Lake Ysyk-kol

We started our day with a second visit to the felt workshop. After dinner last night we compared our purchases and decided a return opportunity was in order. We also stopped at the market to shop for the next three days. We bought too much as usual. No one will starve. For a change there were many small grocery stores with a nice supply of some familiar products-especially Snickers bars!

With our retail needs satisfied we hit the road with Lake Ysyk-kol as our destination. It was an overcast day for a change and the coolness was welcomed.

Lake Ysyk-kol is a high mountain lake, in size and elevation only second to Lake Titticaca in Bolivia. It is slightly saline having over 200 rivers flowing in and no outflow (very much like the Caspian Sea). It is over 2500 feet deep. We reached the lakeshore in just a couple of hours. The terrain on the south side is desert and today it was very, very windy. The dust storm was intense. Through one little village not a soul could be seen as the huge dust clouds engulfed everything in sight.

We found a spot with a small "windbreak" of trees and made lunch in the truck. Horse meat and cheese sandwiches with lots of fresh veggies. Interesting. One of the family, it seems, discovered she's allergic to horse meat and broke out in hives. The wind died down and the rain started. An hour later it was calm and the sun came out. It was still quite cool.

Our activity this afternoon was an eagle hunting exhibition. We were met by the eagle keeper and drove to a secluded area in the desert. After introducing us to the golden eagle, he released a rabbit, took the bird up to the top of the ridge, and let it go. Within seconds the eagle had the rabbit and was devouring it before our eyes. Bones and all it only took about ten minutes for the prey to be gone. Gruesome and interesting at the same time. We remarked that back home this type of exhibition would never take place!

Following the eagle event the weather gods came back with impeding gloom and we opted to drive to Karakol, second largest city in the country, and a guest house instead of camping. For $11 per person we got the entire faculty with a full kitchen. The drive along the coastline was nice despite the weather. Views of the mountains were overwhelming at times. As we neared town the desert transformed into fertile farmland.