“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta I would love to grab this exciting opportunity as it knocks to apply for the 2020 travel writing scholarship to the Caribbean so that to fuel my wanderlust. My traveling experience is limited by a couple of overseas trips to the UK as a tourist, Turkey on a business trip, the near abroad Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. Those were rather exciting leaps into the unknown leaving marks on my memory and heart. I am from a mountainous, nomad post-soviet country. It has many beauty spots worth visiting. So I decided to climb that goddamn mountains, enjoy the waterfalls, streams and turquoise lakes coz in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office, cooking or planting flowers in your front garden. Just go and see! I traveled across the country through mountain valleys like Susamyr spending holidays at our famous Issyl-Kol Lake, on the way stopping at the Naryn river, Toktogul man-made lake, Chychkan gorge, highest mountain passes, Fairytale canyon resembling Mars surface, Jety Oguz gorge with its breathtaking seven sandstone rocks. On the approach to Jeti Oguz there is another rock formation that looks like a broken heart. I remember it was hailing when I was passing by that place. There are many national parks and nature reserves in my country and I still visited just four. Ala-Archa national park was founded to protect the mountain river of the same name. The fresh water was so cold almost icy that I only managed to slightly moisten my hands and face. There are famous peaks and glaciers there Mount Komsomolets and Peak Semyonova Tianshanski. It is really a very popular place for hiking and trekking. By the way the name of this national park comes from Kyrgyz word for treelike juniper archa, a plant that is burned to remove bad spirits from houses. Lake Issyk-Kol is part of the Issyk-Kol biosphere nature reserve the first one that was founded long time ago in 1948 to protect the wetlands around the lake. In fact, a large variety of ecosystems are represented in the reserve, from deserts to mountains to marshlands. The reserve is also home to some endangered species, including the Marco Polo sheep, the Siberian ibex, snow leopards, and Tian Shan brown bears. The next comes Sary-Chelek biosphere nature reserve with its pearl an alpine lake of the same name, which is only seven hours drive from my home place, however, I visited it for the first and only time with my expat friends who worked in Osh for international NGOs just on Kyrgyzstan’s independence day. It is definitely the place of eternal bliss and pleasure. The untouched nature, stunning views of pine forests, crystal clear waters of the lake, mountain air and its remoteness from civilization inspired me and gave the feeling of joy and serenity. We spent the whole day there hiking, had a short boat trip. Swimming and fishing is banned. In the evening we returned to the family guest house in the village not far from the national park. The only thing that upset me, I noticed some piles of garbage, mostly plastic that was not disposed. It is an acute and pressing problem in my country recycling and proper garbage disposal due to lack of funds, technologies and careless attitude of local people. The gorges of Kyrgyz-Ata national park are located 40 km to the south of my native town Osh and I often visit them to enjoy the picturesque scenes. Though I visited most of the beautiful places of my home country, some are left like the Son-Kol Lake with its yurt camps in the Naryn region, climbing Lenin Peak, and wandering in other national parks Padyshata, Saimaluu-Tash, Salkyn-Tor, Kulan-Ata etc. And I would be very happy to welcome visitors from other countries to join me in my adventures to fill our souls. If I am selected to visit the Caribbean it would inspire me with courage for the first transatlantic trip in my life, risky yet enthralling as traveling spirit is catching indeed. Travel bug should always be present despite corkscrew or thorny paths.