TRAVELOGUE #9

When: Monday, June 19
Where: Elstei Ger Camp

I woke up the next day around 5:40 AM. The dogs were gone, but the moon was still up. I knew dawn would break soon so I struck up another hill with my camera and a banana in tote. I reached the summit in 25 minutes, which surprised me. All sense of perspective and distance must be readjusted to fit this land. I sat and ate the banana while a crane flew in low over the hill to my right. Its guttural call was almost eerie. A coal mining town lay sleeping in a distant valley to my left. We had passed it on the way in to camp. Saraa told us the people that lived there were from the far west, mostly Muslim from one of the 21 ethnic groups found in Mongolia. She said she could tell by the way their dead were buried in the cemetery we passed. I walked down the opposite side of the hill to a dried up creek bed. Thousands of purple irises dotted the low land, bejeweled in dew. But the flowers were not the only things that twinkled in the morning light. Heaps of plastic bags were snagged on various shrubs and thorns. I looked back up the hill and it sparkled with plastic bags. I followed the twisty river back to camp.

We went horse back riding this afternoon for about an hour. I learned how to say goy mori (good horse). The horses here are smaller than most horses I’ve seen, certainly smaller than all horses I’ve ridden. They’re also raised in this free roaming feral style which makes them a bit more temperamental. Our Mongolian horse guide seemed to exhibit the very practical relationship people have with the horses out here. They don’t braid their manes or put up posters of horses in their bedrooms. These animals are a means to survival, end of story. Saraa played mom while we trotted along, reminding us every three minutes to hold on tight. After a very big lunch I took a little siesta because I was feeling almost feverish with exhaustion. I really haven’t had a continuous six hours of sleep in over a week. When I got up, I walked up the highest peak across a rather formidable sandy expanse. On my way, I thought about the trash around me, the plastic bags, old batteries, abandon shoes. I thought about modern human habits, how wasteful and careless we can be. I thought about my two fat boorish bunkmates, how they take more than they need at meals and leave a huge pile of uneaten food, groaning. When I summated the hill I found another huge pile of stones with a pole stuck in the center. A horses skull was tied to the pole with blue shaman scarves.