A dream that perished in the mountains: the story of American tourists killed in Tajikistan
'08.08.2018'
Source: New York Times
When asked why they quit their office work and set off on a world tour on bicycles, the young American couple said: too tired of meetings and teleconferences, business plans and password changes.
“There is magic in this big, beautiful world,” Jay Austin wrote last year, two weeks before cycling to Africa with girlfriend Lauren Gaigan.
He was right many times, writes New York Times.
On 319 the day of travel, a Kazakh met on the way, stopped the truck, greeted him and handed them over the ice cream. On the meadow where they pitched their tent on 342 day, there was a family who arranged a string concert for them in the open air. And on 359 day at the top of the pass in Kyrgyzstan, they were met by two girls with pigtails and a bouquet of flowers. There were also difficulties, punctured tires, aggressive dogs, icy hail and diseases. But for Austin and Gagan 29-year-olds, the human attitude was more important than any trouble.
Then, just over a week ago, day 369 came when the couple moved with a group of other foreign tourists on a panoramic stretch of road in southwestern Tajikistan. It was there, on July 29, that a group of people believed to have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State was discovered.
A grainy video captured on a mobile driver showed what happened next: a Daewoo sedan drives past cyclists and then makes a sharp turn. The driver gives back, and then directs the car directly to the cyclists, crashes into them and passes through the tourists lying on the ground. In total, four people were killed: Austin, Geigan and cyclists from Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Two days later, the Islamic State released a video of five people identified as the attackers. They sit in front of the ISIS flag, look at the camera and vow to kill "infidels."
This worldview is diametrically opposed to the one with which Austin and Gagan tried to live. During all their travels, the couple together held a blog and shared their dreams about what they would like to realize, about acts of kindness of outsiders to whom they reciprocated.
“You have a desire to give something, and not only to the person who accepted the stranger in his home, but in the wider world,” Austin wrote. - You become someone who wants to accept others in your home. You become a merchant in the gift economy. ”
Jay Austen lived in a tiny house in Washington. After receiving a master’s degree from Georgetown University, he began working in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. After making sure that many of the things people possess are completely unnecessary to them, he began to practice a minimalist lifestyle.
Austin built a house with his own hands, which he called The Matchbox - only 13 square meters, which has been shown more than once in numerous television shows. To free up space, he built magnets into the walls: it was more convenient to store metal objects and a collection of spices.
And if one of his goals was to cut life down to simple necessities, the other was to expand his entire world. He could get unpaid leave and travel the world. As one of Austin's friends said, if at the end of the year he had a choice - to ask for more money or vacation, he chose vacation.
First, he traveled the United States on a scooter, then went on a rail journey through Europe, and then went to Namibia. Then I went to India for a week.
In 2012, he met Lauren Gaigan, born in Southern California, who graduated from the same college and worked on the college admissions office. And although Geygan was also an experienced traveler - she spent the summer in Beirut studying Arabic and a semester in Madrid, so she speaks fluent Spanish, independent travel, which became Austin's trademark, was new to her.
His values began to influence her, say friends Loren. She bought a ticket at the bike rental service, which turned into an annual membership. Soon she bought her own bike.
In 2016, Gagan told a friend, Amanda Kerrigan, that she plans to quit her job and go on a world bicycle tour around the world. A friend showed concern, surprised by the decision of Lauren, which she knew in a completely different light.
The couple showed thoroughness in planning. At first they set off for a month on a cycling test tour of Iceland. Since they had to wear everything on their own, both focused on each item they were going to take with them. One of Austin's acquaintances once found him weighing up individual tablets. On the Internet, they even found a deck of 2,5 size cards on 2,5 cm.
They spent months on saving money, but then it was time for big decisions: not even the most extended holiday covered the trip. A month before leaving, Austin quit.
“I'm tired of wasting the best hours of my day in front of the glowing rectangle, painting the best years of my life in stripes of gray and beige,” he wrote. - I missed too many sunsets while my face was turned towards the screen. Too many thunderstorms passed by, too many gentle breezes I could not see. "
On the day of departure, Kerrigan said goodbye to Lauren, worrying about where her journey with Austin might lead. Hugging Geygan, a friend asked her to listen to her instincts and leave at the first danger.
“When someone dies, people will always say, 'Oh, this person was wonderful,” says Kerrigan. - Lauren was not just a good person. She was exceptional in dealing with people. "
The couple began their journey from the southern tip of Africa with a miscalculation that led them to a predicament. This happened on July 23, 2017 - it was winter in South Africa and the sun went down at 5:30 pm. They didn't realize how long they would have to drive on congested freeways before they could get out of Cape Town. At dusk, they found themselves with a punctured tire in the chaos of the R27. The tip of Africa was nowhere to be found. There was nowhere to fix the wheel, except for a ditch adjacent to a busy freeway.
When Austin was asked why he chose a bicycle, the man said of the vulnerability of a man on two wheels: "With this vulnerability comes tremendous generosity: good people who acknowledge your helplessness and need for help offer it in one way or another."
In the middle of the night, a guard patrolling the territory of a nearby nuclear power plant noticed their tent. He called for help on the radio and arranged for the truck to take them through the city to the campsite. Their journey was a series of tedious, sometimes grueling physical challenges, filled with manifestations of human kindness.
The pair continued to move northward, crossing the desert where the sand was so deep that they had to walk and push bicycles. In Botswana, a worried stranger stopped a car to offer them ice water when the air temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius.
They drove along mud paths, climbed over dry river beds and drove along cracked asphalt for days without taking a shower. In Morocco, the family offered the couple a room, and the next morning, seeing them off, gave them homemade bread.
Days turned into weeks, and then into months. Beginning to bring health: Gauguin was in the emergency room in France with an acute ear infection, both infected with conjunctivitis, constantly overcoming pain in the stomach and throat.
They arrived in Europe last December. Heavy rains soaked even the waterproof gloves. “Perfectly wet, cold and hopeless,” the couple sent a message from Spain.
A couple of hours later, a man and a woman stopped their van, gave them towels, and insisted on taking Austin and Gagan to their home, where they dried their clothes.
But during the trips, both noted in the blogs and human cruelty. For example, on one mountain pass a group of people blocked their path and tried to push a couple off their bicycles. And just 50 yards from the Spanish border in a dense traffic jam, Austin signaled to the driver that he wants to drive around. The driver allowed him to sneak forward, and then began to deliberately move, trying to squeeze Austin's bike between two cars.
However, by the time they got to the ill-fated road in Tajikistan a little over a week ago, they agreed that the vast majority of the world was good, and this was confirmed by dozens of photos and thousands of travel-related words.
“You read the newspapers and believe the world is a big, scary place,” Austin wrote. - People, as they say, are not trustworthy. People are bad. People are evil. I disagree with this. Evil is a concept we have invented to cope with the characteristics of other people who hold values, beliefs and perspectives different from ours ... In general, people are kind. Sometimes curious, sometimes shortsighted, but kind. They are generous, lovely and kind. There was no greater revelation on our journey than this. ”
In a video released by the Islamic State after the death of a married couple, in which unknown men declare their allegiance to the Islamic State, a fabulously beautiful aquamarine lake can be seen behind them. Most likely, the couple stopped to view this beautiful panorama, take photos and publish in their blog. But in the video, when these people point to the landscape around them, they vow to kill the “infidels” who have invaded their land.
