Song-Kul belly

Happy third trimester to me!

(27 weeks!)

I spent the weekend at Song-Kul, a high-altitude lake in Naryn. Part of me wanted nothing more than to keep my ever-growing stomach inside my house all weekend, limiting my activities to things like eating pancakes, experimenting with homemade pumpkin spice lattes, and sleeping in my own bed. But when a friend invited us to join her on one last Song-Kul weekend before the season closed (the lake is only accessible May-September), I panicked.

I had never been to Song-Kul, which is one of those necessary Kyrgyzstan experiences. It’s the kind of thing where if you don’t go to Song-Kul after living in Kyrgyzstan for more than two years, people judge you. “Oh, so did you ever leave Bishkek in those two years? What were you doing the whole time?” It’s true that I’ll probably be around next summer when the pass opens up again, but I can’t exactly imagine being more motivated to tote an infant over a 3800-meter mountain pass than I would be to just drag my extra weight along now.

In other words, it was now or never. Aside from what was probably the worst night’s sleep of my life, I had a lovely time and I’m glad I sucked it up and had the experience. Plus, it provided a fun backdrop for 27-week photos of my fatness (and dorkiness).

Don’t worry, I took tons of photos that are much more interesting than me standing in front of a yurt that I’ll post over the next few days/weeks.