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Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church. Mass was being held. I lit a candle for my gramma, but no photos were allowed.

Dungan Mosque. I think it funny that the blue tower is a minaret — but nothing like the beautiful blue minarets of tile in Uzbekistan.

It really isn’t leaning like that. I took a panoramic photo.

A wee bit of (dead) wildlife.

A museum of 19th century Nikolai Przhevalsky, A Russian explorer who discovered and mapped Asia all the way to Karakol. He had one last exploration that he never finished since he died, and requested to be buried in this town next to the lake..

Visited a farm owned by man and woman with 3 children who had decent jobs until Russia left in 1991 and they became penniless. They had a few acres of treeless dirt that they began farming in order not to starve to death. They planted trees and the children carried 5 gallon buckets of water long distances to provide for those trees every day. They learned and used crop rotation systems. They bought proper animals and continued to buy more acreage.

You can clearly see where their property ends since one is lush green and the rest barren.

They grow the best Angus beef. So good that they cannot compete with U.S. prices, which is filled with hormones and unhealthy, untasty meat, so they sell most their beef to Japan. They raise what they call Kardashian sheep. They grow to 350 pounds with butts weighing up to 50 pounds. When they were poor and starving, often all they ate was bread slathered in the fat from sheep’s butts. They continued to raise sheep with bigger and bigger butts until they now look ridiculous.

They have taught 1,700 farmers proper farming so they can live on their earnings. When someone asked if they charged a fee for teaching the farmers, she said that life is not always about making a profit. When they teach farming, they do better, the area does better and the entire way of life improves.

They started a meat company so that the new farmers had a place to sell their meat.

They have 2 games on horses. Two teams of three man on horseback work to pick up a headless goat, keep it with them long enough to run to the end of the field and drop it into a hole. They do this many times and by the end of the game, the goat has been beaten and mauled enough that it is tenderized, and then cooked and eaten. Gate1 travel insists they use a 20-pound fake leather ‘goat’. I just think about the blood that gets beaten out of the real thing!

They also have horse wrestling. NOT wrestling a horse; but wrestling a human opponent while he is on a horse. Liz was pretty sad to see that in the throes of fighting each other, the poor horses are hurt when the bridle and bit gets twisted in their mouths.

We had a typical Kyrg dinner at a woman’s home. After dinner we were taken into a family room where we saw costumes and clothes. The woman said she had a job other than head of household. People were guessing actress, seamstress, etc. when I blurted out dentist!! I ONLY did so remembering Liz’s female friend who is a dentist. I won these bags of green and black tea.

Okay, some boredom on the bus ride. I’m thinking of growing a beard — it covers s lot of facial wrinkles.

A day before, it was Liz who insisted the bus needed to make a potty stop. So today was my turn; and this is where we ended up. Cute little outhouse at the back of a little farm. When you gotta go; you don’t care WHAT the hole looks like. Several others partook in this stinky escapade.

Rainy but fun day walking across rail-less bridges, through the mud and up and down hills of the Semenv Gorge.

Beautiful.

Resort on the country’s largest lake, with mountains in the background. The town is Cholpon Ata on the north shore of Issyk Kul Lake.

No AC but I turned on the ‘heat’ via two thermostats near the floor — which should have been a clue!! I woke up in the morning to heated floors!!! Fabulous!

Walk out the long pier to the lake and then turn around for the gorgeous mountain view.

Sweater on with feet in the water! I think the sand had been shipped in — but still great.