OfFish a Friends
nd
Four comrades sample Mongolia’s nomadic lifestyle—by canoe
Story and Photos by Sarah McNair-Landry F
rom the riverbank, a family motioned for us to pull ashore. The mother, father, two teens and kid brother regarded us curiously. Their jean shorts and Nike t-shirts contrasted with the landscape behind them, a boundless expanse of
forest, steppe and mountains rambling off to the horizon. I glanced back at Eric on the stern seat. “Might as well go say hello,” he said, steering
our heavily laden canoe toward shore. Ulysse and Elsa followed in the second canoe. Pulling ashore, we exchanged greetings, “Sain bainuu”—Mongolian for, hello. When
we asked what they were doing, the family showed us a large pail filled with red cur- rants and pointed toward the forest. We presented our own small bag of sad-looking berries that we had picked a couple days before. The game of show-and-tell continued as the family matriarch unwrapped a newspa-
per containing five plump fish. Again, we displayed our modest catch: a six-inch fish that Eric had reeled in hours before. Surprisingly, it was the first fish of our trip.
www.canoerootsmag.com
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