1.13.2003 ||>
Okay, so I got back from Nukus, and irony of ironies, the BBC has a news report about the Aral Sea, which is in the region between here and Kazakhstan. They call it "Anthrax Island" since there is an island in the middle of the "sea" that has has a chemical and biological weapons research plant on it from Soviet times, until well, about last year. Apparently it's like a toy box full of bad things like the plague, small pox and anthrax. As if it weren't bad enough that the Aral Sea has been drained by various dictators since the 60s so that it's less of a sea and more of a puddle, they do this kind of crap to it. I'm not the best environmentalist out there, but my god. There's this town right next to it that used to be a port. Now all it is is salt, sand and beached ships because the water is about 100 kilometers away from the town. It used to bring in like tons and tons of fish a year. Now there are no fish. And now the Uzbek and Kazakh governments have to monitor the rodent population to make sure that there isn't plague virus running around. If anyone wants an example of why the Soviet Union fell, well, there you go. They were stupid.
Anyway, the camp was great. The kids were awesome. I wish my kids were that motivated. It was really, really cold there. I also met a lot of awesome people there and hopefully I can get them out to help me with my camp, and I will get a chance to go back there soon as well.
