A book “Wandering”
(Plan)
INTRODUCTION
The short biographical dates: Parents.
Childhood. South Ural, village Karlyhanovo. Sverdlovsk. From 4 years
old – fast reading and reading many books. From 6 years old – school
and hobby of drawing. Problems with health from 4-th class I have
sick heart. Freed up from physical training lessons because of bad
health. Artist school, college. Jeweler factory. My participation in
geological surveys for two seasons at 16 and at 18 years old. At 17
years old decision to find an answer to “eternal questions” of
philosophy. Army, frontier troops, Amour, Chinese border 1968 – 1971
years. Soviet – Chinese conflict.
University, faculty of fine art
1971-1977. Degree work, the developing of theory of art. Job – a
designer of a doll theatre, design of interiors.
Sport: shooting, pistol – the 1-st rating, rifle – 1-st rating, orienteering – 1-st rating.
1979
year – moving to Leningrad. Job as an artist, lessons in University
named after Molina, two years lessons in Academy of Art. 1983 year –
organizing the studio for adults “Image”. Heading of this studio till
1991 year. At the period of “Perestroika” – an organizer of first free
art exhibitions- fairs.
1982 - Entrance to school of coaches in
Leningrad’s club of bike-travelers. 1983-1990 years the coach of bike
travelling – navigator and organizer of more then 10 bike trips from
1-st till 5-th category of difficulty – Karelian Isthmus, Crimea,
Kaukaz, Carpathian Mountains, Sajans, Altai, GDR, Poland. 1983 – The
first one-man bike traveling Leningrad-Kuibyshev- Sverdlovsk. Common
length of it was 2 200 km. Just during this traveling come the
idea about the first in the Word traveling really around the Earth - it
means around mainland along the contour of continents. Working on this
idea. Looking for ability to receive a patent – to protect the author’s
right and registration of the Project in 1988 year in Soviet-American
Fund “Cultural Initiative” as “The one-man traveling along the shoe
lines of continents using ecological transport”
CHAPTER 1
The beginning of the traveling. May 1991 – March 1992
1991
year – unsuccessful trying to find any kind of support for the Project
in St.Petersburg and anywhere in Russia. On the 14-th of May –
emergency start from St.Petersburg because of menace of rewriting
official passports for foreign trips. The first border – Polish.
Declaration of 10 US$ and 260 rubles. Have done 4 portraits till
arrive to Varshava, later became as all Poles that years – the
millionaire. First problems with visa. German “ordnung” as
demonstration model of global bureaucratic absurdity. Summer in Poland.
Polish addresses and friends. International meeting of bike travelers
on Visla-river. Meeting with V.Chukov – the vice-president of
J.Senkevich in Association of Travelers of USSR. Creating the portrait
of British lord, the president of International Union of bike tourists
in England.
August. Putch in Russia. The reaction of Russians who
live abroad – there were 2 variants. Receiving of German visa and
renewal of traveling in autumn. Germany – meeting with people and
ships. “Hersones”. Denmark – coziness, cleanness, wind generators.
Holland – storms, losing of money. Belgium – the week in Brussels – the
family of abbot. Visa to France. European nominal borders. France.
October cold. Havre. Turning to Paris. The road along the Sena-river.
Morning frosts. X-files – the first case with gloves. Tanya Dubrovina.
Winter in Paris. Problems – visas, money and other. Record for radio
“Svoboda”. The first dossier. It’s creating. Sending more then 20
letters with the aim to find any support or sponsoring. Three answers –
refuse, lie and humiliation from Kodak company – they require all
author’s rights in exchange to films for photo camera.
E.A.Svintsova. Repairing of apartment. Raviolomaker from home. The success of Ural’s pelmeni (ravioli) in Paris.
March
1992 year – portraits near Notr dam de Paris. Preparing to renewal of a
trip. George (Gorge) Krasovsky. Bike shop from Firm GIANT –
Americans, delight, press, photo by heart and a present – a bike valued
1000 US$. I have no managers and sponsors yet, but warm is coming and I
can continue my trip. Let’s go!
