A Trip Up A Valley

Work often takes us out and about to some interesting places. In December a rather strong earthquake struck one of the valleys in these mountains and caused some serious damage. Loss of life was minimal but the damage to some of the homes in the villages was rather extensive and sparked a rather large response with several countries donating significant funds to the response. Our organization typically focuses on the long-term response to disasters, so it was some time before we were asked to make a trip up the valley, but mid-February seemed to be that time.

            This valley is one of the most remote areas in these mountains. Typically the roads are closed from the first heavy snowfall until late March. The road is bad in the best of times, impassible of the river is too high or the snow is too thick. With the earthquake the road has been kept open by the government, so we could drive up, but it was still a challenging trip to say the least. It’s only about 100 miles up the valley, but at a whopping 15 miles an hour average, you are going to be on the road quite a while.

            My dad has asked me what the roads are like sometimes. I grew up in Africa, bad roads are a point of pride for people from my background. We take pictures of donkeys laying down in potholes, of roads with mud halfway up the tires on our way to church, this is one of the things that defines life in Africa. These roads aren’t really that bad. That said, in Africa, if you end up off the road, you are well… off the road. You might get stuck and have a long night pulling a car out of some unpleasant terrain, but you really just went off the road.

            This valley had roads that would have been a challenge in Africa, narrow and rocky with plenty of challenging areas to pull through, but with the added joy of being on the edge of a cliff and ice on the road. There is nothing quite like driving for 8 hours knowing that slipping off the road is a life-threatening proposition. The road is only one lane wide, so there isn’t a lot of slip in the ice before you end up worrying less about getting the car unstuck and more about getting out of it before you drown.

            Even in the midst of stressful driving, it was amazing how beautiful this valley was. There are long stretches of barren nothingness, a rather common thing in this part of the world, but everywhere you look there are magnificent peaks and stunning valleys. The higher villages feel like communities at the end of the world, yet you are welcomed with open arms by people who just had what little they owned to begin with threatened with total destruction. We slept on the floor of rooms sharing them with people who lost their own houses not long before. We even got to see aid work at its best, USAID donated several yurts (large, round movable tents, like a central-asian teepee) that were serving as shelters for several families, material was being delivered as we were there and, even in -15 degree weather people were starting the recovery process.

            It’s exhausting to go out for two nights and three days on a trip like this. I have learned how little I need to carry with me when I travel (a toothbrush, toothpaste, some deodorant, I am good for about a week) and we eat what people put before us and talk in their language all day. I would never say it is comfortable, but it’s amazing to get to take trips like this and see a part of the world so few people get to see. There are many tourist attractions up here that I have yet to go by and experience (it’s not easy to make time for them when we really prefer to not vacation in mountains) but the villages and roads we do get to see are a really neat part of living where we live.

Just a little view of the mountain road up the valley. I really only took pictures of the nice parts of the road, the other ones left me far too focused on not dying. 

A Cheed (house) in one of the upper villages. 

This hydroelectric generator is the sole source of power for one village. Nothing like a little elbow grease and ingenuity to keep something going. 

When a truck is stuck along the road you stop to help them out. It's the only nice thing to do, besides, you aren't going anywhere until they are out.

Walking along to inspect a house. 

Earthquake damage. International donors have insured most of these heavily damaged houses already are on a list to be rebuilt. 

One of the USAID yurts a family is using for the winter. 

The earthquake added a new window here. 

This is the current drinking water source for about 40 households in one village. The ice is about a foot and a half thick here, so everyone knocks the ice out of the hole each morning when they come to get water. Bringing a pipe for drinking water into the village is one of our possible projects this coming spring. 

Bringing water in by donkey. Got to have those kids do something.

Distributing building materials in the top village in this valley. 

No one lives higher up than this village, though you can walk higher up to a pass in the summer.

Inspecting a really old house.

This is what happens when an earthquake takes down the walls of these houses. They are built with wooden pillars inside so that even if all the walls come down the roof stays up. This is why loss of life was so low, very few if any houses completely collapsed even if many are not livable any more.

Just a village on an early morning. 

This village has three trees that are shrines. I have never seen anything like them, huge ancient junipers that are corkscrewed up. At this altitude they are at least a few hundred years old, probably predating Islam here. The three are 500 yards apart in a straight line up the valley. 

The shrine house for the trees.

This is one of the little interesting features of the road, an icefall right on the way up the valley. 

It's a big one. You might not be able to tell, but there are blocks of ice the size of a car engine laying on the road, they were falling on the road as we drove. You had to just go up and over piles of ice to get by here, trying not to slip into the river. Not a bad place to ice climb if that's your thing though. 

Never let a little winter or frozen river get in the way of a good soccer game. Yep, it's a good bit below freezing and this kids put up a soccer goal. They seemed to be having fun too. 

One of the little houses up there. It's a rather poor valley.