LIVING IN PEVEK
Saturday 24th March 2018
Anadyr was still under the siege of the Uzhak. For the past four days our flights from Pevek had been cancelled and there was not much we could do other than wait each morning until the final flight advice for the day was announced by the local airport authority. And even after the blizzards had died down in Anadyr, our flights continued to be cancelled. "The Pevek runway has not been cleared of snow today" or "It was too late for the plane to take off from Anadyr to come to Pevek."And so the reasons went on. And on....
Alex organised a number of activities for each day but mostly we entertained ourselves just living like locals. Although we were likely to miss most of our coming tour in Anadyr, Egvekinot and Amguema, we consoled ourselves that it was in fact a great opportunity to really get the feel of Pevek and to experience first hand what it was like to live in the Arctic; exactly what we had wanted from our tour.
We shopped every day often on our own, for food supplies and began to understand a little more of what was in the display cabinets, where to find and how to ask for certain goods. Not surprisingly, we were especially clued up about the vodka and had found a brand we really enjoyed.... We began to make friends with local shop owners who were unbelievably patient with our lack of language and also befriended the genial restaurant staff at the Romashka and Arabika Cafes. Even the miners who frequented these cafes every day, began to acknowledge us. Often we would just visit the Romashka for a coffee - and the opportunity to use the one hour of free WiFi. We were more than happy to keep buying coffee but after a while, the staff kindly renewed our connection anyway.
And we also established a very friendly relationship with our hotel staff, especially Lilia and Marguerite. One evening long after the staff had left for the evening, Alex received a call from Lilia. She had just noticed the Northern Lights from her home and if we hurried to one end of our hotel, we may just be able to see them. The show of lights was not all that spectacular but we were absolutely delighted to have seen them at all, especially as it was apparently not the right season for viewing. And how nice was Lilia to think of us?
Other days we would venture out into the cold for long walks around the town, often accompanied by several dogs and usually going from shop to shop to warm up. We were learning how to make sure our boots were free of ice before we entered indoors to prevent us from skating into a fallen heap, and where to walk and how not to slip over on the glassy roads. It was not just us however. We saw some really awful falls encountered by Pevek locals.
Other nights we went for long walks after our meals. Walking through deep snow at night in the bitter cold was yet another dimension to our Pevek experience.
We were also to learn that every apartment block has one or two stores so that when the really bad Uzhak blew, the inhabitants could obtain sufficient supplies to sit it out without going outside. These stores were like mini department stores, selling virtually everything you may need. I even managed to buy a pair of reading glasses after my frames snapped in two.
We noted with interest, large wire boxes hanging from window frames. Alex explained these acted as "refrigerators". And it made perfect sense. But it was so very different from what we are used to in our warm climate at home where we cannot even safely leave fish out of the refrigerator for more than a couple of hours.
We observed how difficult it was to provide and maintain plumbing in Pevek's permafrost environment. Fancy being a plumber in Pevek? The sewerage pipes emitted horrible odours and the town water was a dark brown colour and quite frankly, smelt like shit. Bottled water was definitely the go, with Alex refusing to even let us drink boiled tap water. I wondered also about the pollutants in the decaying pipes. Best not to think about it, we decided....
One particularly sunny afternoon we went for a long walk around the port. We mentioned to Alex that for the first time, we could feel some warmth from the sun. He laughed, saying it was a balmy minus 7 degrees C. And you sure could feel the difference. It was a glorious afternoon and when Alex and Alan decided to do some shopping, I wandered off on my own to take some photos.
It was Pevek at its best. Here is the video of our beloved Pevek on that beautiful afternoon. https://youtu.be/INE4tPO41N8
Like Magadan, Pevek had grown not only on us, but within us. It is a very strange feeling to feel almost possessed by a town or city. To our surprise, we began to plan a return trip....
A DAY TOUR TO A BASE CAMP
Sunday 25th March 2018
A Travel Agent, An Undertaker, Three Huskies and a Reindeer....
Our flight was cancelled yet again. Alex who was obviously pulling his hair out wondering what to do with us for yet another day, suggested that we take a tour with a local travel guy who had a "camp site" somewhere near the former settlement of Apapelgino and quite close to the airport. "Yeah, say this guy says he has a tent camp, and some Huskies and a reindeer you can take photos of" drawled Alex in his best Alaskan accent. "He is also the local undertaker" he added. When Alex sounded American, he was usually being evasive.
It sounded terrible to us. Who was this tourist guy and did we really have to be entertained this way? After all, we were in Chukotka because we hate anything remotely contrived or touristy.
And we were quite happy to spend another day living like locals. "Well, I think we should give him a bit of work. There is not much tourism in Pevek" asserted Alex cautiously. We knew we were committed....