CHAPTER 2
Europe. March – December 1992. Paris – Athens.
11-th
of March 1992 year – exit from Paris. It is Euphoria- again I am
moving! Havre. Winds of Atlantic Ocean. Normandy. Brittany, Britons –
sturdy, red- faced and loud-voiced, as they say – because of strong
winds. Improvisations on electronic organ in a hall with glass wall,
above the rocky shoe. Campsites – some of them are still closed yet. A
coin of 15 kopeks – settlement with shocked owner one of such campsite
– I am the first Russian client. Biscay. Spain. The essential
difference of road and a picture around it. The dumps on panoramic
points!? The most wonderful mountain shoe of Basque country. Portraits
in bank. Portugal. Unsuccessful entrance. Deportation in Easter.
Entrance without visa. X-files, case number 2 – now with a map. Cape
Rock. Lissabon. The first case of refuse from the side of Russian ship
crowd. Portraits in port. Spurt to the south – will to come in time to
regatta “Columb-92” in Cadis. Successful crossing the border. South of
Spain. Cadis on the 1-st of May. Came in time. In Cadis 4 days of
non-stopping fiesta! Stay on “Kruzenshtern” – creating portraits for 4
days. Line of tourists – make portraits. Earn 500 $US. Our Russian
cameraman presented me roll film for photo camera. Later, in Russia we
couldn’t develop it – so I’ve lost pictures of almost all south Europe
– about 20 standard films. Seville with its International Exhibition
stay aside – I founded a way close to the shoe with ferry boat across
Gvadalkvivir. May be it was in vain. In Almeriri the wheel felt to
pieces. Stay there for 3 days – everything is closed. Fiesta, hell with
it! Gibraltar. After Valencia met the Russian company. Sent money home.
Photo camera on the roadside. Barcelona. Month till the beginning of
Olympic Games. Everything is overcrowded and boils up. Our General
Consulate. The week in Barcelona. Receiving French visa and creating
portraits on Ramble. Pyrenees, border, France – Azure Shoe, Nice,
Cannes, Monte-Carlo and other "Sen-Tropeses"… Didn’t make at least one
portrait Refused. Marseilles. Receiving a visa. A wheel. B. Tapi.
Italy, San-Remo – an overnight stop between two boats. Pisa – the
popular tower is low, hard to find it, in addition it is surrounded
with the fence. Rom. One month and a half. Visas to Balkans in high
point of Balkan’s war. Serbian – Croatian languages and intolerance.
Job on Piazza Navona. A tiny bit didn’t become an Italian millionaire – colleagues didn’t let.
Vila
Abamelic – Russian possession in the centre of Rome is large then
Vatican. Consulate on Nomentana. Separately – impressions on diplomatic
representatives. “The city of thousands of blocks.” Creating a tent. It
would be better to receive a patient. Small Italy – 400 km of shoe
line. Naples.
POEM
The south of Italy – things look bad with nature. Especially with
clean water. Practically all south Europe – is the very problem area
with ecology. But grapes along the road are wonderful. The “Rubicon” is
a very small river. And after all the Rubicon is crossed! Venice is a
very small island. Five days. Greek visa. Our ship. The club “ Pedale
Veneciano”, reception in restaurant? Presents: the envelope, club green
shirt and pennant. The impression after Venice – very nice, crumpled
and dying city. Absolutely opposite to open wide Petersburg, which is
absolutely original and certainly not at all “Northern Venice”.
Triese.
Fir and palm. Preparing to cross struggling Yugoslavia. Helm “Brahma”.
Vow. Slovenia. Two hours. There were not any visas. Croatia. I was not
stopped at the border and went across the war without any visa.
Adriatic. Sea and mountains. Absolute harmony of nature and terrible
signs of human madness. The first war on my way, but till abhorrence
repugnant essence in any case - the continuation of the policy by
other tools. Other. I am all in white. The night firing in 50 meters
near me. Patrols. Germander, U.N.O., and other attempts to break
through front line. Local TV. Interview with “Daily Telegraph” and “
Times”. Riding around through Hungary. Arrest before exit. 100 km
through Hungary. “Kindly” meeting at the border of fraternal Serbia.
