Early on Sunday mornings one of Kyrgyzstan’s biggest animal markets takes place around 2km north of central Karakol. Typical of such markets, you’ll observe scenes at once sad and comical, with locals improbably bundling voluptuous fat-tailed sheep into the back seats of Lada cars.
It is absolutely crowded with locals selling horses, sheep, cattle and goats. Each has its own section and the market is teeming with both animals and people both buying and selling. Whilst it appeared chaotic to us outsiders everyone seemed to know what was happening. Usually there were mostly men but now more and more women join the market. Some of them seem to be very strong haggler.
Whether you’re interested in the animals or not, the weekly bazaar gives a good insight into the culture and the livelihood of the people here. Scattered among stands of tightly tethered, complaining livestock are Kyrgyz who have come to examine and bargain for the goods on offer, trying out horses with a short test trot or assessing the weight of the fat on the behind of a fat-tailed sheep with their palms. This is Kyrgyz rural life in its unadorned form.
