Iskander Kul

Friday July 16
Tonight we went out to dinner, all the flagship people, with Michelle and Khorshed. Sarah has a pretty bad case of food poisoning from the vegetables she ate at lunch yesterday that weren’t washed properly so she stayed at the hotel to rest up so that she can still come on the excursion this weekend to Iskander Kul. We took a mashrutka to Merve, a Turkish restaurant, on the other side of town. I ordered a Turkish pizza called a “pide” with chicken and cheese. They are so good, I had one when I was at the airport in Istanbul flying over here too.
After dinner I went home and packed for our camping trip in the mountains this weekend. I’m so excited to go camping again!

Saturday July 17
We left this morning at 7:30am in three jeeps to drive about three and a half hours to Iskander Kul. The group was just the flagship kids, Michelle and Sarah who were visiting from the states, Khorshed who is like the operations manager here in Dushanbe, and the drivers. The trip there was beautiful- we stopped several times on the side of the road to take pictures of the mountainous scenery. Since we were driving through the mountains and getting farther and farther away from the city, the road got progressively worse. Large potholes, no asphalt, rocks etc were making our jeep bounce around quite a bit. I think it might have been especially bad for Kyle and I since we were sitting in the back of the jeep, over the axle, bouncing up and down over all the holes rocks etc.
We arrived at Iskander Kul around 12pm. Again, the view driving in, going down the mountain on switchbacks at a rather high speed, was glorious. The lake there is a beautiful teal blue color and is crystal clear. It is also freezing cold since it is fed by mountain streams from melting glaciers. Khorshed said that there is snow on the mountain tops from October to May and that the lake completely freezes over during the winter. There are no fish or anything in the lake because the water is always so cold and then with all the ice in the winter, they aren’t able to live there. We drove all the way around the lake to get to our campsite along the river that feeds into the lake. There are a few older men who have a trailer with a kitchen there and they let groups rent their property and they cook all the meals. It was a pretty nice location- our tents were already set up for us and they provided sleeping bags for us. The only bad thing was that we couldn’t see the lake from where we were and there were also a lot of mosquitoes since we were right next to the woods.
After lunch we went for a hike to see the waterfall. Probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. There is a balcony built over the top of it that you can stand on so that you are literally standing on top of the falls. The waterfall is 40m straight down which is 131.23 feet which is a 13 story building. The water pouring down is so powerful that the spray it creates causes a rainbow. Next to the falls there was a tree with lots of strips of cloth tied on to the branches. We asked Khorshed and he said it was a wishing tree. People who hike to see the waterfall will rip off a piece of their t-shirts or something and tie it onto the tree while making a wish. Michelle used a piece of fabric she found on the ground to make a wish but gaby actually pulled off part of her sleeve to use for her wish.
When we had finished admiring and taking pictures at the waterfall we hiked back the direction we came and then kept going for a little while until we reached Snake Lake. We climbed up on the hill next to that lake and were able to see Snake Lake on one side and then turn around and see Iskander Kul lake on the other side.
Once it got dark enough we went out after dinner and laid on the bridge that crossed the river to get to our camp and looked at the stars. We could see so many stars! We were able to see a few constellations that we recognized and also the Milky Way. So pretty- I wish I could have taken pictures but they just didn’t show up on the camera very well. When we got too cold from laying on the bridge we went back to the campsite to sit around the fire and then headed to bed.

Sunday July 18
Breakfast was at 8am and we got into the jeeps shortly thereafter to drive over one of the mountains to the valley on the other side and go hiking from there. Once we crested the mountain top, we could see down into the valley. It looked so lush and green and was filled with wildflowers.
We drove down the other side of the mountain and through the valley, passing through a small village on our way. Its rather out of the way (and by rather I mean INCREDIBLY out of the way, several hours from any grocery store or anything like that) but how cool would it be to live at the foot of a mountain like that!? When we got to the place where we were going to start hiking I looked out the window and saw an abandoned bus which looked exactly like where Chris McCandless lived when he wandered into the Alaskan wilderness in “Into the Wild.”
We started hiking up one of the mountains and stopped when we reached a freshwater spring that was coming up from the ground. It was freezing cold but tasted really good. After resting there for a while we continued hiking up the mountain, going towards a small cave at the top. The top also being the foot of another mountain…standing at the bottom of them all, in the valley, it felt as if you could climb forever and never reach the top. As soon as you get to the top of one hill there is another bigger one right behind it.
After our hike we went back to camp and had lunch and then packed up our stuff and headed home. We got back to Dushanbe around 4:30pm. It was a very fun weekend all in all but not restful at all. When I got home I was completely exhausted and not in the mood to do any homework at all!

Monday July 19
Back to school as normal. Meisam had to go to the emergency room over the weekend because he was in so much pain from his back. I think he has a slipped disc or something similar to that. But anyways, he will not be able to teach all this week so Atepha is taking back our classes while he rests.

Tuesday July 20
In Tajiki class this morning Zarinna mentioned India food so then we were all dying to go to Deli Darbar for lunch. Kyle and Gaby waited at the center for Kyle’s conversation partner while Rob and I went ahead to the restaurant and ordered for everyone. It worked out really well because the food takes quite a while and by the time the rest of them got there it was ready. I have had the same thing all three times that we have been there because I like it but am also too scared to try anything else. The menu is probably the most confusing thing I have ever seen and looks like a website from the 90s. I always get vegetarian spinach and cheese with white rice. Its so good and exactly the right amount of spiciness.