Osh

We arrived in Osh and were greeted by some people who were friends of my traveling companions, and who are with New Life. It was a nice and sunny day!! We took a marshruka to the places where we would be staying and then met outside to go for lunch. Samsa is THE thing here, you don’t go to Osh and leave not having eaten samsa! But the café where they have the best was full of people, so we walked to another café. On our way we passed the biggest mosque in the city- it was big and beautiful. At our next café I realized that all of the places seem to be open-air places. Which must be good during the insanely hot summers- but a bit chilly during the winter. There we ate lagmon and sheshleek (shishkabob) which was lamb and at first I was a bit concerned but it was sooo delicious! Everything was tastey! Then we went to the mountain that is located in the middle of the city. It has many significances. One of them being that there is a room on top where people go to be healed of their sicknesses, somehow, the room and the mountain make that happen. There is also a very smooth rock on top of the mountain that people go to, and often older women; here they slide down the rock 7 times and their physical ailments will be healed. After climbing up and seeing the rock, I figured if they didn’t die before they made it there, that maybe it seemed as though it worked. It was a long way up! Young married women can also go up there and slide down the rock; that of which will result in being able to have a baby in 9 months. Ira told me that after she suggested I slide down it. She is a funny girl. There is also a museum up there but it was closed. From the top you can look out over the whole city of Osh and it is a beautiful site to see! Another belief of the mountain is that if you run around the mountain seven times your sins will be forgiven, it is a very sacred place with many beliefs and superstitions about it. Over the two days we were there, I got to know our hosts a bit more and a bit more about Osh and the southern part of the country. The next day we went again for the samsa, and this time with success! It is much different than the samsa in Bishkek- much bigger! You cut of the top and it is like a bread bowl of soup, but instead of soup-meat and onions, and some other stuff. It was delicious! Then we walked around the city some more- it was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect! After our walk, we got our stuff together, got a taxi and headed to Jalal-abad.