Raccoons in the forest at the festival, veggies at the village and a huge piece of our heart now belongs to mother Russia.
Be Flexible
Here I cannot stress enough that flexibility can save you so much money and you might just gain an experience of a life time. After Turkey we had a plan to visit Armenia which is a visa free country for 4 months. Once our time was running short we researched flights and WorkAway/Couchsurfing options. There was very little to choose from that interested us and the flights was so expensive which led us to Russia. Flights was half the price so we changed our plan last minute! Also a visa free country for us and plenty of different WorkAway/Couchsurfing options.
After a fairly short flight we arrive in Russia. Jerome went through immigrations first. After, what felt like a 20min stare down in silence, he proceeded through the gates. Odette had no hassles and just walked straight through. We still don’t know why they triple checked Jeromes information and facial features. Maybe it was because he had grown a Muhammad beard over the last few months.
I had read an interesting blog about Russia and how they can often take advantage of foreigners in many aspects but mostly at the airport. Firstly we bought a sim card (About R600) with unlimited data which we reckoned was fantastic. Turns out you need to pay extra for the first month as it only runs for 20 days thereafter its an unlimited amount. It was still much cheaper than data in South Africa but we felt a bit ripped off. Please also be aware that because Russia is so big, you may need to change network providers if you are traveling across time zones.
Another airport problem is the Taxi service at the airport. We were quoted over 4000 Rupees for a 30min trip. If you download an App called Yandex, its like their Uber, it can save you getting ripped off big time. It ended up costing us less than a third of the price originally quoted. Travel Smart people!
We spent 3 days in Moscow exploring the beautiful architecture and history. We walked around Red Square, visited a Museum (Note most of the descriptions are not in english) and hopped around the quaint coffee shops.
Luckily we were advised by the guy who we were joining for a WorkAway experience, to book the train trip as far in advance as possible because they get fully booked very quickly. We managed to book the last 2 cabin seats available and I shotgunned the top bunk. Our trip was just short of 30 hours but we got to see a lot of the natural landscape of Russia and made friends with the sweetest grannies who fed us fresh home grown veggies and extremely strong Vodka out of a unlabeled glass jar.
We walked off the train into a crowd of people and by the exit we saw a friendly face holding up a paper that said Jerome. What a relief it was to have arrived in this small town and met with our, now good friend- Slav. First things first, we headed off to the veggie and fruit market while getting acquainted with Slav.
We still had 50km to drive into the Caucaus Mountains where we would stay in the village for a month. The myth about Russians driving crazy is not a myth but they all seem very aware of one another and it made the journey to the village seem very short. A beautiful plot of land with a big house and the veiw was a mountain range stretching as far as you could see.
We had an unforgettable time in Russia because of Slav. We felt very lucky to have him host us. He parted with his knowledge on Russian history and culture and overall was the perfect friend. Together we built stone walls and a boma in the shape of an eye where we could sit around the fire place. He made us their version of a Potjie called Ploff. It was delicious. We would gather with the other village folk in the afternoons and play volleyball.
We fell in love with this style of living, eating home grown vegetables, bartering and sharing with neighbors, rocking up unannounced for tea (which is very acceptable as long as you bring cookies or jam) and being very deep in nature. We would hear the jackets howling as close as 50m to our bedroom window.
We met up with a girl who had horses and Odette got to ride and even do some training with one of the young horses. Through the shared love and passion for horses, they became good friends regardless of the communication barrier.
We would go to the beautiful Black Sea for a swim on the hot days. Slav took us to the wild beach which had much fewer tourists and the most exquisite backdrop of a vertical cliff face.
Slav took us to a festival called Zdrafest. We spent 4 nights camping here, joining the folk dances and being included in the games regardless of the language barrier - we always had Slav there to help us get along. We bathed in the river, supported the local stalls and enjoyed the music and vibe. We hand fed wild raccoons that would visit our camp site at night. They announced at the main stage that we were the South African guests and thereafter we conversed with those wanting to know more about us and also, why we arn't black? We got this question more than 50 times and still not quite sure how to answer it. They interviewed us on our last and asked how we found the experience. Needless to say we had an amazing time! Have a look at our Video Production of Zdrafest in our video section.
We hosted a little good bye party to bid farewell to our new village friends and made 2 big trays of the famous South African dish Paptert. Everyone loved the food we had made. We danced and played music, specifically the traditional balalaika (almost like a 3 string banjo) and enjoyed our last moments with the most humble and real people we have ever met. A part of our hearts will forever stay in Russia. Its definitely one of our favorite places we have explored thus far.
Good bye Russia- until we meet again.
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