We took a drive up Sinjar Mountain toward the end of NOV (yes, its been that long since I've posted). It took quite a while to get up the mountain (windy and narrow), but we managed. Pictures going up are from the inside of the MRAP.
One of the stops at the top was a Yezidi Temple (all of our terps are Yezidi (type of religion here, not Muslim or Christian), which our terps led us to and told us about it. There were sheets hanging in the temple, and you made a wish, said a prayer, then tied a knot in the sheet after untying a knot already there. The untying of the knot is ensuring that the prayer/wish said by the other person before you will be answered.
On the way down, we stopped and I got some good pictures of the canyon and the farming they do there. The farming that you see in the photos is tobacco fields (Laurie, I know you are laughing about this, but that is what the terp told me, not what I'm guessing....sorry everyone, inside joke). The children were chasing after us looking for candy. Luckily we had some gum and handed it over to them.
We made it back down the mountain and safely back to COP Nimir. I added a photo of the COP (it is pretty tiny).
Anyway, so ends part 2, stay tuned for part 3.
Kelly
When I was stationed in Tal Afar we had a unit of Soldiers on Sinjar mountain. Thanks for posting your blog, for I have been searching for pictures of this area for a while. Sinjar is unbelievable.....amazing drive which caused lots of issues due to the terrain. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteSteve Genchi