Despite Uda's intentions

I like being completely out of my element when traveling, but even in that situation, I also enjoy finding connections to the life I know, including things that people I feel connected to care about.

Thus today was a red-letter day. It was a gorgeous crisp autumn day, the kind where the sun still holds warmth and you want to hold onto it for a while, but they slip away so fast. I had arranged to go out into the countryside to a couple of small villages with a car and driver, and we met at 10 am at the hotel. Uda spoke about as much English as I do Russian, so we used Google translate to establish what we were doing, and who each other is. For instance, I know that he is a retired police officer, his wife is a nurse, and he has three daughters: 17, 13, and 5 years old. He is 43, is Buryat and a Buddhist, and was born in the north region above Lake Baikal.

Unfortunately, Uda had his own agenda, which did not include stopping for photos of ordinary things that thrill me- he wanted me to take photos of statues and important places that have little meaning for me, and he thought I would want him to take my photo at every stop. I really don't need that many photos of myself, so I declined. I did snap some photos to please him, because deleting them later is a painless option.

We went to an Old Believer's Village, and if you have to look that up, you are not the only one. Here's the Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Believers

These groups split from the Russian Orthodox Church in the early 1600's over what appears to be a little trivial (ways to form the sign of the cross, for instance), but apparently it was really a political issue (aren't they all?) and for hundreds of years the Old Believers were denied many rights, were outright persecuted, and in many instances, fled Russia. Some even ended up in Woodburn, Oregon and Kodiak, Alaska, among other places. There are many sub-groups, most of which don't appear to approve of each other. At least one requires the men to grow their beards.

Walking through their village today, I saw that the houses have electricity, and most people wore fairly modern western-style clothing. What was fascinating were the houses- the wooden designs, the paint colors, and the fanciful window treatments.

But the prize of the day came when I saw a series of small roadside stands selling honey and related products.

I had to practically climb out of my seat to convince Uda to stop, but he finally got the message. We met this lovely lady and thanks again to Google translate, I got to see her hives and garden.

 Her hives are clearly quite old, and well-used, and it was a great delight to be allowed to walk around and soak it all up. When I asked about seeing hives, she asked if I was afraid of being bitten (Google's translation, anyway). I said no, my brother has hives in my yard at home, and she opened the gate and led the way!

 I asked how she keeps the bees warm in the winter, and what Google said she said was that she has a hostel for them! I'm pretty sure that wasn't quite right but I nodded and smiled.

 Her greenhouse is mostly empty now, other than some garlic hanging, but it's obviously a place of great activity in the spring. There are no frills, but it was beautiful to me.

She pulled three big beautiful carrots from her garden and washed them off with at the spigot to give me a gift- not sure what I'll do with them, but they are incredibly beautiful sitting in my hotel room.

I explained that I have carrots and other things growing in my garden as well, and that I too have chickens (I could hear but not see her chickens). I had so many things to ask her about, and yet nothing needed to be asked, just admiring her garden and hives was enough.