Returning to the shoe with adventures. Montenegro. The hard entrance to
Albania. Irreal Albany – all in pillboxes as it has smallpox. Direct
collision of policy and ethics.
Stealing of a pump.
Greece. Ithaca. Meeting with Z.V. Plahov. Visas to the Near East. Tanker “Kuzbass”. Stealing of my dossier.
December
1992. The first visit home. Strong “embraces” of my motherland. Baltic
steamship line – a letter, Senkevich and Chilingarov – a letter. New
Year party with my wife in Sheremetevo airport. Returning to Athens.
01.01.1993.
CHAPTER 3
The Near East. January – March 1993
Exit from Athens. Stony, bad provided with maps Greek out of way
places. “servitude” in mountains. Fessaloniki. Pointers to
Constantinople (Istanbul). Turkey. Visa on the border 10 $US. Istanbul.
Turkish colleague – farrier. Consulate. Don’t consider. Bosporus Asia.
Europe finished, on my counter – 20 000 km. Militarized Turkey.
Breaking the gendarme’s cordon after Iskanderun. Easy snow on passings
in mountains. My birthday. “A present to myself” I forgot my passport
in the next morning.
Syria. Walking on waters, which I late to
make photo. Roads. The Eastern way of creating roads.
Latakia. A ship from Ismail with Portuguese name “Viana du Kashtello”.
Lebanon but soldiers around are all Syrian. Beirut. Meeting, consulate, NPA, Russian diaspora.
The
way to Tiger, “Dutchman”. Ferry – Catamaran to Cyprus (Russian).
Larnaka, night’s lodging, - 2 portraits. Bike shop – everything in
present. The road to Nicosia. Looking for required address, police
which doesn’t know its own city and has no map. Our correspondent.
Moving to Limasol and ferry to Haifa. Israel. Returning to Lebanese
border and forward again. Tel Aviv. Jerusalem. Anton Lotman. 2
days with different impressions. Olive hill and hiking through the
Arabian part of Jerusalem. Once again Tel Aviv. 5 days. Preparing for
traveling across the deserts. “Jewish doings”. Consulate didn’t
consider possible…Exit from Israel – double imbecility. A country –
office closed at 5 p.m. For exit from the country – payment 25 $US.
CHAPTER 4
Africa. The 1-st of April 1993 – July 1995.
Egypt. The first desert – Sinai. The landscape as a huge Ukrainian
flag – yellow- and blue. The 1-st of April – the day of laugh: entrance
to Africa, record race for about 175 km and arrest. Relay race in 4
stages – corporal, major, colonel and the head of National Security of
Said-Port. General let me go, admitted that he understand Russian foul
language. Night’s lodging with Jaser. Alexandria. Consul general
Kudriavtsev. New passport. Libyan problem. Cairo. Thanks to “help” of
our diplomats Libya is lost for my traveling. Have no any word to
comment this. Our TV – ORT. Shooting near pyramids. Journalists. NPA.
Lost ability to receive U.N.O. passport. Failure with the bus. Fly to
Tunisia, returning to the border, column number 2. Pine forest in
Tunisia, night meeting.
Visas, problems once again. “Diplomat is an elitiest profession”! Press – semi-official manner. The northern point of Africa.
Algeria
– unexpectedly wonderful nature. Consulates. Our builders and our
military specialists. Local “ security” and its attempts to stop me.
Santa-Cruz. Oasis. Cafe and national security. Neutral territory
for more then 20 km. Morocco. Reality and a show-case. Gibraltar. Wind.
The contrast between relations Russians to me and British people to
their Fiona Campbell. 2 papers – 4 months. Atha birthday of king and
minister of Internal Affairs. Western Sahara. Revelation about the
source of problems in human consciousness. Harmony and symmetry. Escort
from Dahla till the end of the way. Mauritania. Fellows travelers are
Germans. The most long race. Stage Shum – Attar – Nouakchott. Colored
sands. Legation block and a tale about its rising.
Senegal.
