Red Dust written June 3, 2009

Red Dust
Written June 3rd

May 30 marked my second and possibly last Mighty Merv campout. I, along with 13 other volunteers representing 3 welyats slept beneath the stars and on top of the dust that was a city. Merv was a major player in Turkmen and world history. It was a Silk Route stop and was sacked and destroyed by such notables as Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. Merv, in all its incarnations, depended on the Murgap River for water, so as the river’s course changed, the city moved. What remains now is a sprawling set of walls, mosques, icehouses, and mausoleums that covers several miles.

It’s Peace Corps tradition that the Mary volunteers host campouts among the ruins when the weather permits. In preparation for this event, I spent a LONG time baking cupcakes. I have a fantastic silicon cupcake tray, but only one. Usually that is enough, but when cooking 40+ cupcakes, the limits are more obvious. It took about 6 hours from start to finish, although most of that was waiting for cupcakes to bake and cool. My host family was suitably impressed by my culinary prowess, which was nice. They generally don’t like my curries and spicy soups. Chocolate cupcakes are winners, though.

I also brought sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts to mix with a pasta salad that another volunteer created. Little treats from home are wonderful things. We all met at the bus station loaded with carpets, sleeping bags, libations, food, and energy. As we made our way to the site, there was a pretty intense dust storm, but we decided that we live in a desert. It will take more than dust to scare us away. That turned out to be a good decision because while it was annoying to constantly have gritty teeth, the wind kept the temperature bearable and the mosquitoes at bay. Last year the mozzies were biting through jeans. This year they were negligible.

Thanks to the prowess of not one, but two, eagle scouts nature was destroyed with saws, axes, and hatchets. We made the fire pit extra deep so that the wind wouldn’t cause it to spread. Then we cooked vegetarian kebabs on a little grill. The tomatoes in this country are amazing no matter how they are cooked. The cupcakes were a hit, and with music blaring from everyone’s Ipods, merriment was had.