J111 – 4/7/2006

Another long day in the heat, the thermometer reads 36°C in the shade and 44°C in the sun.

Serge still isn’t in top form and he alternated running and walking all day long.  His posture is typical of difficult days: leaning forward, head bowed as if to say, I’m bearing my suffering with patience and waiting for better days.

We are overwhelmed by this heat, which has taken us by surprise.  There was no spring on the race: we went from winter to full summer.

70% of the country is desert.  We have gone over the Garagum canal three times.  During the Soviet period it was named after Lenin but now it bears the name of the president of Turkmenistan.  The works for this canal were begun in 1954 and increased its size each year by 40 kilometers during the Soviet period.  Since the country’s independence the works have stopped.  The canal is 1000 kilometers long.  The tragedy in all these irrigation works is the draining of the Aral sea.  This canal has it’s source in the Amor Daria River, which starts in the Aral sea in Uzbekistan.  These great irrigation works served only for the monoculture of cotton in Turkistan and Uzbekistan.  Today it’s an ecological disaster.  On the other hand, once these two countries gained their independence they had to diversify their crops.  For example, in Turkmenistan no wheat was grown because the USSR imported that grain into the region; however, after just over 10 years of independence, Turkmenistan produces sufficient wheat for the needs of its population.

Our road goes up toward the Northeast in the direction of Turkmenabat.  Serge crossed the city of Bajramaly, after having made a short detour where he met the main road, a modest band of asphalt which is not in very good condition and which is used by some Turkish trucks since it is the only road which joins the capital, Ashgabat, to Uzbekistan.