Shyrdak and Lake Issyk-Kul

Today we left the guesthouse on Chon-Kemin and headed to our next stop which was Lake Issyk-Kul. On thr way we stopped at a woman's house to learn about shyrdak. That is the traditional Kyrgyz skill of making crafts with felt. This woman is a master at this art. She's been doing it for many decades. She showed us how she makes designs for the rugs and other items she creates. The she let us try to sew a seat cushion she was working on. We had to use a big needle and push it through many layers of felt. I did one stitch and it was complicated but fun. Then we had a traditional Kyrgyz lunch at her house before she took us to her factory and showed us how she makes wool slippers. She showed us the whole process from how she gets raw wool straight off the sheep and then thins it and cleans it and puts lots of layers of wool over thr plastic mold for the different size slippers. It takes a long time to make one pair but it is worth it because They are so soft and warm. I have several pairs at home. She showed us all the machines and she actually designed them herself and they made them with her own hands! She started this business on her own after learning this art from her mom. Now people from around the world want her slippers and she ships them to many different countries. We bought two pairs and they are so comfy. We also bought a rug for my room. She worked on it all day, everyday for 17 days. She is. Pretty incredible woman. We continued on to our next guesthouse and made a quick stop to see petroglyphs in Cholpon-Ata. They are big rocks with drawings on them that are really old. Some of them are from 800 B.C.! We finally arrived at Lake Issyk-Kul which is huge! It is thr 10th largest lake in thr world by volume and is 6,117 square miles. t looks like the ocean except without her waves. The water was very very cold but we still went swimming in it and it was very refreshing. It was pretty crowded and we were surrounded by Russians. I can only speak about 3 words of Russian so I couldn't understand them. But I still had a great time at the beach. we came back to the guesthouse and found two cute gray kittens in the courtyard. Everybody wanted to hold them because they are so soft and feel like a little furball. At first I was really nervous to come to Kyrgyzstan because I didn't know what to expect or what it would be like. But now I can say that I love it! The people have all be so nice, the food is really good and the scenery is beautiful. I like walking down the street and seeing all the people that look like me. I think people have been curious about our group since four of us kids look Kyrgyz but speak English and have American parents. But our guides explain to them that we were adopted and the people think it's really cool. I'm so glad I came on this trip. I really love Kyrgyzstan!