It was warm when we fell asleep but freezing when we woke up. This might be the coldest morning yet. Davaa warned us not to go out to use the bathroom at night here, since the nomad’s dog will attack. This is the first unfriendly dog we’ve encountered. They penned the goats and the baby yaks last night, which was a good thing because there was a wolf prowling around in the night. In hindsight, I wonder if this was why the horses were acting up the day before. We heard the dogs going after the wolf, and the family came into our ger to get their gun.
It was cowboy weather this morning, for sure. Chilly, which gave the horses energy. Too much energy. Peter’s horse threw a bucking fit when they saddled him, and broke away from the nomads, so they had to chase him down. My horse got in a fight with the horse he was tied next to, and they pulled a log off the corral. They were both tied to it, and when they spooked they tried to run in different directions. Eventually the other horse got free while mine was bucking to try to get free of the log. The log and the horse were flying everywhere. Meanwhile, two of the family’s horses got loose when the log came free and ran for the hills. Jack had to go ride them down. Eventually they got my horse stopped, and we went back inside to let the guides work. I think they get a little embarrassed when we see the animals acting up.
Not much later there was a cacophony of hoofbeats, so Susan and I went out to look. There were only three horses still tied, everyone else was loose. Chaos. Plus, the family was bringing in their own herd so it was horses everywhere. Mine was the rebel this morning and had raced up the hill to join the herd. I don’t know how long it took to get him under control again, but th saddle took a beating. Thankfully, I think he worked out most of his enerfy, because he was calm on the ride. At least the first half of the day.
The ride before lunch was through a pine area with huge, huge old lava flows. It was amazing. I really wish there was a way to have my camera on the horse to capture the area, but it was too rough. And I didn’t want to take chances given how the day started.
We ran into two hikers from Seattle who aren’t having a great trip. They are about twelve days into an eighteen day trip and the company they are with doesn’t seem to be very good. Their guide can’t cook, and has been giving them canned meat and instant noodles for their meals. All of them. I’m so grateful for our cook – she’s amazing. We’ve been eating off the land almost this whole time. I’ve eaten dishes I would have never tried on my own back home. The Seattle hikers said their guide also stole from them. It’s a shame, really. They just get sent off hiking and the guides somehow eventually catch up. No directions, nothing. That’d be a deal breaker for me.
After lunch, the horses were frisky again. We had trouble holding them back, but eventually we got to a wide open valley and let them run it out. My horse decided to chase Susan’s and they broke into a whole new gear. The stride on mine makes it really easy to assume the jockey position at the gallop.
Jack negotiated with some local nomads to let us stay in a ger for the night again. This place is awesome. The family is super friendly and gave us some yak’s milk vodka, which tastes PHENOMENAL. I actually liked the milk tea today as well, which was a first. The kids here are so cute and friendly as well, and I played with them for a while. It’s amazing – we can’t speak the same language but we figured out how to communicate.
I was so sad to learn it’s our last night with Jack, Bataa, and Bayanaa. We thought we had them tomorrow too. They have really warmed to us, and have been hanging out with us all afternoon. Then we all made dumplings together. The cook brought us a bottle of wine, but we had no bottle opener and Jack accidentally broke it trying to open it with his knife. But he made up for it by getting us more vodka.
They taught us how to play the ankle bone game today, and we played a winter favorite – horse racing. The ankle bone has four sides which they showed us how to identify: horse, camel, goat, sheep. You roll four bones and for each horse you roll, you move up a space. Somehow I won by a large margin.
We stayed up tonight playing cards again. I may have created a monster by teaching them slap jack, Bayanaa loves it.