Apparently we had to buy some food for our lunch and so our travel man would be picking us up very soon from the hotel. As we waited in the foyer, Lilia looking concerned pulled Alex aside. "Sasha*, I must tell you that after this coming Wednesday, our hotel is full. There is a government delegation arriving in Pevek and there will be no accommodation at all for you or for your tourists".
*Sasha is a diminutive of the name Alexander. In this case, it was used as a term of affection by Lilia.
That was the worst news possible. After all, there were only two hotels in Pevek. With the way our flights were being cancelled one after another with seemingly now no justifiable reasons, the prospects of being still stranded in Pevek for the next week seemed very real. And after our acrimonious parting from our first hotel, it was unlikely they would take us as guests even if we wanted to go there. A sudden urgency loomed over us. Surely, our flight would leave tomorrow? There was no time to reflect on our dilemma. Igor had arrived.....
Igor's arrival at our hotel even to us skeptical tourists, was a very comical affair. Arriving in a battered old Russian Uaz truck, Igor was suitably attired in a very flash red Canada Goose ski suit topped with a fine hunting cap with elaborate fur trim. Accompanying him in the rear of the truck were three enormous white Siberian Huskies and would you believe, a baby reindeer? The combination was highly amusing, reminding me somewhat of a Christmas cartoon - Igor in the red fur trimmed suit, the sled dogs and a blessed reindeer. Oh, and the snow and some apprehensive passengers....
Local children flocked to Igor's truck presumably to gain a view of the dogs and the reindeer. Adults alike stopped in their tracks and waved. Even Lilia and Lydia came our from our hotel, smiling and waving. It seemed this Igor guy was quite a celebrity in town; as were the dogs and of course the simply gorgeous baby reindeer Yashka. The reaction of the Pevek locals surprised us. After all, surely these kids and their parents were well used to seeing Huskies and reindeer? It seemed not....
To Alan's disappointment, Igor didn't look at all like an undertaker (Alan had sourly suggested prior to our tour with Igor that perhaps we could order the "Set Tourist Menu"; that is The Tour, Lunch, Death and Funeral Option. Not so funny Alan....). A genial man with a wide friendly face and engaging smile, Igor was anything other than the conventional sallow, blank faced, black suited undertaker. In fact he was absolutely charming; and obviously a real opportunist and very popular with the Pevek locals.
After a 20 minute drive, Igor pulled his van over to the side of the road. To our right and in the distance was what looked like a tiny army tent and a few lonely flags. There was absolutely nothing else other than a great white expanse of snow covered land. Was this the Base Camp? Well, it sure was. A snow mobile ridden by Igor's wife Tatiana roared up to the van. Apparently, there was no way even the sturdy Uaz could make the journey across the ice to the camp so we had to travel by snow mobile - or at least Alan and Tatiana. Alex and I were towed on a wooden sled behind. Igor was later picked up on another snow mobile by their friend Vladimir.
And off we set flat out with us being snow blasted by spray flurried up by Tatiana's enormous snow mobile. Alan got off lightly being pillioned, while Alex and I were thrown around on the sled like being on a matchbox - and about as comfortable. "Good thing it's not all that cold" giggled Alex. It was a balmy minus 22 C!
The double skinned tent was a very welcome comfort after the frigid sled ride. A combustion heater pumped out an amazing amount of heat, so much so we had to open the tent flaps to let some air in. Soon we peeled our outer layers off, sitting in just our t-shirts and light trekking pants. Igor was concerned about our complacency, advising us to keep rugged up as they were. There was no doubt about these tough Russians. They seemed totally oblivious to both cold and heat!
For the next hour or so, we talked with Igor and Tatiana about life in Pevek. It was interesting to speak so openly with people who actually lived and worked in the region. Igor was part Chukchi and part Ukrainian, whereas Tatiana was Russian. The couple proudly told us they had been married for just five years.
Igor spoke at length about the difficulties of growing up in the post-Stalin era. His parents lived a primitive nomadic existence as reindeer herders on nearby Ayon Island, dwelling in a traditional yaranga (Chukchi tent). Igor had attended boarding school for most of his childhood where even though it was basic, he was exposed to the relative luxuries of central heating, radio and television. After his school days, he returned to his parent's yaranga; a move which he found deeply disturbing and very difficult. To exacerbate his unhappiness, he found to his dismay that he was not accepted by the community as a Chukchi nor as a Russian.
Yashka as a Baby
We were not quite sure how Igor ventured into the tourism business - or the funeral business for that matter - but he was obviously quite an entrepreneur in Pevek. He and Tatiana lived in an apartment in town, using the "base camp" as a weekender in winter as well as a tourist base. You could wonder how such a tiny tent could be used as a tourist facility but I guess there is not a lot of tourism in Pevek Town....
