Again, to beat the heat, we left Mary at 6am as we crossed Turkmenistan northern desert on our way to Uzbekistan.
We did 270km in 2.5 hours on relatively good roads and stopped from breakfast in Turkmenabat at the border ... interesting town ... you could see the Uzbek influence already in people, dress, demeanor. Crosed a long pontoon bridge, over a raging river (believe it or not), with lots of very heavy trucks ... and lots of people checking things ... tickets, passports, etc.
The Uzbek border crossing was slow and crowded ... with a lot of people crossing on foot ... day workers going back home ... women, children, men. We looked so out of place that officials in immigration, health, and customs noticed us and would come and get us out of all the lines to take us into a special wood shed (just kidding) ... the crowd just looked on like we are aliens ... while they continue to shove and push each other ... feels like home.
Uzbekistan does not have natural resources like Turkmenistan so tourism is their thing (only 1% of budget for Turkmenistan but 20% for Uzbekistan) ... and it works ... everybody is very friendly and welcoming ... Bukhara has direct flights to Madrid, Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris, Moscow, and others, so it is like that bar in Star Wars ... people from all over the world convening in this far frontier (2 girls traveling on bicycles from Switzerland to Mongolia over 10 months, 2 guys on Russian 2-cycle motorcycles going from Siberia to Cape Town, a family with their 3 kids from France, an archaeologist from Spain, a businessman from Latvia ... and two Guate-Mex-Americans!
Our hotel is in the old part of the city ... a very nicely restored house in typical Uzbek style next to all the sights ... we decided to stay an extra day here to recover from the Turkmen heat ... and Alex's "gorgoritos" from something she ate in Mary.
Tomorrow, we explore Bukhara ...
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