Somewhere in the mountains to the east of Tashkent
When I first decided to come
to Uzbekistan to teach, I was very excited to find out that there is an
'international hiking club.' I had no experience hiking in the
mountains, but I was eager to try. I went out and bought expensive
hiking boots, socks and outerwear. The hiking club is headed by Boris,
half man/half mountain goat. He is notorious for underestimating the
difficulty of his hikes, and for changing directions and plans on the
fly. My first hike last year was quite wonderful, except for the fact
that an old knee injury flared up and caused me a great deal of pain.
A new year, and new gear. This year I came back to Tashkent with a knee
support and fancy walking sticks. Yesterday I was ready to go. The hike
was described as 'easy/medium,' and the temperature was supposed to be
about 30 degrees (celsius). At 7AM I met the group at the agreed meeting
point. The first thing my friend Urska said to me was, "Wow, you're
brave, wearing shorts." More on that later.
After a 2-hour drive, we arrived at our starting point in the mountains. As we were doing up our backpacks, sipping our water, Boris announced that we would be doing a different hike than the one described in the invitation. Uh-huh.
The FIRST part of the hike was about a 75 degree incline. Within 2 minutes, I was far behind the rest of the group. For the next 7 1/2 hours, I was behind the group. We climbed up and down, up and down, up and down. A few times, I gave up on the descents, and just slid down on my butt. At one point, we spent about 45 minutes CRAWLING through thorn bushes (I have the scratches to prove it hence the need for long pants). There were times when I wanted to cry, and times when I wanted to curl up and tell them to send a helicopter for me. But I made it. Barely.
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| Salt Lick |