Baobabs. Dakar, month of waiting. Guinea. “Closed for revision”.
Restaurant of Jan and Natalie. Meeting of rally. The representative of
“Kamas” and not paid work. New 1994 year. An ambassador and his parting
wishes.
Gambia. Left-side traffic. Guinea-Bissau. Just another
revolution and check-up at the entrance. Freetown. Our representatives
– two families. Riding around Liberia. Exit – there is no any border,
woodland Guinea, loamy road through jungle, 3 weeks. Exit to the ocean,
asphalt road and Cote d’Ivoire. Bright eyes of unknown being in night
jungle.
Ghana. Embassy. Crossing zero meridian in the 4-th time.
Togo - passing a country for a half of a day. Benin, the embassy,
the residence. Nigeria, Lagos, the embassy, billiards. Hungry
journalist.
“Bandits” and regular bandits. Moving to Cameroon with smugglers. The result – broken bike. Repairing in jungle. .
Cameroon.
Local midges – “furu-furu”. Equatorial Guinea. Russian women in African
villages, “sovcitisenz” according to consulate terminology.
Gabon. Libreville, accordion in outstricts. The embassy. Lambarene, the
Albert Schweitzer hospital, a personal excursion with his nephew,
presents, registration in the guest-book. The equator, crossing number
1. The dead end after a lagoon, exit on a pirogue, a boa.
Congo,
the elephant’s traces. An overnight stop in the house of season worker
– Cabindian. A valuable advise about week-end at the zone of
civil war. Saturday dash till Cabinda. 8 “patrols”.
“Funny” attempt of robbing me.
Cabinda.
Our doctors, Angolan officers. Failure with north of Angola,
break-through of Unita to the shoe. An opportunity of traveling to
Luanda – our airplane “IL” with the local paratroopers. Luanda – the
former pearl, Funny monument gathered from two tanks, which local
people called just «armour-sex» and other monuments. Putting off in
embassy and in trade mission. A portrait of a trade representative.
“The World is not without kind peoples” as we say in Russia and embassy
as well. I’ve got the Joint Staff’s map of the sought of Angola!
Exit from Luanda, the tragedy behind. One more district of shoe is in
battles, pass around from the sea side at night time. In the morning I
am poured over with engine oil and my passport pored over as well. Soon
at the shoe the night arrest. An ordinary inanity of war. “The
Angolan police are working”. The assiduous idiots lost my passport. I
compel them to dig up the whole beach, we attract people from village
and have found. The city Namibe, Russian doctors, fishing. Rapt
from a hook catch and bombardment of a seal-thief by soldiers.
The
Sought of Angola. An escort, coming from the opposite, an
interview with “Russian self-murder”. It is really I’ve got into a
scrape. 10 days and 130 km in mountain desert, July of 1994, a dry
season. Very interesting self-observation “ And why I am not afraid?”.
Local tribes, the eaten snake.
The “received a pardon” goat
and reward from on high, X-file. Nevertheless I still alive and went
out. The border with Namibia. A raid to get some food, an officer who
could not multiply by 10.
Namibia. After Angola it seems to be a
paradise. Repairing. Russian doctors. Delivering a switch from the
capital by helicopter. A country of fences. A meeting with friends from
Western Sahara escort. A journey to a farm to their parents. Not large
farm – 25 000 hectare. A school, a fair, was done more then 20
portraits of children. Meetings in a desert: a lady in “Mercedes”,
journalists.
Swakopmund, Windhoek, embassy, living in a free villa
of special correspondent with his dog. Red Kolia – a cook of Swedish
consul. 3-rd record day, 175 km till the border with South Africa
Republic, river Orange.
South Africa Republic. Cape town. Consulate.
Russian consul in South Africa – Jury Ivanovich Chernyi! Two tasks:
receiving money for coming half of a year and changing a bike. Meetings
and interviews. Associated Press. Local newspapers and magazines.
Waterfront. A successful job before X-mass. New 1995 year. Exit.
Mozambique,
a rival of Angola in statistic U.N.O. Maputo. A ship called “Chusovoy”.
