Day 1: We were met by our guide, Bek, in Kochkor before driving about an hour and a half out of town to start our four day trek around the Song-Kol region.
It was a tough first day mostly going either up or down but it seemed like mostly up! We arrived at our yurta camp early in the afternoon and were greeted with tea and bread as a storm rolled in over the pass. We were served kymys, fermented horse milk, to end our welcome, once again we got it down but it was well, interesting, slightly vinegary and also quite sour.
A few hours later another group arrived, 3 guys our age from Germany. We hiked up a few peaks near the camp and saw our hosts milk the horses during the afternoon.
We are now awaiting dinner to be served huddled from a second storm in our yurt.
Day 2: Currently we are on the shores of Song-Kol teaching the 10 year old daughter of our hosts how to skip rocks. The day took us up over the 3500m pass and the down into the valley where the lake sits. Our yurt camp is actually 5 yurts set up in a semi-circle, it has a small community feel and it appears that three generations of the same family are gathered here. The weather is perfect and we look forward to dinner including fresh fish from the lake.
Day 3: Probably my favourite day of the trek as we hiked along the lake all day. Up and down the hills filled with little yellow flowers and in and out of little inlets on the lake shore. We ate our picnic lunch on a peninsula overlooking the whole lake with a mountain backdrop. The lake shore itself looked like the ocean with multiple blue hues from indigo to deep blue. We continue to hike fast as we arrived ahead of schedule to our yurt camp. The family was busy working on the daily tasks needed to be almost self- sustainable. From milking the horses to collecting dung to burn to hand making noodles for soup the women are always moving but it remains a slow and simple lifestyle. This has perhaps been one of the most interesting parts of this trek, becoming familiar with a "typical" day for nomadic families. To us it seems so strange to not really progress but rather work to sustain and exist. The only goal of being out here is to fatten up the heard during the summer months in the lush pastures around the lake. It is a good lesson about taking the time to be still and appreciate the moment as opposed to rushing around, however, the pace does seem counter to our regular life.
Day 4: Today we hike out over a small pass to Kyzart village to catch a ride back to Kochkor to re-group and shower!
This trek will definitely be a great memory of this trip. One of the main reasons we came to Kyrgyzstan was to witness nomadic life and the trek offered that as well as incredible scenery and the trekking we love.
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