Death of the Aral Sea

The Aral Sea

 

Uzbekistan he were are! I had done very little research before coming on this trip with the hopes of learning about a whole knew region of the world. Turkmenistan had proved to be interesting. Uzbekistan however promised millenniums of history steeped in bloodshed and rulers throughout the history of the Silk Road. 

After our grueling entrance into the country we shot straight up to the town of Moynaq. Along the way we made a quick stop at a market in hopes of exchanging some money. Uzbekistan has a monetary system that is on the verge of collapse but has grasped on to life through black market trading. One USD is equally to around 4,000 som as regulated through the bank. However, people every are eager to exchange one dollar for 8,000 som. This struggle between the rates is something I have never witnessed before.

To make matters even more complicated the most common bills are that of the 1,000 and 500 som. This means that one 20 USD bill is exchanged to be between 160-320 bills. Talk about feeling like a king carrying around wads of cash.

 

Stacks upon stack upon stacks later we jetted to Moynaq and the remains of the Aral Sea. Moynaq was a fishing town that relied on the sea for their way of life. Sadly, due to human actions, the sea has begun to dry up and shrink significantly over the past 50+ years. Today, Moynaq is nothing but a village suffering under the loss. With waters shrinking, the remains of the sea are nothing but highly concentrated dusty plains with some brush growing. The salty dust is the main cause of many health problems.

We drove to the edge of the previous sea line and looked at the empty plains ahead. A sick feeling overtook me. This entire area used to be a sea with a thriving fishing village. A real reminder of the damage humans are having on the planet could not be ignored. Since we took so long at the border our arrival was already way passed schedule. We drove down into the missing sea and out into the dusty lands to find a camping spot.

 

As we all sit around eating dinner, it was my cooking shift and I made chicken and pasta, we saw lightning in the distance. Jamie assured us that it only rains once a year in these lands. Not completely convinced we brushed it off and took it for heat lightning. The moon begin to rise a deep blood red. American horror story Roanoke anyone? Totally shattered from the long border crossing, drive, and heat we made our way to our tents.

Laying in bed I could not sleep. It was still 100+ degrees and not cooling off as quick as usually. Sticky salty air filled the tent. I got up and opened the tent flaps to let some air in and finally fell asleep. Not long after I was shaken awake by violently gusting winds and rain beginning to fall. Hmmmm I thought it didn't rain Jamie?

Quickly, people jumped out of their tents to lower their window flaps. Hanne, my tent partner did not stir at all, she can sleep through everything. Back in my tent the rain stopped within minutes. Twenty minutes later another violent gust of wind came with more rain. Some of the boys ran around outside staking down tents and putting on rain flaps. Gusts came out of nowhere strong enough to pick the tent up even with our bags in it. 

Again, it quickly settled down and the boys retreated back to their tents. Then the sky really began to pour. An engine started. I panicked. Did everyone else leave me? Shouting over to the tent next to me Lee assured me everyone was here but it would seem that the truck was leaving. Sure enough our driver, organizer, and Alex took off in the truck. We later found out they went to higher ground so the truck would no get stuck. But in the moment non of us knew why we were being ditched in a bi polar rain and wind storm.

A sleepless night followed. When the truck arrived in the morning and everyone made their way out of their tents you could tell spirits were down. Everyone was already feeling the effects of being dirty and shower less in the bush camps previously but the nights events had escalated it all.

We cleaned up camped and went out to explore the ship graveyard. Since the sea was no longer the ships that once occupied its waters have been left only as an eare reminder of what once was. Many of them have been dragged and relocated to this shipyard. 

 

Cows roam around the base seeking shade in the summer heat. These ships are a constant reminder of the permanent damage done. 

Roaming around through the ships the rain picked up again! Running back to the truck we jumped back on soaking wet for anothe fun day of adventure.