TAJIKISTAN ~ Roof of the World (May 31 2012)

 Pamir Mountains. 

Mountains without Names. Swimming to Afghanistan.

There are probably more remote places in the world than Tajikistan, but as “the roof of the world," it’s on the list.  Tonight I’m in the Pamirs, gorgeous, remote mountains along the border of Afghanistan, curling over to the border of China.

Afghanistan to L of river, Tajikistan R side

Australian Dayna gazes at Fort Ratm

Grandpa & grandson in Bolunkul, a tough, remote settlement

Tajikistan is a mountaineer’s dream, an anthropologist’s field day, dance/music lover’s find.  For three days now I’ve been riding in a Land Cruiser, following a gravel, pot-holed road through a valley – snow-covered mountains on each side.  A river divides the Tajik mountains from the Afghan ones.  It amazes me to look just a stone’s throw away and see Afghan journeyers on camels, women in blue burka, covered head to foot, and men in white turbans.  I wave to a turbaned man watching his flock of sheep. He waves back.  “My first Afghan friend,” I say to Dayna, fellow traveler from Australia.

TURKMENISTAN ~ 10 Lessons Learned (May 15, 2012)

Witnessing a nation defining itself.  Diversity of the 'stans.'  
A gentler Islam.  Turkmen patience & dignity. 
 

It has been a rich 15 months since I left Washington DC for a job as Director of Program and Training in Peace Corps Turkmenistan.  As I stuff my backpack and ship things to self storage, here are 10 reflections about Turkmenistan. Some of the “private” stories are more colorful, of course, but we all self-censor when we write.