The Karagonda City and Country side

The Karagonda City and Countryside

When we flew from Almaty to Karagonda it was in 50-seat prop plane so I could get a good view of the countryside. Flying out of Almaty there are huge mountains to the south of the city snow covered at least as tall as the Rockies. Almaty also had some very poor sections but it is becoming the financial capital of Kazakhstan, with quite a few high rises being built however a lot of smog and dirt. Karagonada however, where we are is a bazaar place; although the country succeeded from Russia in 1990, it is still in its infancy. Here it is still very much like Russia even the police uniforms look Russian. Half of the people speak Russian and the other half Kazak neither of which we understand at all. The street signs are printed in both languages although no one pays attention to them. There are no posted speed limits or street lanes and you take your life into your hands every time you get into car. On the four-lane road through the city, it is commonplace for drivers to drive four abreast in one direction passing each other and weaving in and out. You can pull a u-turn at any time without warning. Pedestrians run to get of the way of cars, cars have the right of way people are usually targets and we think the drivers get points for hitting them; Americans must be at least ten points. When you pull into the road on the way to the orphange, which is single lane road any people children old people have to move out of the way for the car to pass or face being hit. The roads are in terrible shape potholes everywhere. We are told that the money goes to into people’s pockets rather then to fix the roads. The cars are beat up pieces of crap with the exception of the new wealthy people who drive BMW”s Lexus” and Mercedes. For the most part everything is corrupt on a scale that we cannot even imagine. You don’t have to take a drivers test if you someone, just hop behind the wheel and put the pedal to the metal. The country is dry and arid not much grows at all, I have seen all about 10 red pines planted behind a church. The rest appear to be like a box elder there are some lilacs by the orphanage but they are just starting to bud, which makes everything look worse because there is no green anywhere. It is so dry and dusty that no one bothers to wash them they are just dust buckets. When the wind blows dust and dirt are everywhere, they do not seem to be concerned about litter. Now a little about the people; from what we understand probably 60% of the people live under the poverty line. They seem to be relatively cold to each other no one says hello, thank you for opening doors, actually they do not hold doors open if you walking in right after them no speaks to each. They do however dress to the nines, all the women were 4” or 5” heels with tight jeans, and they are very fashion conscience. Although they may only have one or two nice outfits, they like to look they all are movie stars out of some western film. I have attached some photos.