Daily Archives: September 10, 2011

Thank goodness the second Turkman agency facilitator is with us, in what I’ve taken to calling our “guidemobile.” I expect a long palaver to ensue, with police, and forms, much gesticulating, growling, headshaking and frowning of black eyebrows. Not so. The agency makes it all go away, assuring the offended party that they will handle things. In return for this, we part with $400, a moderate sum considering the damage done by Brunhilde (I want to make clear this was all her doing…).

Off we go through town, where I spy a huge poster that seems to advertise horse racing. My brain, still in shock from all the dazzling whiteness clicks into gear, connecting that poster with the name of our hotel’s restaurant: Akhal Teke. I have seen a photo of this legendary horse, with a caption that it was a Russian breed. It dawns on me that back then, Turkmenistan was part of the USSR, so no one cared that it was actually a Turkman horse. Now it’s been claimed by its rightful breeders and they are bursting with pride over it.
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