A delirium with cotton. Tanzania. Dar es Salaam. The ambassador of
Russia is Kyrgyz. Russian “Meteors”. A problem of Somali, the first
attempt. Visa and letters. Unsuccessful looking a boat which could help
me to go around Somali from sea. Kenya. A conflict zone along the
border with Somali. Zebras. A bus mafia. Nairobi. Embassy. The
translators of U.N.O.. S.Hromov, a letter to UNEP, 2 attempts to solve
the problem and loosing Somali as an area of my trip.
The North of
Kenya. 2-nd crossing of equator. An elephant. Ethiopia. Addis-Ababa.
Our embassy on the hill. An African region – the hottest place in the
world according the dates of total temperature and a submachine gun
“Kalashnikov” as usual element of local wearing. Scorching heat. A
dream about shade. An overnight stop in the “Valley of Death” before
coming to Djibouti.
Djibouti. A hitch with visa to Oman. The Red Sea. Looking for an opportunity of moving to Yemen. Sabula.
CHAPTER 5
Asia. July 1995 – May 1997.
Crossing Bab el Mandeb.
The unclouded beginning, the dolphins –escort. Then 2 terrible
days. An old Diesel engine stopped 5-6 times. Russian pilot in Al Mukha
said that storm were 12 marks. “Who have to be hangt will not be
drown”. South Yemen the first days after finishing of war. The robbed
consulate. The pilots of helicopter “MI-8” with “grass” . Russian
informal language of communication with militarists in hot areas. “And
this will pass away”. Oman. The jerky moving from mountains to heat of
Arabian Desert. 1000 km to Adam, the American – Muslim. Masqat,
embassy. Visa to United Arabian Emirates.
2 days on King’s naval base of Ohma. Golf. A “Kingdom of Glorious Sultan” – sorrowful envy.
Emirates.
Meeting with the company “TRANSAVIA”. V.A.But. The very uncommon
person! A flight home – the first time after 32 months delete.
Returning. For the first time I have a sponsor. Buying an equipment:
Gsp, video, the watch with altimeter, barometer and thermometer. A
ferry to Iran. Russian drivers of cars. Bandar-e-Abbas. Flood. 5
non-standard crossings one by other. A New Year party in the desert
between the Iran and Pakistan. Crossing the border by azimuth.
Beludjestan, 400 km of stones, sanded by powder. Disputes about the
world during repairing stop. Karachi. Consulate. Further,
further. Before India 16 km – stop. A colonel didn’t gain an
understanding. Nonsense about “terrible Indians ” and similar
stupidity. Didn’t let me go. Insist to bring me back on a car. A flight
to Bombay. The birthday. Refuse in consulate. A Trade mission.
Returning to the border, Gujarat. India suddenly becomes dangerous –
thanks to situation with traffic. Other stereotype, language, culture
and so on and so on.
Madras. Meeting with N.P.Butyrsky. A
reception with garlands, TV, presentation a poem and planting a tree. A
correspondent from Deli. A flight to Ceylon. Meeting with Arthur Clark.
Returning and warm send-off.
Western Bengal, terrible
conditions of life and orgy of political absurdity. Calcutta. Night
coming. Bangladesh. Dacca, an episode in a bank. An Embassy, visa to
Burma (flight). Traveling to the border and returning to Chittagong.
5-th anniversary of my traveling. Hail as apples. A flight to Yangon,
returning by train to a border. Ancient Burma (Pagan) and “security”.
Real army. Yangon and forward. An escort from police and putting a ban.
Once again the way to Yangon. A flight to Bangkok. Thailand – Cambodia.
The mines, a flood. Pnompenh. An embassy. Vietnam. The pioneers.
Ho-Shi-Min idem – Saigon – a cultural centre. A reception a special
drink from swallows’ nests. Denang, a passing. Haifon, Hanoi. Chinese
problem. 4-th refuse (to foreign Affairs Department). An embassy, a
“fever”, reading. “The questions of philosophy” and so on. Looking for
a variants of passing China. A 5-th refuse, living in apartments
together with “journalists” from Voronezh. A Ceylon
businessman-communist. The home multi-altars. A portrait in the art
centre and cheers of Chinese arts. Receiving of money. A buying a
notebook “Libretto – 20” with manual to it in Japanese language.
