Turkmenistan

We are down to our last countries, and given how we usually celebrate the Olympics, it really is the perfect time to bring all of this to a close. About halfway through the Olympics we'll be done for countries, except for our very last, Zimbabwe. Then, we'll go ahead and have a celebration of each continent and all our favorites, and then on Closing Ceremonies Day, we'll finish up with the last country, Zimbabwe. (Though I didn't stick to alphabetical order, I figure it's fitting to end that way). 

But, I'll have to hold my excitement for all these last few countries we have upcoming.....even though I've been working on finale/Olympic stuff for days while I sit with my recovering-from-surgery -chihuahua. (Fun times!) 

So on to our last 'stan' country with Turkmenistan. This one goes way back to when I had just started home schooling Hayden, and  Peyton was learning countries and flags. Peyton  just could not get the capital of this one, and one day, after Peyton concluded the flag was Turkmenistan, but he couldn't get the capital, we hear Hayden yelling from the other room, it's ASHGABAT!' (Hayden had never actually learned it, he just heard Peyton say it enough it became ingrained in his memory. And so, Hayden apparently has been waiting for this country all through this project since he actually already knew the capital. 

Ashgabat holds the record for the world's highest density of white-marble-clad buildings (more than 500!) It came about because they had to rebuild after a 7.0 earthquake in 1948, where nearly 2/3 of the population living in the capital was killed. 

Turkmenistan is a quirky country, perhaps the strangest corner of Central Asia. 

It's been pretty isolated from the rest of the world, since 1996 when it became independent from the former USSR. For two decades, an eccentric president (who they called Turkmenbashi, or 'Father of Turkmenistan), created the brand new country in his image, using funds of the one of the world's largest reserves of natural gas. 

Natural gas is responsible for  our landmark: The Door to Hell (also known as the Crater of Fire, or the Darvaza Crater). In 1971, a team of Soviet Scientists set up a drilling platform to look for natural gas reserves. The rig collapsed, and fearing the spread of poisonous methane gas, the researchers set the crater on fire hoping it would burn out in a few hours. 

That was more than 40 years ago, and it is still burning. The crater is 226 feet in diameter, and 98 feet deep. For context, it's basically the size of an American football field. 

The crater is a popular tourist destination, and the surrounding desert is popular for camping. But really, Turkemenistan is a bit of a difficult place to travel. It's the least friendly of all the 'Stans'. While officially tourism is welcome, police and military personnel will watch your every move and prohibit photography of even the most mundane objects. 

The second president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, isn't much better than the first, if you're a fan of democracy. The government in Turkmenistan is in firm control of everything. Weirdly, he also used to be a dentist. (I told you the place was a little quirky!) 

Their motto is 'Water is a Turkmen's life, a horse his wings, and a carpet his soul''. Carpets are so beloved in Turkmenistan, one is even featured on the flag.

There's even a museum dedicated to the carpets, that opened in 1994. It has Turkmen carpets from the 20th century all the way back to medieval times. One of the carpets, woven in 2001, is considered the world's largest hand-woven carpet. 

Aas far as terrain, Turkmenistan is 70% desert. The Karakum Desert means 'Black Sand' in the Turkish language, and is so named because of the dark soil that lies under the sand. That makes growing cotton in the desert possible. The Karakum Canal is used to irrigate the Karakum Desert, and is one of the longest supply canals on earth. 

The Yangykala canyon stands out from the desert floor in colors of pink, red, and yellow, and the Koytendag National Park is one of the most valuable dinosaur fossil sites in the world. In fact, Turkmenistan was once full of dinosaurs, and is known as the 'Plateau of the Dinosaurs', thanks to their impressive collection of fossilized dinosaur tracks. 

The boys made their postcards. 

Calib's featured the world's largest star at the Turkmenistan Broadcasting Center Tower. 

Peyton's featured the 'Door to Hell', and a little tent next to it to note the camping. 

Hayden, too, went with our landmark. 

So, we actually had Turkmenistan dinner the same day we had Sri Lanka's dessert. So, the first plate picture, I cut out the cake (Sri Lanka is up next), and the second includes the dessert. 

But as for Turkmenistan, we had Ichlekli, the national dish that is sort of like a calzone without sauce (we did it open faced since we buy our dough, and two crusts on top of each other seemed like a little too much here. The dough they wanted us to make seemed much thinner- but you know, we work with what we have.) 

We also had a Turkmenistan chopped summer salad, and Ter Otly Kartoska (a Potato Salad with fresh herbs), also I had some strawberries I needed to use up. 

This dinner earned four spoons up (Sri Lanka excluded, I'll get to that in my next blog). 

Peyton was the hold out here, although he did eat his American twist on Ichlekli. He wasn't super excited about it- but he did eat it, so you know, that's cool. 

The salad was hit or miss. It just didn't have anything all that exciting too it. 

But the potato salad was actually really yummy. It takes a minute to figure it out. (Even Peyton took like five spoonsfuls trying to see if he minded it). The pickles in it are a little weird, but somehow it works. 

As we colored Turkmenistan in bright red, Peyton was like 'Oh, geez, it's the last of the stans.'

There's our Turkmenistan, to the north of dark red Iraq , and teal Afghanistan, and to the south of brown Uzbekistan and dark purple Kazakhstan (That empty space to the west is the Caspian Sea). 

That's 184 down, 12 to go! 

Next Up: Sri Lanka