Snow Falling on Roses
Kyrgyzstan 2012, Karakol Village Green Yard Guest House
First it was overcast, then rain and then snow. Torie and I had forgotten to put on our long underwear, but it was warm in the van. We stared through the rain spattered windows which were rapidly becoming snow spattered windows. Being from southern California, I was ready to call a halt to the entire day and just go somewhere that was warm and dry. But Leila, our guide, had no such inclinations. She was determined to show us every spot designated on our itinerary.
We stopped at the ‘garden’ of petroglyphs and tried to photograph them while keeping our camera and ourselves dry. Normally, we would have spent an hour ‘working the shot’ of these prehistoric depictions of leopards, wolves and horses etched onto large rocks. They were truly beautiful and represented the prayers of those ancient Kyrgyz, as they asked for good harvests or successful hunts. When we called a halt after 20 minutes or so, (we couldn’t keep the moisture off our cameras) Leila demurred , but as we were the boss, we ran back to the car and she had to follow.
Next was Prezewalski’s museum, ” a really lovely museum” according to Leila. It was still snowing/raining, but the museum was in a building so Torie and I got out of the van. Poor Torie. She had to visit the ‘Ladies’ and it must have been a horror what with the cold and the conditions of the place, which were so bad that even Leila warned her to wait if she could. Torie was rather pale when she returned. The museum was nowhere in sight…we had to walk in the rain, between the sodden poplars that plopped heavy raindrops and clammy yellow leaves onto our heads.
I don’t know if it was worth it for Torie but I was eager to see the exhibit of Prezewalski’s horse, a wild horse of Asia, now nearly extinct. The stuffed animal, rather moth-eaten, stands forlornly corralled in a roped off area of the museum. There’s no resemblance to the Prezewalski’s horse that you can see on the National Geographic website. After that, I was ‘done’ but Torie and I dutifully accompanied Leila as she explained the exhibits which contained many photographic portraits of important military and political figures of the day. Torie put her foot down at the idea of walking through the grounds to the monument to Prezewalski. I was quiet, letting Torie take the ‘blame’ for not paying our respects and once again we ran for the car.
Still, it was a fun day in retrospect…wasn’t it, Torie?