13. Altyn Kol: Golden Hands

We travelled about two hours to Kochkor, the best place to explore the jailoos (high altitude pastures). We arrived late in the evening where we met Myrzabek, a CBT coordinator. He took us to our home stay where we met Guljan. She had a beautiful garden, a few sheep, and a fenced in courtyard. Guljan was the primary caregiver of her two granddaughters and one grandson.

In the morning we went to the CBT Trekking office and visited Altyn Kol, a women’s handicraft cooperative whose mission is to provide income to local felt artisans as well as to promote Kyrgyz culture and traditions. Over 800 women make up the collective receiving a fair price for their shyrdak’s and other felted goods. Dinara, the main coordinator showed us around the shop and was very helpful in organizing a shyrdak and alajiz making workshop for Selene.

We found a park and Yara played happily. We went back to our homestay and got a tour of the garden from Bek, Guljan’s grandson. Small trenches had been dug out between the rows and water was let in from the aqua duct system that weaves throughout the town.