Meeting David and receiving a half-year visa to Chine. Back by train to
Chinese-Vietnam border. Macao, an interview for radio program.
Jaroslav. A meeting in the University of U.N.O. Three key Chinese
phrases on the shirts of paper. The broadcasting and a newspaper in
China at the New Year Party. . China, a traveling to the accompaniment
of cannonade, Chinese New Year Party. The roughly developing south of
China. Shanghai, a consulate. A visa to South Korea. Peking. Two
weeks of hopeless waiting for receiving of visa to North Korea. An
excursion to the Great Chinese Wall. A model of inanity of the most
grandiose human creations, a wall, the pyramids and so on. A meeting
with V.G.Davydov and the new hopes. The 8-th article for newspaper
“Echo of planet”. A stupid arrest in Port-Arthur. My refuse to sign a
protocol and unintelligible lexica of my comments to Chinese
official. A riding around the Northern Korea along the river. A genre
“mountains and waters”. A daily calculation – how far the Russia is.
Coming to Russia, our frontier guards. Russian road. A dialog “Where
are you going?” “To Vladivostok” , “And where from?” “From
St.Petersburg”, “Ah, well it’s normal”. Vladivostok. 6 years around the
Old World, 80 500 km. It is two usual sizes of “world tours”
CHAPTER 6
Russia. May 1997 –August 1998.
Coming home. My home and households. Other attempts to raise
somebody’s interest to my project, to find a support. Alexei Konopelko,
an inflatable rubber catamaran. “TRANSAS”, the navigation program – a
top of my dreams. Moscow. V.G.Davydov, serious help, solar batteries,
electric engine and other equipment. Vladivostok. Visa to USA, “no
problem”. In American embassy the officials really know me. The choice,
buying and preparing a yacht, (as I was swindled in Russia), a sad
story of my mistakes.
A real help: my cousin Slava, I.F.Sherbakov,
Alexei Petuhov, seamen, engineers and others. The unsuccessful attempt
of navigation. The village Vrangel. “The travelers’ school”, Andrew
Julay.
A gathering one bike from five broken ones. A stage of bike
trip till the Terney village. Changing equipment. Help from frontier
guards. Hiking stage. A story with a gun. Start from Terney. The
heaviest rucksack. Damaging of my backbone. An Eskimo dog Shelma.
Golden autumn. The hazel grouses. The fords. The fellow travelers, a
sable. A preserve. The tigers. The shallows of the rivers. Samarga
river, Edinka village. The returning home – seeking for money support.
A helicopter till Terney. 6 laundering. A bus with drunken selectees
which goes to Vladivostok for 18 hours. The blizzard on passing. Loss
of teeth. 30.11.1997 – home. Petmol company. Sails. Moscow, sport and
tour exhibitions. A Canadian embassy, line of those who would like to
immigrate, receiving my visa in 2 hours. Spring of 1998 – again
Vladivostok, new visa to USA, a help of consul. The laboratory
“EKMOS”. Vrangel. Preparing and keeping making up of the yacht’s
stuff; a wind generator, an accumulator, a receiver of weather map. A
sailing with Alexei Petuhov. Red Rock, oncoming wind and a stream with
a speed of 1 knot, a yacht without speed. It became clear that I can’t
pass Kurilskie Islands on such a yacht. The very hard decision, I’ve
lost more then a year for nothing. A bay called Olga – the end of my
navigation. Vladivostok. Sale of the yacht in a few days before
Russian default. Returning to Sietl.
CHAPTER 7
USA, the Pacific Ocean, Vancouver, Navalino Island, September 1998 – October 1999
Sietl. An embassy which consider it doesn’t possible. A bus to
Canada. Vancouver in September is warm, full of light and air. Tanya
Dubrovina – 7 years after Paris. Vladimir B. It is a pity, but nothing
comes out with management for me. Buying, gathering, modification of a
bike and equipment. Three weeks, two thousand of US dollars.
