Day of rest at O's family ger

Fetching water

Lunch at the ger. Mom wakes up and serves me bread and berry jam, but what kind of berry it is, I don't know. The name is not in my phrasebook. O's sis, A., chops mutton for khorshoor, along with her auntie. Not much happening here. We watered the horses from the spring abut 50 m west of the ger. A. staked the horses back on the meadow, a couple hundred meters distant, but grass is short. Her white horse has more fat, less rib showing.

This family has the requisite family foto display. O is present. Tv is often on, showing a Mongolian soap opera. A. still slices the mutton of the sheep her dad slaughtered.

I am trying to plan the rest of my trip. They say in two or three days it will be getting cold: 10 to 15 C during the day. That is not so bad. But I am tired. I did not realize until these last days how tired I have gotten. Back in Ulaan-uul I started to notice it. They say my horse can go another two weeks.

In big part it is the sense of accomplishment that makes this trip fantastic. Setting a goal and meeting it on my own is a good feeling. That is not to diminish the beauty of the landscape, the hospitalitiy of the people, the learning curve with Max. It is easy until you have a problem. I could have had a mishap a couple days ago down the river valley (after the guys got out of their truck), when I stayed on the west bank instead of crossing the river. My horse wanted to take the trail, steep up the bank, on loose soil. He slid a bit but then I managed to get him to take the lower branch of the trail. If he had slid and fallen, that could have been the end.

Braiding leather whip

But that did not happen. What is happening now is my exhaustion and Max's hunger.
From the forgot to mention file: Back in the ger with Ulana, we sat together thumbing through the phrasebook. She found the word "nomad" and then points at me. You! she said. That made me laugh. This happened after I told her of my distant travels. Is that partly why I like it here so much? Am I a nomad as much as them?