Stepping UP, and UP, and UP!!!

Continuing on with the saga…

All hopes for our vacation at Lake Issyk-Kul were dashed when my DH made the executive decision to postpone our trip across the border because of the disintegrating situation in Kyrgyzstan. We knew from past experience, that to expect a “vacation” at a Sanatoria in Central Asia was an exercise of the utmost folly. So, we lowered our expectations, a LOT, and trudged on. Up, up, up to the Alma Tay, or Apple Mountain we went. I think we arrived around 10:00 or so at night. Finding the “administrator” wasn’t too hard, he was busy checking in a “couple” of 17 year olds up there for a good time. Great! It’s also a brothel. But also it had a great view…



Ok, not really, but it sure beats some others I’ve seen.


They quickly gave us 2 rooms, both with 3 beds. The kids in one, us in the other. We quickly used the bathroom down the hall- WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY down the hall. At least there was hot water to wash the cooties off. At sanatorias, you make your own beds, and that job consistently falls to me. Am I the only one who can shove a blanket into a sewn sheet? Yeah, guess so. 5 beds later, everyone pottied, and last drinks administered, we fell into somewhat restless sleep. Every so often a door would slam or someone would talk too loudly in the hall, or dogs would bark.



At 8:00, bright and early, we were up. Because that’s when breakfast was served. No choices here, you either show up or starve. Unless you want cookies from the snack box. Which actually may have been better than the oatmeal (which I detest almost as bananas) that was given. I swear Russians love oatmeal almost as much as vodka, sometimes even together I imagine.



I gagged down a couple bites. Really, I did give it my best effort, but there was no way that was going down. So I asked for some hot water to make my coffee. Luckily, having had years of experience, we knew to bring our own jam to sweeten up the bread. Together, the coffee, bread, jam and meager portion of cheese held me over for the next exciting event of our trip.




Tanked up on more carbs than should be legal, we set out to take a hike- for the hills were alive…with the sound of horseflies.

I don’t know about this whole hiking thing. I mean when one’s only goal is to get to the top, I become very suspicious. Seriously, I JUST DON’T get the “mountaineers” mentality. I like hiking, but I’ve gotta have a goal- like getting to a certain waterfall, or a particular outlook, or a certain number of miles. Just to start going up a mountain with no particular endpoint is just not something I personally enjoy. But what I do enjoy is taking pictures along the way. On our morning hike, this is what we saw.
















Breathtaking might be an apt description. Oh wait, it actually was breathtaking, in the fact that we were basically going almost straight up through knee high grasses, weeds, and flowers, interspersed with an occasional deep hole to add authenticity to our bushwhacking. I was bummed that it was more like climbing stairs than I wanted it to be, but glad that it easily subbed in for one of my runs. Of which I’d only taken a whopping 2 of the whole time we were gone. Sad, but true.

Back at the ranch, we hastily got down to the cafe for our next mealtime adventure.

Lunch was fine- not stellar, but fine. It filled our bellies, and that’s the point of eating. Having consumed enough cabbage to make anyone become a self-proclaimed windbag, we hiked back to our rooms, waving our hands behind us. ;)

After a refreshing afternoon nap (what else is there to do up there?) we watched a movie; Meet the Robinsons, which is perhaps Disney’s worst attempt at film making yet. That’s just my opinion. Sorry to those of you who disagree.

Wanna get a load of dinner?? Don’t get too excited… here it is:






Fish and wine breath fully entrenched, we crawled once again into cootie- laden beds and slept better than the first night. Which was good, because tomorrow would prove to be a VERY, VERY long day...