"Welcome to the five-star hotel."
We rolled in to station 24, our second stop of the day,
to find there was no vet waiting for us; her vehicle had
gotten stuck in a bog en route. Our horses had to be
vetted before we could head out again, so rather than
our customary lightning-quick turnaround, we headed
into the family's ger to have some lunch.
There we were greeted by Yajaa, a Mongolian wom-
an who spoke English. She pointed us toward a spread
of stew, vegetables, and, much to our delight, choc-
olate. Yajaa lives in Ulaanbaatar but had come out to
the steppe with her family to help with the Derby. She
had three children, the youngest a little boy about two
who recited colors in English.
TO SAY THAT I LOVED EVERY
MINUTE OF THE MONGOL DERBY
WOULD BE A LIE, AND BETRAY
JUST HOW GRUELING
IT REALLY IS.
