The yurta Mongolian: 30 full square meters of living
The sound of gunfire breaks the silence. It is housed in a square iron stove. At one end of the wood or coal messes and the other leaves a chimney through the roof center. Fire is the heart of the Mongolian home, yurt or "ger", shop around 30 square meters base pride and lifestyle of the Mongols.
Of the three million inhabitants of Mongolia, half live in Ulan Bator and the other half scattered across its vast plains, mountains and desert of the Gobi. In the countryside, all live in yurts and even in its small towns and in the capital these stores removable interspersed with concrete buildings. Inhabit is not a matter of low social status, but rather tradition.
The sound of gunfire breaks the silence. It is housed in a square iron stove.
In its round surface fit one or two beds, a wooden cabinet with kitchen utensils, any more for clothing and other items, and even a Buddhist altar. With the stove fire, holy because it houses the spirits, It heated and cooked too fast through large cauldrons mating on top of the stove. It is in this small space where Mongolians spend much of their time in winter, when the cold reaches 40 degrees below zero. Electricity, Yes, there is, is achieved with a solar panel or generated with gasoline. Some have even satellite TV but the bathroom is to be found outside, a hundred meters, in that little booth colors with a hole in the ground.
Some have even satellite TV but the bathroom is to be found outside
In the short and rainy summer in Mongolian "ger" sleeping, It is talking with fire, it's played, you drink and cook. The diet is nutritious but basic: meat, dairy and some tuber. Mongolians live off their cows, sheep, goats, horses and yaks in a frenzy of summer activity. They are milked morning and evening and his Mongolian milk tea is made; then the "arc", a slightly alcoholic beverage obtained by fermenting milk; Later yogurt, which dries to the sun to eat in winter, and finally cheese. The meat is eaten fresh in summer and also dehydrates for winter, when animals feed on dry grass waiting for the summer rains. The recipes are basic: soup, pasta and rice can be cooked in 15 minutes because, very proud Mongolians say, work with animals that require no time for gastronomy.
Nomadic families can plant their yurts where they want, in the field there is no private property, and they do it twice a year in record time: of hours. In those 120 minutes carefully assembled in order all element, that cost 1.500 and 2.000 EUR: lumber, lana, rope and a plastic sleeve. studless, glueless. Wooden folding grilles serve wall, on which they engage small beams converging on the center of the ceiling to a kind of wooden rosette, the only window and splitting the two columns to the floor. Everything is tied with ropes and over the wall and ceiling large plates are made of wool. On top of the whole structure, a white plastic case, it also adjusts with strings.
Nomadic families can plant their yurts where they want and do it twice a year in record time: of hours
And if the fire is king, Queen of the yurt is the gate, painted wood with red, oranges and yellows. Is small, and Mongolians say that on purpose to show humility to the entering someone's home. The door is one of the two points that illuminate, in addition to the skylight roof, which can be covered with a square cloth.
The yurt has its own rules, forged in centuries of history. Not step on the doorframe, not pass between the columns and never to take anything beyond the fire wood, coal and paper. The spirits may offend. Entering, the left side is male and so the kitchen is always right, female. Are women who stew and they are the first to welcome a plate of sweet rolls in hand.
The yurt has its own rules, forged in centuries of history
The yurt has a guardian, the dog, so the visitor, to the approach, the first thing he asks is being caught before ducking his head and enter 30 full square meters of living.
