Adventure: It’s something that drew me to the World Race. And it’s an incredible way to get to know people.
A few days ago, on the second leg of our travel day(s) from Osh to Karakol, my teammate Taylor and I decided to hitchhike to Karakol from Bishkek. It went something like this:
8:45am- We’re on our way, excited for what the day is going to look like.
10:00am- After running a few errands, we make it to the main road out of Bishkek. We decide to take a bus out of town, to make things easier. We meet a young mother who speaks almost perfect English. She asks where we are from- her son thinks that because we speak English, we are from England. She helps us find the right bus before heading on her way.
10:30am- The bus turns off the main road, so we hop off.
10:50am- We’re picked up by our first ride of the day. It’s a truck and it’s a bit of a mission to climb into it with all our bags on. The drivers name is Elgan and he is 25 years old. He seems eager to talk but his English is limited. We make the most of the conversation in broken sentences.
11:23am- We’re picked up by our second ride of the day. The drivers name is Armeus, his older brother Suthan is in the passengers seat. Beside me in the back is an older man. Timur is his name. He talks a lot but none of it is English. Armeus is chatty- his English is basic but we can make conversation out of it.
12:39pm- We’ve been dropped off by Armeus and have walked for a while to get out of town again. We’re barely on the main road for 5 minutes before another car pulls up. We have to pile in the back seat with all of our bags as the boot is full. It’s a brother and sister heading back home. She speaks only a few words of English (thank goodness for Google Translate!) We ask them a few questions with the help of my phone but most of the ride is silent.
1:30pm- We stop of the side of the road behind a few other vehicles. It’s a fresh water spring to fill up our water bottles. After refueling on some icy cold water, we’re on our way again. Taylor falls asleep for a bit. I fight against it and manage to stay awake until our next stop.
2:15pm- They drop us in Balykchy, a town right on the lakeside. We stop for a snack and a toilet break before starting off again.
2:42pm- A car reverses down the road to stop for us. We imagine the conversation being brief as they wondered whether they should pick us up. It’s a family. The husband speaks no English. His wife is in the back seat with their young daughter. She is eager to pick us up and we get in. Their daughter is 3, she tells us, and they’re taking her to the lake to swim. They’ve done it everyday since they had been on holiday. They’re originally from Russia but moved to Kyrgyzstan 25 years ago. They’ve been married for 22 years but could never have children. The rest of the conversation takes place on Google Translate. “We went to a Holy Site on the other side of the lake and we made a sacrifice. Then we got pregnant,’ it said. I was taken aback and wondered if they meant prayer and not sacrifice. I asked if they were Muslim. They were.
3:10pm- They stop and buy some cherries for us. I have never liked cherries but, after tasting those ones, I think I do now. It was shortly after this time that I wanted to tap out. Thankfully, she felt the same and I was able to get a few moments of quiet.
4:06pm- Again, in the car I was fighting sleep so when they dropped us off, the first agenda was finding a coffee. On the side of the road we buy a cup of raspeberries for 50 som (less than 1USD). It tasted like heaven. Then we found a dinky little cafe that gave us coffee we were sure was Nescafe 3n1. It definitely helped, though.
5:06pm- We’re picked up by a guy driving what he describes as a ‘Russian Muscle Car’. It’s from 1986 and the seats are so bouncy they feel like a trampoline. This guy is a character. He talks almost non-stop for the 5 minutes he drives us. I wish that we had had longer with him- he seemed like he had a lot to say. Nevertheless, we have to say goodbye.
5:45- We’re picked up by a young woman who speaks no English. She is well dressed and is driving a 4WD. When she drops us off, we walk for a bit before a bus comes past. Traffic is sparse and we’re getting tired so we decide to get on it. Although it felt like giving up, it was getting late and we were still a two hour drive from Karakol. On the bus we meet Ramathan, who spoke perfect English and is eager to talk to us. He wants to hear us talk to each other so he could see if he understood us at the speed we talked. He had a young family and was heading back to Karakol to study. He offered to help us if we needed any help. After a while, he fell asleep and Taylor and I finally were able to turn off and relax.
7:30pm- We make it to Karakol and part ways with Ramathan.
We kept in contact and saw him again that week.
That was just from one day. There are countless others that we have met while on an adventure of some kind. People of all nationalities, backgrounds, and beliefs.
When this Race is over, these will be the moments we remember.
