Finally we've sort of cracked the code of Siberian travel for this wacky season.
The people of Talovka sent us off to the next Brigadda on the winter road. The word
Brigadda is probably a remnant from the Soviet system when all of the collective
reindeer herds were cared for a by brigades of herders. The winter road is a magic
white carpet that cuts through the snow-less brown tundra. The rest of the snow
has either melted or been blown away by this winter's bizarre weather. The people
have been using the winter road with all sorts of conveyances, reindeer sleds, snow
mobiles, feet, tractors, and vishdahotz. Misha and I are skiing along on a
two-meter wide line of hard packed snow that we could just as easily walk on. But,
hey, we want use at least one of our high-tech toys, and it beats carrying them.
It's pretty cool, everyday we meet some folks traveling along and they always invite
us to camp with them, or they take us to one of the small huts that dot this vast
wilderness. They tell us really amazing stories about living out here. I'm glad
that Misha is such a tireless interpreter and seems to charm our hosts. The old
grandmother even baked us some yummy bread in her wood stove.
We are crawling along, it took us 4 days to get to Brigadda 71, but we are still
moving faster than the reindeer sleds. Somehow it doesn't really matter any more.
I'm sure that we won't make it all the way to the Arctic Ocean so I'm just going
with the flow. When it comes right down to I guess I am, after all, an aging hippy.
Apparently the biggest part of # 71's herd is a day or two north so we'll head off
again tomorrow.
Jon
Follow a Shamans Dream across Siberia
Part VIII - Part XIV
Part VII
Part VI
Part V
Part IV
Part III
Part II
Part I and Interview with Jon
