Almost but not quite

We almost decided not to write ever again but not quite.
Sara almost decided to go home but not quite.
We almost didn't find a ride to Karakol but not quite.
We almost drove the speed limit but not quite.
We almost were not three cars across a two lane road with no shoulders but not quite.
We almost got thrown out of the jalopee (jeep) on the dirt mountain trail but not quite.
We almost got ripped to shreds walking through the bushes but not quite.
We almost burnt down everything with our Russian camp stove but not quite.
We almost enjoyed our pasta filled with dirt from the silty water but not quite.
We almost froze to death in the tent but not quite.
Sara almost fixed her cramping (pooper) problem but not quite.
Tyson almost made it to the top of the pass but not quite.
Sara almost saved some M&M's for Tyson but not quite.
We almost thought this single female Canadian travelling for 18 months was sane but not quite.
We almost had to drink coupous amounts of Vodka but not quite.
We almost posted pictures (slow internet) but not quite.
We almost got laundry done but not quite.
And finally...
We almost found Alexi Alexander but not quite.

So much has happened since we last posted, and I apologize agian for no photos. The internet is both slow and you pay by MegaBit not by time, so photos you'll have to wait for. We are in Karakol now, alive and smiling, and very smelly. I believe the last you heard from us we had just finished a day hike up Ala-Archa (just 30 km south of Bishkek). To better explain Ala-Archa, think of an alpine valley filled with flowers of every color that on either side has rather large new mountains. By new mountains I mean mountians that have yet to see the erosion that is observed in the Canadian Rockies. Here the peaks are jagged and raw. Not having a map we just headed up the main valley until we got hungry, had lunch and walked back down. Since then we've bought a map of the area and are told that the waterfall up the side valley is utterly magnificant, so we plan on going there later.

The next day was suppose to be laundry, bank, food shopping, map buying, relaxing, and basically organizing to come to Karakol day with a major goal being the laundry. However it didn't work out that way. We ended up spending the day just relaxing in our apartment making some much needed headway into our novels and contemplating all things under the sun. Before we knew it the day was done with nothing accomplished.

Skip to Monday morning early. We where at the Caravan grocery store when the doors opened and loaded our basket with all things required for the mountians. We then were able to find and purchase a treking map of both Karakol and Ala-Archa. Next we took out enough funds to get us to and from Karakol where there would be no ATMs. Finally we went to Fatboy's for brunch and to try and get a taxi to Karakol. Sara was not keen on taking another public bus through any mountain passes, and I agreed. (Side note, public buses take way longer, smell, and in the mountians people get sick, however they drive a more reasonable speed so you aren't always reaching for something to hold onto as the seatbelts don't work, so you choose your own posion). At Fatboy's we meet a bunch of expat peacecorps guys who gave us some good advice about our upcoming adventures. One of their key pieces of advice was that when in Karakol we should go see Alexi Alexander who sold all sorts of old Soviet era stuff, for bargin prices. They didn't know the address but said, "Ask anyone who speaks a bit of English and they'll know Alexi." That is a quote. The driver associated with Fatboy's asked a rediculious price, as did many others we asked. We ended up returning to a tour agent we had dropped in on just out of couriousness earlier in the day. We finally left Bishkek at a little after 1pm. Sara's turn.

It gets kind of boring here when you just watch someone type and seeing as the blog is called "Tyson's and Sara's stroll around the world" i figured i better jump in before people begin to think i left or something like that. Also side note.. I also figured i should defend myself for Tyson really makes me look bad when he writes things on here from my perspective. I am really not that difficult to travel with i just have a few things such as really hating driving up mountain passes in any country really and seeing as my family and friends read this too im sure they dont want Tyson beating on me too badly!!! The drive to Karakol I thought was fine compared to driving from the togourt pass to bishkek. I took my seatbelt and pretended to buckle it in, knowing that it really did not do anything for safety it made me feel better anyways. Tyson just zoned out and glued his face to the window.. which i am getting much better at. Karakol to me seems like a little more economic disparity then in Bishkek the panoramic views from the city to the mountians make it very beautiful and for anyone who is a big mountain lover it makes you itch to want to go into the mountains (yes even I wanted a little taste.. quick someone write that down, time stamp it and sign it). After finding the Yak guest house ( I think Tyson just liked the name Yak) The places was a russian designed house that reminded me of what my Baba's house would have been like.. very old, wallpaper everywhere, old dressers and such and the smell of bread. We got hooked up in a room and the garden outside had very nice roses of every colour. Being hungry we set off to find the only restaurant that has english menus and had a small dinner of rice, chicken, fried veggies, and bread (I really can't get enough of bread). After that we walked around a bit and then headed back to the guesthouse hoping to talk to the Owner Valentine about getting us hooked up with a stove, and a tent to go to the mountains.

