There's too much to see!

Our first two days here in Kyrgyzstan we had to deal with rainy weather, which is certainly not the best when you're living in a small campervan. For us, the idea of having a small campervan means that you want to be in decent weather so you can spend most of your time outdoors.

Well since those two days, it has steadily improved to the point where we woke up to a beautiful blue sky morning!

Now *THIS* was an adventure!

We woke up to the sound of a few raindrops hitting Vladdy's roof. Not a good sign, since we were headed up to the mountain pass at 3,300 meters (10,900') and if we were getting rain, it was likely snowing up there!

I peaked out through the curtains and I could see some patches of blue sky, despite the fact we could hear raindrops on the roof.

Up in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan

We had a very peaceful night beside the reservoir, although the wind did pick up towards morning. Still, the temperature was perfect, with an overnight low around 14C (58F).

We got up fairly early and did one more stop for fuel to fill the secondary tank and the portable tank. We were headed up a steep mountain road. It's actually listed as a major road, but it's unpaved and most of it is actually closed during winter.

My innards were all shook up

We woke up to the most beautiful day... during the morning, there was almost not a cloud in the sky. So we took advantage of the fantastic weather and the water access beside the river to get cleaned up, washed our hair, I shaved, and we hand washed some clothes and set them out to dry.

Yes, the water is ice cold!

More great scenery... and delicious strawberries!

We woke up cold, so we fired up the engine and got driving right away. And with the sun shining, it didn't take long for us to warm up, but we had one more mountain pass to do before we could relax and have breakfast on the other side.

We woke up to sunshine and a gorgeous day... but we had snow later on!

When we left you last, we had used Vladdy's four wheel drive to access a beautiful meadow high up in the mountains.

When we woke up in the morning, we could see it was blue sky... but the sun hadn't yet risen enough to shine on our meadow.

Yikes... you'd think this wasn't meant to be!

This trip has had a lot of glitches so far! It started when our original flights from Istanbul to Bishkek were cancelled. We couldn't get on the bus in Valle de Bravo. There was no lounge available at the Mexico City airport. Ruth's bag got lost between Mexico City and Madrid. We arrived in Almaty and had no cash and couldn't get online. Nothing seemed to work. Missed the first bus. Forgot about the hour time change. Didn't know about the visa change for Kyrgyzstan. Yikes... you'd think this wasn't meant to be.

And then Saturday, on the way up into the mountains, Vladdy's fuel pump gave out!

Kyrgyzstan is a very safe country

Our first night in the campervan went well, however we had some sleeping arrangement options to work out. Technically, the van can sleep five people. The main living area turns into a large enough bed that three people could sleep, and then there is a rear area that would be very cozy, but it could sleep two. 

For the first night, we made the bed up in the larger area, but it was a real gymnastics exercise especially since it was raining out and we had to do it all without getting anything wet.

Meeting Vladdy, our home for the next month!

Slept almost nine hours Wednesday night! Couldn't tell you the last time we did that!

Our hostess had asked what time we wanted breakfast, and we agreed on 9:00am. So we were surprised when there was a knock on the door at 7:45, and I opened it to find her with a tray full of food for us!

We have arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan!

Last you heard from us, we were in Madrid, Spain and getting ready to head back to the airport for our flight to Istanbul. 

And seeing as we were going back to the airport anyhow, they had said that we should be able to pick up Ruth's carry on bag that had been on an adventure of it's own when it went missing.

"There has been an incident with your baggage"

Well, we have arrived in Madrid, Spain... but it wasn't a totally smooth travel day!

And the problems started right at the beginning. We always take the bus from our nearby town of El Arco into Mexico City. We've done it many times and there have always been lots of empty seats. So we never book in advance. Well, it turns out that we have never done it on a Sunday!

And we're off... but with one little glitch!

We are starting a three day travel marathon this afternoon. First we have the two hour bus ride into Mexico City, then a half hour metro (subway, underground) ride to MEX airport.

Our flight doesn't leave for Madrid until 11:55pm, so we have lots of time and don't have to rush.

8 Flights over the next 2 months!

The excitement is building for our first ever around the world trip!

All flights and accommodations are booked for the whole trip, and while that sounds a little too organized for our liking, there is actually a lot of flexibility once we arrive at our destinations.

What's the plan for Japan?

We were originally going to fly back to Mexico City from China. But there's only one direct flight per week, and it's ridiculously expensive. So we decided we could hop, skip, and jump our way back for much less money.

And so we found flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo to Vancouver to Mexico City for almost half the price of the direct one.

Rainy season has begun

I think we're going to enjoy it when we return on July 23rd. We'll be back here at the house for a month until August 20th.

Yesterday, they were calling for a thunderstorm, and boy did we ever get one!