May 14
I have mentioned that Michael has had a bad cough for several days. Our ladies, including Begaim, are also suffering. I woke up with a scratchy throat and now wonder if I might be coming down with something. I hope I can fight it off.
The breakfast room is a dark, windowless area on the second floor, just near my room. When I walked over I found that Begaim was busy making coffee for everyone with her French press. We cannot have Nescafe on this tour.
We loaded up the vans, me once again in the front one, and headed to the mountains. We made a quick stop. Last night Bek took me to the little store next door to the hotel to find a replacement mouse for my computer. I had no success. This morning he had the van stop at a somewhat bigger store. There was still not much to choose from. The one I lost was Bluetooth, but they had nothing like that. I bought a cheap Chinese mouse. It has nice flowers on it.
I took more photos in the Zaravshan Valley.
Soon we were on a windy and rough gravel road. We passed a gold mine. There were two bands of water in the river. The band from the mountains was clear, but the gold mine side was quite brown. There was a waterwheel pumping water to a garden. It was coming from the gold mine band. I wondered what else besides mud was in that water.
We stopped in a small village.
I had lots of handshakes with the men. The standard greeting in much of the Muslim world is “salaam”. The Tajiks usually have their hands over their hearts when greeting people. It is an wonderful way to introduce yourself.
The younger people and children all wanted their photographs taken.
The women of the village were busy doing their washing on the other side of the river. We all took photographs. Rita later pointed out that the one woman was not washing clothes, instead it was dinner. I could not tell if it was a goat or a sheep.
We were on our way to the Seven Lakes. There are various legends about their formation. Bek told us something about seven girls wanting to be protected from invaders. Another legend tells of seven daughters and their flood of tears. Or, you can believe that the lakes were formed when earthquakes caused landslides that made natural dams on the river.
Our lunch stop was at a guest house near the fourth lake. We sat outside where they served us some very small trout. They reminded me of eating capelin, the little fish that come in early summer to Newfoundland. Unlike those, these tasted good.
The houses along the road in the different villages are enclosed by walls. I have been impressed with the metal gates.
After lunch we carried on to the fifth and sixth lakes.
We stopped in a small village after the sixth lake. We were to walk from there to the seventh lake. I had some granola bars in my pack which I had thought might be used for snacks. Considering how much we have been fed, it has become obvious that I will never eat them. I decided to give them away. These children received the first package.
What was really great about this outing was that we were seeing so many people. 
I looked over and saw Silvio stalking donkeys.
I had thought that we would start walking from the village, but our fearless drivers took us up a hill to save us that climb. Then we had a most fabulous walk to the last lake.
The only visitors to the lake were us and a Dutch couple. I told them of my recent search for my Dutch roots and the dinner that I had before I left but could not remember the name of the dish with mashed potatoes that my friend Dorothy had made. She immediately said, “Stamppot”. They are moving back to Amsterdam from Australia, taking the long way. They have rented a vehicle in Kyrgyzstan which is good for all the 5 Stans but are waiting for their transit visa for Turkmenistan. The man even shaved off his beard for his visa application photo because he had been told that the authorities do not like beards on younger men. They must be okay with old guys because Michael and I are getting our visas.
There was a herder at the lake. I gave him a granola bar and took his photo, but as I started walking away, he came and asked for another (a photo, not another granola bar). 
There was a herd of goats walking on the ridge above me. They needed to cross a stream. I waited to get a photo of a flying goat.
I was just enthralled with the view as we returned to the village for a ride out. I stopped for a minute. Begaim asked if I was okay. I told her I was fine, I just wanted to take it all in. It was such a fabulous view. It was definitely a magical moment. 
I took a few more photos in the village.
On the way down we stopped at one of the lakes to take a photo that we missed on the way up (I think it was Lake 2?). 
There were four girls. I asked to take their photo. The two youngest were keen, the older ones turned their backs.
There were really tight turns for the drivers to navigate. We really needed the 4-wheel drive. 
We drove right across the dried-up portion of one lake before having to cross some water. I think our driver was showing off. On a ridge we saw a vehicle racing towards us with his lights flashing. He pointed to rocks that were falling and then backed up to allow us to race past.
As we arrived at the hotel, we had a bit of an unpleasant conversation regarding seating arrangements in the van. It was stated by one tour member that another was monopolizing the front seat. It was also stated that others were also upset. The “others” had to be me. I was surprised to hear that, since I had said nothing. My later efforts to defuse the situation were not successful. You have a group, there will be group dynamics. This will go on the negative side of taking a group tour. Last year it was Sam and me. We had our own issues.
Back in the hotel I unpacked my new Chinese mouse and reviewed my photos from this amazing day. I was pleased and hope that my readers will agree.
Our restaurant was just down the road. We sat outside and enjoyed some more lamb. Michael had brought a bottle of wine. It was quite bad. As much as I love Tajikistan, they do not make good wine.
Many of us opted to walk back to the hotel. It was lots of fun as we became a great attraction. We ended up walking with a large group of young men. According to Begaim, they asked us to come for tea. There were many women and children on the street.
When we got back to the hotel I tried to WhatsApp with Po. Once again, the connection was really bad, very robotic. Even worse, I had lost my voice. Was my scratchy throat from this morning the start of something bad?
Po is looking after our vacation house rentals in my absence, which mostly means answering any inquiries. She was not sure how to handle one. I would normally just do it, but of course I need internet for that. I could not explain with a bad voice and a bad WhatsApp connection. She was very frustrated. It was not a great ending to what had been a great day.
This featured blog entry was written by Bob Brink from the blog Searching for Magical Moments.
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