Tag: Adventure

72 Hours In Macedonia

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Macedonia is not someplace I anticipated visiting until a dear friend of mine, Gwen, became a Peace Corps Volunteer there.  She sent me pictures and told me stories, and after looking up some potential plane tickets, stumbled upon a ticket that allowed me to add 4 days in Macedonia onto my strange open-jaw from Kyrgyzstan to Germany and back for – get this – only 20 Euros.

Now, we’re going to ignore the fact that Turkish Airlines cancelled my flight twice and then left me marooned overnight without food or shelter in Munich on New Year’s Eve, and cut straight to Skopje. Continue reading “72 Hours In Macedonia” →

Mile 4: Adventure, Uncertainty, and Illness

Published on by Mark Jahnke

When you join the Peace Corps, you know that you’re going headfirst into an unknown of knowns. You know that you’ll get sick, but you don’t know when. You know you’ll have an adventure, but you don’t know how or where. You know you’ll have ups and downs, but you don’t know the nature of those challenges. In fact, inasmuch as we have been trained to know how to handle a pretty insane number of wild and wacky situations, many of which are genuinely likely to happen, not knowing if and when they will happen means that, at most times, you still feel completely immersed in the unknown. It’s the fundamental paradox of the Peace Corps.

I spent a lot of August wandering in that wilderness. Continue reading “Mile 4: Adventure, Uncertainty, and Illness” →

Road Trip Part 2: The Road To Song Kul

Published on by Mark Jahnke

Song Kul reminds me of a Microsoft wallpaper. Its grasslands rise from the water’s edge across rolling hills and up to mountains, with the fields broken only by the occasional yurt, cow, or horse. Tucked away in a high mountain basin, there is no electricity or cell coverage within two hours by car. It’s about as peaceful a place as I’ve ever managed to find outside of Alaska.

The ultimate version of Lake, Yurt, and Mountain
I mean, COME ON, LOOK AT THAT.

Song Kul is a summer retreat for many of the semi-nomadic people of Kyrgyzstan. While it has a thriving tourism industry, most of the yurts around the lake belong to ordinary Kyrgyz people who, every summer, bring their herds and flocks from towns and villages to the lake to graze and to relax in the clean crisp cool mountain air. When it is over 100 degrees in Osh during the day, it can be as cool as 40 degrees at night at Song Kul. Even though less than 100km away, people are sweating bullets in Bishkek, in Song Kul, it is necessary to wear sweaters, vests, and fur-lined boots. It’s a contrast in so many ways to many places in Kyrgyzstan, and yet it manages to remain so distinctively Kyrgyz in a most beautiful way. Continue reading “Road Trip Part 2: The Road To Song Kul” →