Martin & Sandy's Adventures in Kyrgyzstan - part 2

Today we went to Jety-Oguz in Temerlan’s car. To get to Jety-Oguz you have to drive about five-sixths or six-sevenths of the way to Karakol and then take a turn into the mountains. Jety-Oguz is way up in the mountains, which is why it’s so close to a jailoo. A jailoo is where herders take all the sheep and cows in the summer. All but three of our sheep are in the jailoo including Craig the cow, and Sylvester, Stallone and Jake, two horses. I named Sylvester because he looks like Sylvester P. Pussycat and Temerlan named Stallone. I take no part in the naming of this horse. Jake the Horse Esq. is named for my friend Jake because Jake (the horse) is a freak. Much like Jake the person. All of these horses are in some jailoo somewhere. No more information is available on the subject. You will be informed if any is brought to my attention. In Jety-Oguz there is a mountain that looks as if it was split right down the middle called the broken heart or Jurok (something). Jurok means heart. And there are seven large red rock outcroppings that stand guard over the valley. The word Jety is Kyrgyz for the number seven and Oguz means bulls. My father thinks there are ten but the Kyrgyz people say seven. I think I’ll have to side with the Kyrgyz. Sorry Dad. It’s debatable anyway so feel free to debate until your debater is all debated-out. The story behind Jety-Oguz:

Long, long ago in what is today Kyrgyzstan, a king stole the wife of another king and offered him seven bulls as pay. The king was furious that his wife was stolen and wanted to make the other king suffer. When the king accepted the bulls he reached for his blade and plunged it deep into his wife’s heart. Blood gushed from her chest into the valley taking with it the king and the seven bulls.

A rich history for sure. But I’m not sure why the king stabbed his stolen wife. She didn’t do anything wrong. It seems to me that if someone was angry at the actions of another then he would want to inflict pain on those who deserved it and not an innocent third party. But then of course I’m not Kyrgyz and not really old. I’m American and twenty-five.
Temerlan drove us into the jailoo by a noisy white river that the road ran beside. His car overheated three times leaving all those involved waiting until the car got it under control. We then continued on. After a long uphill ride the road calmed down and we were in the jailoo. It was very pretty up there. Lots of animals resting and grey smoke floating from the tunduk of a boz-ui. The ‘tunduk’ is what we have on our flag and the highest point of the boz-ui. ‘Boz-ui’ is the Kyrgyz word for a yurt. It means ‘grey house.’ I think I told you that before. More to come if school doesn’t sneak up on me.