American Cowboys in Kyrgyzstan
“Let’s go play a game we’ve never played, in a language we don’t understand, where you could possibly die.”
CHOLPON-ATA — The handful of adventurous Americans who agreed to fly, with only two weeks’ notice, to Kyrgyzstan to play an ancient, brutal game were branded as a troop of Wyoming cowboys. They were among the more interesting guests at the 2nd World Nomad Games (not counting Steven Seagal, of course.) While only some were actually from Wyoming, and only one had ridden rodeo before, they all played the part on the U.S. Embassy’s stage in the Kyrchyn jailoo–a yurt camp set into a mountain pasture about 45 minutes from the hippodrome. The group entertained a crowd of Kyrgyz at the jailoo with “cowboy songs,” lasso lessons, and a hands-on whip-cracking experience that seemed somewhat unwise (the best Kyrgyz whip cracker was an ancient man with one tooth and a big grin; the worst swung the whip wildly amid a crowd of people and horses.)