No Līgo līdz Līgo: 9 days of lepeshka

Day 1

We've arrived in Karakol, the starting point of our walk. The 4^th biggest city of Kyrgyzstan is a village with a breath of glorious past and only two asphalt streets. We are immediately in love with this place and don't understand why Lonely Planet is underestimating it so badly. Keeping in mind that Kyrgyzstan is famous for its nature, not the cities, Karakol is probably the most interesting city we have visited.

At the evening we try banya, russian sauna, wich is very popular here. Still we are not brave enough to go to the public one, as it's gender seperated and probably totaly naked. Family one we rent for one hour turns out to be a really neat, little private sauna. An old woman at the entrance gives us two metal bowls for washing and wishes C лёгким паром! Even if we both love sauna and have one at home regulary, Nicolas later admits that the last time he has had such a heat was probably in Finland.

Day 2

We start walking only in the afternoon and are surprised to reach our today's destination in just two hours. Jeti-Oguz also called The broken heart or Seven bulls is a row of red sand rocks, each of them somehow cut in half right in the middle. There is no cafe here so we go in the only shop opened to ask for a warm cup of tea. Besides the tea we get also a place in a yard to build a tent and a friendly dog for guard. Night seems the longest of my life as the wind from nearby portentous mountain valley brings rare snowflakes and freezing cold.

Day 3

Picnic in the tent, brushing teeth in the yard and around 8:00 we are ready to walk again. Our new guard and friend treated with a slice of sausage follows us for the next 20 km until we reach Shalba village. No cafes or shops here, we are lucky to be invited for a lunch at local's home. Kind old woman offers us colostrum (young milk) and remembers Latvia for it's good cows that were brought to Kyrgyz kolkhozs during USSR. After lunch she refuses to take any money, but is interested in our dog. We decide that it wont be allowed on plane to Riga anyway and agree to exchange our friend for a free meal.

Day 4

Finaly we reached the lake and built a tent on the beach between bushes of sea buckthorn. We are trying to make a fire of material available here – dried sheep poop and branches. Poop makes a lot of smoke but no fire, while branches burn out so fast that we hardly have time to cook our dinner. Menu of this week is simple – sausage, cheese and lepeshka, traditional Kyrgyz white bread in the shape of Yulia Tymoshenko's hairdo.

Day 5

Sleeping in the house of a local family tonight. Here in countryside people are very kind and often offer us help (food, ride, their yard) without asking anything for it. Still Kyrgyz people like to say they are poor. Very often they will start a conversation with – So how do you like Kyrgyzstan ? Poor people, no? We are wondering in wich country we have met the most happy people. Surprisingly it's in India, country whose people have probably the most reasons to be unsatisfied.

Day 6

In the drab and half abandoned village Tamga, a sign over the post office door says – mail, telephone, telegraph. Sometimes a man on a horse crosses the dusty road, and we have a feeling that we've arrived in American far west. Locals say that summer is crowded with tourists. We like to travel off season.

Day 7

We've reached our final destination - Skazka (Fairytale) canyon. It looks like in a fairyltale indeed. Different shaped and coloured rocks form a natural maze. There is no shadow, no sound. Probably it's the most epic place we have camped and definately the highlight of this walk.

Day 8

A guy we meet on the road tells us about a nearby lake, so salty one can float on it. That's an experience we can't miss so we decide to stay one more day and try to find it. After a short lift in a very fast truck and a long walk between sandy hills we arrive there. The salt lake turns out to be a bay of Issyk Kul. The water is too cold to relax and float, but Nicolas has a fast dip. We return to our tent to empty a bottle of fake Tsinandali, made in Kyrgyzstan.