Scuba Diving

My friend Alina (the Kyrgyz girl in these photos) invited me a long to go on a scuba diving trip to Lake Issyk-Kul. This is a very large lake which dominates the map of Kyrgyzstan in the east. It is 118x37 miles in size and it’s deepest point is nearly 2,000 feet (668m)! It is the second largest mountain lake in the world behind Lake Titicaca in South America. There is hardly anything alive in the lake due to over fishing during Soviet times. We were diving to a depth of 10m around a dead coral reef and the largest sign of life I saw was a shrimp-like crustacean about the length of my thumbnail. Regardless, the water was very clear and the experience was super awesome. Thank you Alina for making this possible!

Friends

Here are some photos of some of my friends hanging out in Cholpon-Ata, the largest settlement along the north shore of Lake Issyk Kul.

Horse Games

Here are photos of the national horse games of Kyrgyzstan, called Kökbörü (wiki). Think of it like soccer, on horses, using a sheep caracas for the ball. It is tons of fun to watch and seems to occupy every known ambulance in the region when it is being played.

PCVs

I got to spend some time with other volunteers.