Itchy lichen and other reasons why we are visited

Day: 308-310

Sunrise:
05:14/05:12

Sunset:
21:25/21:27

Total kilometers:
1361

Soil condition:
Ice, snow

Temperature – Day (maximum):
10°C/15°C

Temperature – day (minimum):
5°C/0°C

Temperature – Night:
minus 15°C/minus 8°C

Latitude:
51°39’155”

Longitude:
099°21’977”

Maximum height:
1858 m above sea level

Tanja needs two days to recover from the exertions of her journey. Bilgee also reported having slept for a whole day. Because of the bad weather, we spend most of the time in our tipi. It snows, hails or storms every day. Sometimes the sun comes out and warms the day up to 15 degrees. Some Tuwa families use such hours to move their tipi to another location. Until now, our tipi was a few hundred meters away from the rest of the others. The reason for this was because Bilgee had chosen the place when we arrived because of the better horse feed. In the meantime, Saintsetseg, Tso and Monkoo have erected their tipi directly behind ours and Gamba and Purvee’s tent is only 50 meters away. The reason is obviously the stream that flows to this point and then seeps into the ground. This means that the Tuwa no longer have to walk far to fetch water. That is also the reason why we are suddenly being visited more again. But mostly because they need something from us. Gomb, for example, who regularly rips off tourists by charging entrance fees for the Tuwa camp that don’t even exist and claims to be the head of the Tuwa on a self-made business card, wants to borrow my chainsaw. He only arrived at the spring camp a few days ago. He lives with his family in Tsagaan Nuur during the winter. He owns two new expensive guns, three horses, a house in the village and so on. A rich man, then. “I don’t have any firewood,” he complains. It is a mystery to me how this experienced 60-year-old man manages not to have any firewood. Every drop of gasoline out here in the taiga is valuable and if you borrow your chainsaw the tank is empty and if you are unlucky the saw blade is broken. So I say: “The chainsaw is broken and I’ve run out of gas.” This seems to work because after he has finished his cup of tea, he says thank you and goodbye.

Tsaya also visits us. Since her Ultsan has been hunting for a few days, she is bored. This time, however, that is not the reason. “My God! What do you look like?” I ask, startled by the large black mark that stretches across her forehead up to her nose. “I have a bad rash. Probably from a tick bite,” she complains. “And why is it so black?” I want to know. “I smeared the ash from a cigarette on it.” “Hm,” I say and look at the eczema. After a few minutes of thinking, I say: “I don’t think your skin condition is caused by a tick bite. That would be atypical. You say it itches?” “Yes, terribly. And then it burns.” “I think you have herpes,” I diagnose. “Herbes? What’s that?” she asks, to which I explain that many people carry this virus. “Your immune system probably isn’t the best. Could be the reason why it broke out,” I explain as she looks at herself incessantly in a small hand mirror, fiddling with her hands all over her face. “Above all, you must not touch the itchy lichen under any circumstances. If the blisters burst, the fluid that comes out is extremely contagious,” I warn, and suspect that this is the reason why the blisters have spread to different parts of her face. Because I often suffered from herbes as a young man, I am in a position to give her some tips on how to prevent the spread of this skin disease and what she should do to relieve the itching. “How long will that take?” she asks anxiously. “In two weeks, you can take part in another beauty contest,” I joke. “Two weeks?” she moans. “What will Ultsan say when he sees me like this?”. “He’ll love you anyway,” I reassure her, whereupon she thanks me and leaves our tipi.

“Do you think we’ll reach Mörön in time for the Nadaam festival?” I ponder aloud when we are alone again. “Why not? If we leave here as planned on June 10, we’ll be in Tsagaan Nuur in two days at the latest. Bilgee is sure that Naraa will be strong enough to ride her again by then. That means we have enough horses to get our equipment out of the taiga in one ride. You can have a quick look at the horsewoman in the village and if you have a good feeling about her, we’ll set off in the direction of Mörön,” Tanja suggests. “Hm, it could be tight, but if the country or its inhabitants don’t throw a spanner in the works again, we can manage,” I say confidently. “It would be a shame to miss the biggest and centuries-old event in Mongolia. I would love to see the archers, the wrestlers and the horse race,” says Tanja.

We look forward to your comments!