to begin saying that I am Altimish-Jeti. Sixty-seven, and I am celebrating my birthday for a second time in Kyrgyzstan and this time I am at the 2nd largest alpine lake in the world, and probably the 4th or 5th highest in altitude. I think we are at about 5-thousand feet or so. What an experience for me.
Timka and I made it to the beach yesterday around 11 am after a quick breakfast of blini and cream after he got up around 10 am. All of Emil's family begins the day around 9 to 10 am during the summer and it is consistent down to the young cousins. They are night owls. Last night Timka met some new guests at the motel and asked my permission to join them on a walk and then later when they returned he stayed out until well after I had fallen asleep. I was quite tired from the walking we did yesterday. We went down to the beach and spent about an hour.
It was too cold for Timka to swim and actually, a little too cold for me. I did get in the water and splash around but actual swimming was not really possible. The beach here is very shallow and one has to walk out a good distance from the shore to reach a depth of 4 or 5 feet. The wind has been quite chilling since the rain of two days ago and I have been forced to wear my fleece jacket since there is no heat in the motel and the wind chill is probably in the upper 40's. The temperature warms with the sun in the afternoon, but as the sun reaches the mountains to our West around 4 pm the warmth disappears.
The water here at Lake Issy-Kul is unbelievable clean and clear and the water temperature is about 68 degrees right now. In mid-July, it warms up to about 72 degrees, but it never goes lower or higher than those temperatures. From the shore of the beach we have been going to you can see across the water to the mountains that ring the South shore of the lake. They are snowcapped high peaks that
glisten in the sun and are always touched by cumulus cloud formations.
Today the sun is bright in a blue sky with just small traces of cirrus clouds this morning.
After the beach, we hired a taxi and a guide to take us into the city of Cholpon-Ata, a bustling little town that makes its living off the tourists with cafes, money exchanges, banks, tourist shops, etc. I wanted to pickup some souvenirs and saw some magnets with Lake Issy-Kul scenes on them and thought they would make fun gifts. But Timka would not let me pay the price for them. They were asking 60 Coms, which would be a dollar and a half. But I did not have the energy to tell him that they would be more in the US.
We also were taken on a ride up into one of the gorges of the mountains where we saw some wonderful mountain scenes and where I was as much of an attraction as the
atar (horses),
eishakar (donkeys), and
byrdak (eagles). For 100 Soms I was allowed to have a golden eagle on my hand for a number of photographs. We took a number of
Eagle on my arm
Note the Zebra Donkey in the background photos of the area and the landscape, including a rushing alpine river whose roar was beautiful to hear. The
chappan (horsemen) followed us up the road. If I thought I could get my fat body up on a horse, I would have. But my dignity would not allow the attempt this year. Perhaps if I get down to my fighting weight of 260 instead of the 325 lbs I would be able to swing up into a saddle. The area is a tourist trap, of course. With a charge for everything including taking pictures of the
eishak that had come from a Zebra and wore zebra stripes. We walked up the road a bit from the base camp, but I find that it is a little hard to breathe for me at this altitude. But I am glad we went, I thought the area was quite beautiful and it is the first time to be up in the mountain areas. It reminds me very much of Colorado in the US. There are fir trees and near the water huge cyprus trees. Spectacular scenery and not to be missed on a trip to the country.
Today is our last day here. Either Boris or Gulnara, or both will be coming to fetch us and take us back to Bishkek. Timka is beginning to miss his mother and I know his mother misses him. I have been having him call home just to tell her how he is doing. Hopefully, today I can get people to stop and let me take a few pictures that I saw on the way up, but did not want to impose upon Faruh. I am fascinated by the building of new Mosques that is taking place here. Every small village appears to have a newly constructed place of worship and they are quite interesting. The tops are shaped metal and reflect the glory of the sun and often are colored metal. I hope to take a few more pictures of them today.
Timka wants to go to the beach around 10:30 or 11 am. I am not so enthused, but perhaps by the time he gets up at 10, I will be open to the possibility. Right now it seems a little too cool to me. But I know that if I walk the distance to the beach, I will warm up. I also am thinking about walking down the way to the little bazaar down the street to see if there are some items I can purchase without Timka worrying about the price. He is very cost conscious for me. I have had to make sure to make him eat, drink, and be willing to spend a little money to have fun. He is very special to me and I hope he knows that I am a good friend of his.
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