And now, down to business. We are in Chishinau (Kishinev is the Russian name), the capital of Moldova. It's still ridiculously hot out, record breaking. That's not really news anymore, so sorry for sharing.
Our time in Tiraspol, Transdniestr was very interesting. We had feared the crossing into this tiny independant nation that is not recognized by any country in the world (I couldn't change my Transdniestran Rubles in Kishinev even!), and feared the exit, but both went very smoothly. Sadly, no stamps in the passport, but a huge relief not to have our cameras taken away or "taxes" (bribes) requested or any of the other things we had been warned about. Friend Oleg in Odessa told us horror stories about being shot at while driving in his car.... It all went very smoothly.
When we crossed through the Ukrainian border, it was a bit silly, a bit Soviet, actually, in how we were treated: go to this line and wait for that, get to the window, no you have to go to the other window, wait in line, no go to That other window! Very reminiscent of our post office experience earlier that morning in Odessa. When it's government related, it's still very Soviet. But we got through fine, walked the narrow corridor (marsh) of no-man's-land, saw some cute baby coots in the marshy water, and got through the Transdniestran border just fine. Didn't have to pay any taxes or anything. Though they did ask us why we were going there! (to visit where Caroline's grandmother was from was the good answer, it made them proud, they said)
Our bus couldn't cross the border (it had cost just over a dollar to go from Odessa to the border - something like 12 Ukrainian hyrivna), so we were looking for a taxi. We saw one and he was all cocky, saying okay, I'll take you to Tiraspol for $20, US. We laughed and said no way! We were told it would cost about 16 rubles (just over $1)! He kept trying to sell his taxi to us saying, the maxi-taxi (minivan taxi) would only take us to one place, he could take us where we wanted to go....and while we were walking away from him again (for the 3rd time), I smiled at these two ladies in a private car and they asked (in Ruskie) if we spoke Deutsh. Caroline said no in Russian so they started talking and wound up offering us a ride for FREE to Tiraspol, right to the hotel we wanted to go to!
So off we went. They were very sweet, and it was only a 45 minute drive or so - and, Air Conditioned!!! I've been really struggling with the heat, and actually got bad heat stroke the next day, so anytime it's cool, I hugely appreciate it!
Our hotel was right along the river Dniestr, which was beautiful and wide and flowing, much smaller than the Dniepr, but cleaner. We went swimming that evening, sooooo nice to float in the water!! Our hotel was very old, Soviet built, no hot water (which was fine, but the cold was ridiculously cold so my skin was either on fire with the heat or pained by the many cold showers...), stained but clean linens and lots of bugs. I didn't sleep much that night, but we had an excellent dinner at a nearby German/Russian restaurant. Truly, excellent food I want to make at home!
We walked too much in the heat exploring Tiraspol and had one very scary encounter. We were on a back street wandering our way in the heat to the bus station to buy tickets (which it turned out we didn't need to do in advance) when we saw a very classic old Soviet apartment building with laundry and gardens hanging out of the window/balconies, and Caroline reached in to get her camera out to take a picture. I saw a guy watching us and was a little worried about it, and as soon as Caroline aimed her camera, this guy, who turned out to have some kind of badge and was maybe a security guard came rushing over. He was saying something sharp and mean and tried physically to take away her camera. I stepped in and was fiercely saying "Niet! Niet!". We managed to wrangle the camera out of his hands and walked quickly away. We were quite shaken.
But that was the only slightly dangerous thing that happened. We were both quite paranoid about taking photos after that!
Well, time passed and the next morning, we went to the history museum, sneaked photos of Igor Smirnoff's palace (the president) and then caught a maxi-taxi (metrushka) to the bus station and met Vachyslav Gregorovich and his grandaughter and her boyfriend. We didn't know his name at the time though. They were all also traveling to Kishinev (Chishinau), so we took the bus together and sweated our brains out (the bus driver was kindof an ass about not opening the windows), and the boyfriend who spoke text-book english (he sounded a bit like a history professor, even at something like age 19) taught us lots of history about the area for the whole journey to Kishinev. Turns out the granddaughter's great-grandma is also from Dnipopetrovsk.
Then, as Caroline says:
we followed a strange man to his home, then into a park so he could show us where the hotel was, then allowed ourselves to be convinced to spend the night at his home. drinking wine and eating fresh veggies bought from local market vendors. and, we are still alive! Welcome to Moldavian hospitality!!!
That sums it up - Vachyslav Gregorovich, a man in his 60's with clear sparkling blue eyes and a hearty laugh (reminds me a bit of you when you are happy, dad) has taken us in. He is very loving and gentle and funny and is teaching me Russian (I am lapping up the Russian). He has fed us and helped us get around the city and given us a free and comfortable place to stay. He has been our daddy duckling leading us around!
So, one more night of this and then we've got another day to spend in the city before we fly to Bucharest - me for one night before I fly to Athens for a much-anticipated week of retreat on the island of Aigina, and Caroline for the rest of her trip.
Vachyslav Gregorovich has given us a window into the real life and times of people from Moldova, and has been an enourmous, unlooked for gift on our trip!
Gotta go now to get home in time for our tomatoes and peppers and fresh feta cheese dinner!
No comments:
Post a Comment