Valentine did not show up till the next morning. At breakfast he talked with us about our plans and told us he could take us in his jeep in the afternoon to his guesthouse in the mountains where we could stay the night and then head off for our overnight hike the following day. We decided that that was a good plan seeing has nothing was really holding us here in Karakol. So in the front yard of Valentines guesthouse here in Karakol there is a yellow very old jeep (50 years old) that looks like a Jalope that Archie owned in the comics. We thought it was pretty cool.. but me still being nieve thought for sure we were taking a land cruiser or something.. but nope Valentine loaded up the Jalope and said well lets go.. I looked at Tyson and just started to laugh because I can't wait to see how the heck we are going to make it up the mountains in this. Oh before this it is important to note that we spent all morning looking for Alexi Alexander.. going to tourist information places, tour places, shopping mall, taxis anyone really. Then we realized that it was hopeless and that it was like going to Quesnel and asking some random person if they knew where they could find the great fiddler Peter vanLeusden (but with a common name like Joe Smith) Because im pretty sure every Russian has the name Alexi, or Alexander in it.

Back to the Jalope ride.. it was bumpy, no paved roads, huge boluders from various landslides that had occurred over the years and the jeep was packed with me in the front, tyson and two outher women (a cook for the guesthouse and her daughter) in the back with our bags and the girls packs who took a lot of room because they spend the whole summer in the mountains. We didn't fall out, but a couple times im pretty sure i was sideways on a boulder. Tyson it explained it like a the real ride of Indiana Jones and not the rip off ride at Disneyland. I have come to the conclusion that if you get car sick or motion sickenss this trip is not for you. 3 bone jarring hours later (dont worry we got video coverage) we arrived at the guesthouse. It was nice accomodation with breakfast and dinner. Tyson ate everything because hes good like that, i picked and stirred and played with my food because im good at that but managed to eat some. The homemade jam and bread was fantastic as well as these pancake like sweet fried bread things.

The next morning we headed off on our trek. We got our tent and stove and some petro in a pepsi bottle and headed off. The scenary was amazingly nice, at parts i didn't really feel like I was hiking because the valley was so big and wide.. i felt like i was at someones farm with all the cattle, wild horses, and sheep we came accross. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to our place to set camp. After setting up camp, eating some lunch and getting ready for our excursion further up the valley to get a better view of the glacier we went on our way. We really didn't follow the route properly the way up and got ourselves into some thick bush. Ok iv'e been told that I am not being my honest self and forgot to mention a small minut detail about crossing a river. I don't like rivers.. there pretty to look at but i dont like jumping accross them. Tyson made a little path that was good enough for him so he figured it would be good enough for me.. we kind of had a little scrap abotu it.. no harm no foul right dad?? So after standing at the river , Tyson on one side, me still on the other side.. arms crossed shaking my head. I finally jumped and no one fell in .. end of story. Apparently I am not allowed to just put the good things in the blog i have to say everything. Who knew? (Tyson's note: since I use this as a journel of sorts it is important to me to tell it like it was, so that I can remember things such as spending half an hour throwing huge stone after huge stone into the river and saying to Sara, you can jump this now? eh? (Side side note, I thought basketball players could jump, I guess only up and down in the same place, but not over freezing cold rushing water)) We honestly really do love eachother .. if we are being honest then i might as well say that prunes taste gross and you can really only eat them after taking a bite of chocolate.

Ok so we crossed the river, made it through thick bush that could cut a hole in your shirt and while I had had enough i stopped and Tyson continued. And then i thought i made it this far up i might as well continue too so i met him at the rocky part up to the view of the glacier. It was stunning and big. After admiring it for a bit and taking photots we decided we better get back down before dark sets in. We actually found a better path this time along the edge of the scree rocks and down by the river. Also write this down and time stamp it about half way to our tent Tysons says "are we almost there yet, im tired" i almost had a heartattack.. your tired of hiking WHAT!?!?!? and a smile came on my face, i made him exhausted I WIN!!! He says, "well i was carrying the day pack.. and ask him the next day who carried the day pack down ??? ME!!!).

So to make a story that is already long shorter, we got some silty water to make pasta and it was gross .. (mom thanks to your over concerning worries about purifying the water, i made Tyson let the water boil for like 10 minutes, made him purify it and such) You can laugh Marilyn and Peter it is a little ridiculous. But none the less it was done.. and we had pasta with silt for dinner. Bon appetite. I had like 3 bites and decided that the silt between my teeth was enough and ate some dry ichi ban noodles, bread, and a mars bar. Tyson managed to choke down all of his and a little more but even he had enough. When trying to get the stove filled a bit of petro spilled, which caught on fire when trying to light the stove. There is not much more to say, except it was a good thing the handle to adjust the fuel intake was long. It was funny though.