Igor and Tatiana then told us about the reindeer Yashka. An orphan, the baby Yashka was raised on a bottle by the couple and has lived all his life with their dogs in a garage in their apartment block. Yes, a reindeer living in an apartment! The story was getting more amusing by the minute. Yashka, not surprisingly, thought he was a dog and behaved accordingly.
Igor and Tatiana laughed when they told us how they once harnessed Yashka to a dog sled to see if he would be able to pull with his dog friends. Apparently it worked out fine with Yashka quite enjoying it all. The dogs didn't however. Yashka's stride was apparently double that of the dogs, causing the canines awful difficulty in keeping up with him.
While Tatiana went outside to cook us "the best kebabs in Russia", Igor asked Alan and I what we would like to do for the rest of the afternoon. Would we like to go snow mobiling? Igor knew that I liked fishing and asked if I would like to go hunting with him and shoot some hares? The snow mobiling was one thing. Not surprisingly, Alan was not keen given his recent fall and broken ribs but it sure beat shooting hares. Igor was astonished at my reaction."But there are many hares around here and we use them to feed the dogs".
I really had a "double take". I had never even touched a gun in my life, let alone contemplated killing a lovely furry white hare. Aghast, I let Alex do the explaining while Alan sat back, looking faintly amused. "Well Igor, they don't even like eating meat. Wendy couldn't even watch a video the other afternoon in which animals were being killed" he explained to an unbelieving Igor. Yes, I understood that I have completely double standards. Yes, I did fish and I ate meat but the thought of killing a warm blooded animal was anathema to me. Igor looked confused.
Thankfully Tatiana broke up the conversation entering the tent with her freshly grilled kebabs. They smelt divine but we were concerned they may have been reindeer meat. "OMG! Not Yashka Kebabs", I thought....
Alan obviously felt the same, both of us eating just one small piece while trying impossibly to eat a whole tomato that Alex had thoughtfully bought for us (thinking we would need some vegetables). "Don't you eat pork?" asked Tatiana. The effect was immediate. Yes, of course we ate pork but the thought of reindeer meat was just too much. In no time, we had devoured several of Tatiana's Best in Russia Pork Kebabs. And they were delicious. Igor was looking more confused.
Meanwhile, the quiet gently spoken Vladimir had disappeared. Apparently he had taken off on one of the snow mobiles to make a track for us to ride upon. It was just a pity that no-one told us the track was circular....
Venturing outside the warmth and comfort of the tent, something happened in the world of translation as suddenly two of the biggest snow mobiles we had ever seen were roared up for us to ride. So much for Alan's protests about his recent accident and broken ribs. We were off, with no practice and no explanation of how to operate the things, nor where we were to go. With a mighty roar, Igor drummed up the throttle on my machine and waved me off; Alan with Alex pillioned on his snow mobile behind me. "Just follow the track. I''ll take the photos!" screamed Alex above the deafening noise of the snow mobiles.
I was not enjoying myself. I had no idea where I was going and my machine was so large and heavy, I was having great difficulty in steering it, let alone keeping it on Vladimir's track. And I kept thinking of Alan's recent rolling of his snow mobile in Magadan. God help me if this thing falls over, I thought. It was the size of a large ride on mower and just about as heavy. It will be more deadly than broken ribs, I thought grimly. For a fleeting moment, I was amused thinking of Alan's not so funny reference to a "Set Menu" tour. Maybe he was frigg'n right?
A sudden gentle nuzzling at my neck startled me. I had no idea that Igor was on the snow mobile with me but I was too frightened to look around in case I put the machine down a hole - just like Alan did.... The nuzzling went on, followed by a low moaning noise. "Really, this Igor is just too much" I thought angrily. And his wife would be watching too. I put my mittened hand tentatively behind my back finding to my horror what felt like a furry coat. Yes, Igor's coat had fur trim - I think..... Concerned I may put my hand somewhere I didn't want to I resolutely clung back onto the handlebars, thinking I would end up in Bilibino if I didn't find a way to turn back. And all the time, the blasting noise of the snowy wind and the snow mobile motor drowned my calls back to Alan "Where the frigg'n hell am I going?"
By some miracle, after another ten minutes or so I came to a fork in the track. Being a right handed person I managed to veer the hefty machine onto the right track; to my delight finding it wound back left and onto our track back to the base camp. I then saw Alan with Alex - still upright, thank goodness.
It wasn't until I reached the tent and saw Igor that I realised that I didn't have him pillioned on my snow mobile. It was a big Husky dog! "I was worried about you!" exclaimed Igor. "You took so long!". I thought I had been travelling at the rate of knots. Apparently not... All I knew was that I was mightily pleased to get off the snow mobile - in one piece! And I did tell Igor about thinking he was my passenger. He roared with a good natured laugh. Yes, it is funny now....
