Day 4 in the Gobi

We wake up early. Today we are going to Bayanzag. The flaming cliffs. only the tire is flat. So in minutes he changed it. great we are on our way. Driving through the cayon to get out is cool. He always takes a new route so we never know where we are. While we are visiting the gorge another driver told Sasso about a impormptu Naadam Festival. Naadam is a celebration of mongolian sports. Kinda like a rodeo in Canada. They do wrestling, Archery, and horse racing. The big Naadam is held in UB in July. It is a big deal. Lots of smaller Naadams are held in each little community. The wrestling is the main thing.A lot of guys in tied on speedos and cowboy boots wearing shawls. Some foriegners wrestled the Mongolians. They held up good butin the end lost misserably. There are no weight classes just winners of each match facing off against each other until one guy is left. The matches can go really long. Some used to take 4 hours each. They get in a hold and try to wait the other guy out. Boring.... So now there is a 30min time limit.
Archery can be men or women. But most of these games are by men. Even the animals used have to be male. The horse racing is done by kids. 5-12 years old. They race across country 15k or 30k depending on the race. Full out crazy racing. When they cross the sweat of the winning horse is scraped off and the people wipe it on them selves. Yep me too. And it was gross. But anything for good luck. They pour airag over the winning horse which is the fermented mares milk. Mongolian people are all about luck and superstition. Some of it is good and some seems pretty far fetched. It is blazing hot out and really dusty. The wind is a steady 50k so sand storms come and go. Dashgka got another flat tire on our was to the Naadam so he went to town to fix the 2 tires and get his part for the starter. We are stuck there with no shade and it is pretty uncomfortable. There is no cell service so we can't call him. We sit in on a sheep ankles tournament. At least it is in a ger out of the sun and wind. I was going to enter the tournament but it was another game I havne't learned yet. One of the men gave me a quick lesson and I tried but sucked big time. We resort to sitting in the shade of a big truck waiting for Dashgka. Finnaly he shows up. whew. We head for a ger camp. Again they aren't happy. they want us to stay with a local family. But it gets to be awkward just sitting in the middle of someones house not being able to speak to them. So we opted for the camp again so we could have a badly needed shower.
That night Sasso explained to us that families have extra gers they rent out to tourists. So instead of sleeping right with them you get your own ger. oooohhhhh now we get it. And the money stay in local families pockets. I wish we would have know sooner. Of course it rains and thunders that night too. We were suppose to sleep in the sand dunes but they were saying it could flash flood and sand storm. No thanks. Ger it is. tomorrow BAyanzag