Walking along the trail, I came across a Kyrgyz couple: a man in his sixties and his wife, who spoke a little bit of English. They asked me where I was from, where I was going, and how I liked KGZ. The man spoke Russian to me, and then his wife would translate into English. They understood some of my Uyghur too, but from my limited Czech skills I could tell he was speaking Russian, which I couldn’t understand at all, so I needed the wife to translate.
He insisted that I tell him my age, give him my WhatsApp number and accept their offer of a ride back to Bishkek after the hike. I just kept saying “thank you thank you” (rehmet, rehmet), which is how you politely refuse in Uyghur. I have learned it is important to refuse aggressive friendship-making in Uyghur/Kyrgyz culture, which I have discovered is very common.
I told them that I was having trouble finding the waterfall. They said they were also hiking to the waterfall and invited me to join them.
As we walked, the husband switched back and forth between Krygyz and Russian, and his wife translated when she could (her English was pretty rudimentary but better than my Russian!). He told me that he was 63, he had served in the Kyrgyz military for 25 years (he was outfitted in camo, camo hat, and boots) and that he had served in a war in Afghanistan. He had several metal teeth or missing teeth. Him and his wife used walking sticks. He was in a white tank top with blue stripes, and his skin was dark tan and leathery. Talking was pretty awkward, as it always was in KGZ, with him explaining things I only half understood, and his wife trying to translate. For the most part, the conversation revolved around him bragging about himself and his life, while also aggressively trying to be friends with me as I politely declined.
He stopped periodically to explain different plants or smell the flowers. He explain the herbal benefits of various flowers and plants to me. One plant had large leaves, which were called elephant ears, and he told me to take a leaf and use it as a fan. At another point, he stopped to use the leaves of one plant to wipe up the sweat off his back. He told me that he had come to the waterfall four years ago with several friends, they had drank whiskey until they passed out and slept there overnight. But, he assured me, he remembered the way to the waterfall from that day four years ago. We bushwhacked part of the way through heavy underbrush and crossed several creeks, going up and down steep slopes. Some of the way was so steep and hard to navigate that we had to help each other and they lent me their walking sticks.
After some time, the husband and I got quite far ahead of the wife. The husband took his shirt off and sat down for a rest and smoke, offering me one. I looked at the All Trails app. We had been walking for 5.6 kilometers already, and our trajectory didn’t look promising to find a waterfall anytime soon based on the elevation change markings on the map. I showed this to him and tried to explain it, but it was clear that he was confident that he would find it if he kept going. He said that it was just 2 km ahead—even though they had told me way back when they first saw me that the waterfall was 1.8 km ahead.
The wife eventually caught up, and I was impressed by her perseverance. She was definitely not dressed for a hike on a hot, humid day. She had on a thick t-shirt and long pants. She was wearing glittery platform shoes that barely passed as tennis shoes. My feet ached just looking at them on her feet.
I showed her the map as well. She explained to him what I was saying, but he insisted that he knew the way. I explained that I was tired and decided I would turn around. Plus I was running out of water. They nodded and did not protest, so long as I exchanged WhatsApp information with them first. We took some selfies and they promised to meet me at the hot spring and drive me back to Bishkek.
They continued walking into the gorge—more power to them; I was impressed—and I turned around. I headed back to the trailhead, which is where the hot springs were located.
To be continued...
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