Our day had been surprisingly good. In fact we agreed it had been a lot of fun and that we had really enjoyed ourselves. Igor and Tatiana were warm, friendly and interesting people. And Vladimir, although he was very quiet, was a kind and helpful person. "We must go fishing when you come next. But come to Pevek in summer" added Igor. As we watched Tatiana and Vladimir roar back on their big snow mobiles to the tent camp, we knew we were under an irresistible force to return.
When we arrived back at our hotel, we had the same "Pied Piper" like reaction from the locals. Excited children ran after Igor's van. Shop owners came out to greet us. And Lilia and Lydia were there on our hotel step smiling and waving. Yashka on the back of the truck just looked nonchalant, taking it all in his stride. Well, I guess that's what Super Stars do, don't they? As were we to find out, Yashka has quite a cult following in Pevek Town.
ANOTHER CANCELLED FLIGHT.....
Monday 26th March 2018
We just had to be leaving this day. The weather in Pevek was clear and sunny and Alex's parents and girlfriend had confirmed that the weather was also fine in Anadyr. As usual, we waited endlessly for updates from the local aviation authority. There was no point in trying to organise something to do for the day. We just had to be near our hotel.
Over a Greek Salad and Borsch lunch at the Arabika, Alex called the airport again. Looking disheartened, he confirmed that yes, the flight was cancelled yet again. In fact all flights were cancelled, including those to Magadan and to Khabarovsk. The only flight leaving Pevek was to Moscow. Apparently, the Pevek officials had not organised for the runway to be cleared of snow....
This time, we were worried. Our accommodation situation was grim and there was nothing we could do. We had met two of Alex's friends the day before who were driving a Trekol via Cape Schmidt to Egvekinot and onto Anadyr. Perhaps we could consider going by road? Alex inquired with the company director Vladimir but was told it was impossible. And even if it had been possible, it would have cost us an arm and a leg.... By this time, we knew we had missed out on all of our planned travel north of Anadyr. But we had been warned....
A local newspaper reporter had rung Alex to see if he could do an interview with us about our travels through Chukotka. Well, at least it was a distraction. A nervous young man arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon, rapidly asking questions and taking notes by hand. "Why were we in Pevek? Why were we there in winter? What did we think of Pevek? What did we think of the food?" He let us off lightly. There were certainly no difficult questions. In fact, he looked more relieved than we did when the interview was over. We didn't ever see the copy either....
Alan wanted to spend the afternoon reading. Alex suggested that he and I take a walk up to some of the higher areas of Pevek where we had not been before. It sounded good for all of us.
Late in the afternoon Alex and I headed out, stopping firstly at the Orthodox Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This quaint, blue trimmed chapel was in fact a recently (2016) re-modeled older building which was formerly a residential house. The church was locked but we didn't have much time to spare anyway. Already the sun was beginning to drop and the afternoon was freezing.
Our wanders took us up to a residential zone and not far from the Border Security Guard office and where Alan had his monumental fall on the icy road. Totally unaware of where we were, I was about to take some photos when Alex dug me in the ribs. "We are not all that far from the police office" he warned. Admittedly, my sense of direction is woeful but the last thing I needed was to be in trouble again... "Let's go another way" I suggested. And we did.
The buildings in the upper reaches of town were decidedly more flash than those near our hotel. Newly painted, they were in far better condition and surrounded by park lands and children's upmarket playgrounds. This was where a lot of the public servants (and presumably the Border Guards) lived, Alex told me. At the top of the hill, we were treated to great views of the township as far as the port further across the splendid frozen Arctic Ocean.
It was becoming uncomfortably cold so Alex suggested that we catch one of the free buses back to our hotel. People looked surprised to see a foreigner but were very friendly. Two women sat opposite us. The older woman asked Alex where I was from and laughed at my reason for being in Pevek in winter. The other woman who spoke perfect English told me that she was an English teacher who had come from the Ukraine to join her husband in Pevek. Did she like living here I asked? "Yes, but it is too cold for me" she laughed. Our bus trip was great fun with everyone joining in on the conversation. It was for me, Pevek at its best. I was travelling like a local with locals. I just wished Alan had been there to share in the fun. And that I could speak Russian....
That evening we dined at a little restaurant adjoining the hotel. The speciality of the house that evening was freshly cooked smelt. It was delicious.
Over a relaxed meal, we wondered what our fate would be the following day. We had just one more night's accommodation at the Pevek Hotel before we would be evicted. What was Alex's plan B if our flight was cancelled again? "I have no Plan B" he replied with a wide grin.
geoff
2018-08-02
another great read - love tv watching reindeer and how you can get bananas there :-)
Eamonn
2020-05-15
Great pictures and experience.