Greetings from Kyrgyzstan

It’s
Monday morning here. We met our guide, Dom, a man of Italian descent, and we
connect with the group at noon for lunch.

Our trip has been filled with serendipitous encounters and a flow that works
wonderfully. One of these was meeting a 23-year-old man at a grocery store. His
name is Igor. He was born in Bishkek and is of Russian descent. He went to Las
Vegas as a foreign exchange student when he was 16 and has been studying in
California ever since. He speaks excellent English and has CA energy.

He drove us around some yesterday morning. We went to the Osh Market, which is
pretty different from Latin America markets–stalls with beautiful spices,
dried fruits and nuts, much less fruits and veggies. I loved it!

We had a little rain the other night with some lightning. All of a sudden all
the lights went out everywhere. A few minutes later we heard a knock at our
door, and the hotel staff brought us a candle. The electricity came on soon
after.

Bishkek is such an interesting blend of several cultures, all moving into
modern Western ways. It’s not completely made the transition so it’s like a
gangly puppy, learning how to walk in its new and bigger body.
The people are very sweet and kind to us, although at first they may appear
stand-offish and somewhat unhappy. Who knows what’s really happening for them?

Time to meet the rest of the group. We head out on our adventure we’ve come
half way around the world to experience. Apparently all the rest except two
have already been out on the trails. Our group will have two stallions joining
us who have not been ridden much this year. Should make for an interesting
dynamic. We will ride the same horse for the entire trip, which sounds great to
me.