Kilometres seem to accumulate together with our tiredness, the heat and the personality of the Uzkebos. All this is slowly leaving traces in our state of minds. Our legs seem to know what they have to do but when you pedal at 47º C and you can’t find all the water you need, your head is not all there. With regards to the Ukbekos, one could write volumes about them and very little would be in their favour. In summary, I will say that they are jealous, distant, selfish and like to take advantage of foreigners. Of course, I am referring to those who have a business or some kind of relationship with foreigners. There have been times when we have been asked to pay three times the normal price and they didn’t even twitch an eye. When visiting some of the monuments you need to pay as much as 10 times the price and often they do not give you a receipt so they can keep the whole amount. To get a train ticket has an extra-official price of 500 soms, approximately 20 cents. I admit that it is not much but enough to get on one’s nerves. Some actually prefer not to sell than to have to sell at the legal price.
I won’t go into too much detail about historical treaties and about our daily adventures. To satisfy some of the curious followers, here are a few technical facts:
• Flat tyres in Emilio’s trolley – 3
• Flat tyres in Machus’ trolley – 1
• Machus’ flat tyres - 1
• Mili’s flat tyres – 0 one of the wheels simply disintegrated
• Broken radius (Emilio) – 7
• Days that have camped in the open – 8
• Diarrhea (Emilio) – 2
• Diarrhea (Machus) – 2 though less severe
• Sunstroke – not sure but some days our heads are VERY sore
• I have got rid of the toilet paper and now I have bottle of water as my faithful friend in my most intimate moments. Soap is also a must. Machus is still having problems with this and continues to use the sandpaper they use as toilet paper here.
• Litres of water per day per person – 5 to 7
• Problems with Karro – 0
• Problems with CarryFreedom – only one althou it is recurrent
• Number of times we have repeated the word Ispania - not sure but over 1 million.
• Times we have had to talk about our trip – almost as many
• Times our bums have peeled – Emilio 2; Machus -0 (mine is like a little baby’s)
• My worst nightmare – to faint in a toilet. The most horrific are the Uzbeko’s. In more than one toilet we have had to use the floor surrounding as the toilet had been overfilled.
• Average kilometers per day – approximately 75
• Wear and tear of bags and clothes – good to excellent
So as not to traumatize the Uzbeka population we have adopted our niece Natalia and from now on she is our daughter at university. Here, the average number of children per family is 4.
Our next entry will be about Bujara, Khiva y Samarcanda, Some of the mythical cities along the Silk Route.
