TURKMENISTAN SEPT 25 2015

September 25, 2015

I was so sick overnight, my stomach hurt. I went from burning up to shivering, terrible headache, and digestive issues. I slept in a shirt, a t-shirt, and thin jacket with hoodie on my head. I kept waking up many, many times and getting up and taking bathroom visits.

Michael was kind enough to give me some pedialite, Tylenol, and cipro. He's been a godsend.

During the night, I shed my clothing, I was burning up again. I felt like my head was going to pop off.

I got up about 8:10...one snooze, and I had to get on the move, I stumbled around (dizzy), getting my bag backed and out the door 10 minutes ahead of schedule. Everyone asked how I was doing as I wasn't at dinner last night,

Our bus was late but we boarded (20 minutes late) but we were on our way. 1.5 hours to the boarder.

The road was extremely rough and it was all i could do not to throw up...breathing deeply.

Somehow, I made it...now the fun begins.

We we left at the boarder as the guide said that she wasn't allowed at accompany us. All of our passports were viewed before being allowed to enter the Uzbek boarder control.

We weren't told where to go but figured it out by process of elimination. The first border personal wasn't friendly or helpful. She told us that the departure forms we filled out weren't good, we had to fill them out today, she didn't understand that we had arrival and departure forms. In the meantime Jose and I turned over our passports to immigration. They asked if there was a guide with us. We said no and the lady did finally accept our filled out departure forms.

Next was security check of the bags, Elena went first and they looked the scans and it was ok. Next it was my turn. They saw my meds and asked me to take them out. Now, I had already confirmed that my meds were not on their banned list. They went through one by one and looked them up on the Internet. One med he turned over to another officer and he looked it up on the Internet also. In the end, they let me go. Another guy checked my passport upon leaving,

From here, a little shuttle ($1 each) too us the 3km to the other side of the neutral zone. I decided to put the questionable med in one of my other bottles and ditch the med bottle in a hole in the side panel of the can. Approaching the boarder gate, another Uzbek boarder guard checks my passport again before letting me out of Uzbek territory,

Now, we really didn't know what to do. We followed arrows on the well worn road after being yells at for going a wrong direction. We reach Turkmen immigration and customs. We got into the line and a woman in front of us, non Turkmen, tells us that we need a declaration form. The woman in the room tells Elena that there are non. She doesn't accept that answer. In the meantime, Jose and I gave out passports to the immigration officer and he asked for Elena's then.

The guy didn't ask for the dorms but he did ask about having a guide, We said yes and he went to look for her. I took her passport to the migration agent and went back to Elena who by now had customs declaration forms.

We sat down to fill them out but they were in Turkmen,,,aarrgghh! I figured out a few things..passport number and name, then stopped. Minutes later the guide arrived. She greeted us and started handing out declarations. She had filled everything but our currency. She couldn't find mine as she had filled out my name wrong. She has Belmont as my last name and Peters Brian as my first, I questioned Sheri about the inaccuracy causing difficulty at presentation. She said no...so, I accepted that,

I sat down to fill out the declaration for US dollars. I decided rid myself of another new bottle. I combined two more meds not I had two less bottles hoping for less trouble, An agent came over and Elena asked about the carton of cigarettes she had. He told her to split them up,and have everyone. Are two packs. What a mess.

After everyone arrived...all at the same time, she had all of our passports and everyone filled the declarations which she took to the immigration agent. Passports back in our possession, it was time for security, Elena went first and the opened her suitcase and went through everything. As it was tightly packed, it was not easy to close. Jose up next, they went though and were fascinated by his toiletries.

My turn - I had to unlock my tsa lock, which is not so easy as I'm visually challenged. Once open, they rummaged through and came up with nothing to complain about, in my backpack, the asked questions about my spices, the guide had explain. They accepted that and I moved on,

We waited outside, for everyone to go though and soon we were all through hat part. Now we needed to walk to the actual Turkmen border, a few hundred yards. A border patrol agent looked at our passports and let us through.

We had made it to Turkmenistan!

There was a large bus waiting nearby and we loaded in. This would be more spacious / comfortable for the long journey through Turkmenabot to Mary, our destination today.

We stopped at a cafe about 40 minutes from the border where most had fish and I tried some bread and rice. This was my first food in 24 hours,

At a stop in Turkmenibot, Eddie bought me an aloe/pomegranate juice, this sounded so good,,,and it was, Thanks Eddie,

There was a floating pontoon bridge that was to be a sigh for this afternoon but it looked like a muddy river...seen them before.

An hour or so later...deep into the desert and many hours more to go, we stopped and Yanko and I urinate on Turkmenistan soil. How about that for a Turkmen experience.

About half way, we stopped briefly for a photo op of the Caracol Desert and some climbing of them as well. Beyond a some large naked dunes, most of the desert in this are had scrub spastically covering it

The sun was setting on this long day of travel and a beautiful sunset, it was.

Reaching Mary, we had a quick overview of where things where (Central Market and Main Mosque) before checking into the hotel. Michael lent me more $$$ as there are. No atms here. I'm getting embarrassed but I'm so appreciated even Tess offered to lend me money. Eddie did also, at one point. These are good people.

It was new and large and full of the cheap excess that people with new money expect. It's bad taste. The room was large and the a/c worked. The sink wouldn't drain without pulling up the non working click drain...a small detail.

I stayed in...still felt like I would throw up. I had room service - mashed potatoes, rice, and peach juice.

Blogging, checking in so everyone knows I'm ok and them laying down,

I hope it will help me have a better day tomorrow.