The sleep in the tent was freezing and since were all about honesty i told Tyson he is going to be freezing if he sleeps in his birthday suite and he said "no no its hot in here" and so i put on my layers and got in the thin sleeping bag. Within about 15 minutes a freezing Tyson started to get his clothes out.. i had a chuckle and he didn't put socks on and i told him too but he ignored me and his were wet so i told him to put my extra ones on but he didn't want to stretch them.. like i would have cared i would rather have stretched socks then have to amputate my boyfriends toes. But no instead he thought it would be fun to during numerous accounts throughout the night stick his toes between my feet and legs to which i would jump and get very angry. It was not a good sleep even snuggling it was FREEZING.. even more freezing then the metal shed in Tibet. But we survived and nothing was amputated and took some good water that we had filled our water bottles from a stream along the hike that had no silt and made some soup for breakfast. (Tyson: the sleep was so cold because the tent had large areas of only mesh, we were sleeping on a horse blanket, and our sleeping bag was rated for plus 20.) But hey we survied and on to day 2 of hiking.

It was a short hike to where we dropped our packs and started to climb up to the pass that overlooked Lake Ala Kol. I made it about half way up and decided that the cramping and the not being able to well use your imagination was putting me to a halt so i stayed back and let Tyson continue on to see how far he would get. He was about 1.5 km from the pass when he decided that out of being alone, having no ranger rescue here and that it was very steep scree that he would have to climb decided to turn back and that he would have to return another day when there was more people, or he had some more technical skill. (Tyson: the hike up the valley from the get go was difficult, with the valley climbing over 1200 meters in under 7 kilometers. The last bit up to the pass was from where I stopped a combination of scree and snow, and the snow had the dirt trails from rock slids on it, not something that I felt comfortable doing that day. The wind, rain, and thunder at that point in time also helped in my decision to turn around there.) I had a nice nap and enjoyed the scenary and choked some more prunes down while waiting for Tyson and I also ate all the M&Ms. After about 3 hours he returned and i was shocked to hear that he didn't make it.. and felt bad for him. But he reassured me that it wasn't my fault and that we will just have to try it again another day in time. So after sitting and looking at pictures we decided to head on down.. me being a really nice person carried the pack down. We got the other pack where we had left it and made our journey back to the mountain guest house. We were so tired, our feet hurt and we were looking forward to having a hot springs bath.

When we got back to the guest house we were suprized to see some other people. For when we had arrived it was just us and one guy from Germany who was also peterified about the water source (see its just not me!!!!) There was a couple from Japan who really kept to themselves, and then this girl from London, who is now a Canadian Citizen who lives in Toronto and calls herself Canadian). I was happy to hear that. She was a super nice girl. But also maybe a little too crazy for us. She had at this point been travelling solo for 12 months now with 6 months remaning in her journey.. i almost fell of my chair.. and then she started talking about going to afghanistan to get to Iran and i was like.. are you kidding me?? It was nuts to us.. but i admired her strength and was also glad to hear that just a couple months ago she has a big bout of homesickness and had actually bought a train ticket to beijing and one to Urmuchi .. she was orignally going to Urmuchi to continue her journey and then at the train station she made the decsion to continue on and got the refund for the bejing ticket. So really i am normal... but she is still crazy. We had dinner of soup with some chunks of bone.. it sounds gross but it was not that bad, and then rice with fried something or other and of course jam and bread!!!! Then we headed off to the hot springs to soak for a bit. Then half asleep got to our room and went straight to bed exhausted.

The next morning we got up had breakfast and arranged a time to get back to Karakol. We left around 12:30 and it took less time to get down then up since we spent half the time in neutral rolling. If you ever wonder what it is like to get stuck between a sheep herd and the road.. we have video coverage no worries.. also picture a old Russian man (Valentine) getting out of the jalopee and being a little irritated that his road was blocked, was kicking his way through the sheep to get them to move.. it was a sight to see. We made it back to Karakol where we once again tried to find Alexi.. no luck hes in hiding or something we dont know we can't find him... we also can't find laundry services and we have far too many stains for hand washing so i guess we wait till we get back to Bishkek, seeing as for the next 2 days we will be wearing our bathing suites and lying on a beach on Lake Issyk-Kul. My type of thing. We ran into too Italians at the guesthouse back in Karakol who just came from the lake all nice and burnt who said it was fantastic. We are looking forward to it. So that is all for now, we stink and are hungry and need to go eat and shower badly. Congratulations if you read this entire blog.. if i had a candy i would give it to you, but instead pat yourself on the back. You will not hear from us probably until Monday or so when we arrive back in Bishkek.


Tyson and Sara