Life this month

So it was August 5th when I last wrote, and I can hardly believe how the time has flown.

Fall is settling in in Kabul, which makes me shudder thinking of the winter to come. It has been a good, and full month.

August in Kabul flew by with Obama rallies (yes we can still rally in Kabul, but no I didn’t get to meet Obama during his visit to Kabul), new house members (I’ve recently adopted two kittens—oh the fear of becoming an old lady with too many cats), attempts to make Kabul a small-Mexico with little success (you name it…gazpacho, enchiladas, Chile Reyenos) and the most incredible trip to Bamyan, a central and thankfully peaceful province of Afghanistan.

10 minutes into a 25 minute flight to Bamiyan (which by car would take 8-10 hours considering the road conditions) I immediately regretted my decision to board as the plane seemed to fly more like a hummingbird than something with engines. The last minute u-turn, to get the plane in the right direction in the valley to land, didn’t help either. But alas, we landed, in one of the most beautiful areas I’ve seen.

Our time was spent walking around the small provincial capital (the main-street consisted of a 50-meter smattering of small shops), exploring the famous Buddha status (which the Taliban sadly destroyed), and traveling by road to Bandiamere, a series of turquoise lakes in the middle of what seemed like nowhere. And, if that wasn’t enough, our last morning was spent as a convoy of motorcycles, buzzing around the city to incredible look-out points, old-deserted cities, and really just nowhere.

Life is good.




This may be my favorite photo from Afghanistan. I took the photo from the back of a motorcycle...I think their expression adequately reflects their shock to see 6 people, mostly women, whizzing by on motorcycles.


The small Buddha statue is the background.




Canoing around Bandiamere.



Yes. It was stunning.