26.09.1998. Start, a border, maple syrup as a present for me by heart.
Sietl, maps. A fellow traveler, once again Dutchman.
28.10.1998.
San-Francisco, Golden Gates – my dream becomes true. 3,5 months in
San-Francisco. Money, money, money!?...Wonderful people – Erast
Borisovich Gliner and Galina Ivanovna. A newspaper “Kstati”. Russian
restaurant. Exit on the 9-th of February 1999. My first night’s
lodging –a hostel. In the morning the manager of the hostel didn’t take
payment from me, in exchange I made him a portrait. My fifteenth
anniversary. Let’s go. Los Angeles. Visa to Mexico with the help of the
article from Thailand newspaper.
Mexico. Mary’s hostel,
signboards. Baha California. The earth roads, practically impassable.
Take a decision in US don’t go from asphalt roads without extra needs.
A ferryboat, sickness, Mazatlan, a hospital. Akapulko, meeting in the
street and its continuation for 2 weeks. “Senior Inhenero” and
his panacea. Portraits, flight to Mexico-City, visas, wheels. A large
portrait and a small fee. Visit to duchess. Exit. Chapas. Guatemala,
detour to mountains. Salvador threshold, I have lost a half of a day. A
unit of a distance – “one Honduras”. Nicaragua. An embassy,
waiting for Panama’s visa in the empty building of trade mission with
deaf sheep dog. Kosta-Rika, it reminds paradise very much. Panama. A
narrow and old concrete-sur-faced road. A channel! Here is a South
America. Problems and unexpected help. Josef Shor – a kind businessman
from Panama (Latvia, US?) Trip till the end of the road, Javisa.
Returning to Panama, bilingual newspaper. A flight to Madelyn.
Mountains. Columbia – Ecuador, five passing at the altitude of 3000
meters, the highest is 3220 meters . Third crossing of equator, July
1999. It is too cold! Strikes, pickets and blockages of the roads.
Quito A lowering to the ocean along the equator. Guayaqil. Peru. Lima,
an embassy. Receiving of two multientrance visas – to Chile and to
Argentina. Desert Nasca. I’ve to say that lines here are very strange.
Chile. Desert Atakama – the most dry place in the World. It is very
easy for a soul in a desert and lot’s space for thoughts. Landscape
partly looks like a landscape of Mars. Come a decision of a simple
question “what for is a human being on the Earth?” Middle Chile –
everything is other. Valparaiso, I have done 100 000 km already!!
A meeting with Lorie – a father and a son. Fates. South. Chile –
Argentina – Chile. Punta Arenas. Flight to Puerto Viliams.
Navarino. A Chilean island with Russian name. On the south is
only Antarctica. Fire Land with its popular Ushuaia – is close to the
north! 80 km through the Island, almost untouched nature, wild geese in
the yard and everywhere. I made many pictures.
CHAPTER 8
America, the Atlantic Ocean, Navarino – Natashquan, November 1999 – 14 November 2000.
Four days on the island, crossing on yacht with Swedens. Fire Land.,
guanaco, sheeps and borders. Patagonia, pampa and wind all the time,
not just a wind – the strongest wind, stronger wind is only in
Antarctica. I even not believe that I can force my way through it. But
I have forced and even made my 4-th record day when I passed 175
km. Buenos Aires. Pavel Morosov. A flight home for New 2000 year party.
Joys and afflictions of my family. Returning. A problem in the airport
which costed me 300$US. The Uruguayan visa. An embassy, the cultural
centre. Vasiliy Ivanovich, fishing a ferryboat across La-Plata.
Uruguay, Montevideo. Resorts. Brazil. A green line. The steep Brazilian
hills. 10.02.2000 – Rio de Janeiro, 110 km, my birthday and complete
with touch of boorishness telephone refuse in consulate. Correspondent
TASS, church, confessor Sergey. An article at “Miss. Revue”. Two weeks
of waiting. Exit. Once again very steep raisings. The utmost Eastern
point. A deferred visa to French Guyana. The Brazilian north. Amazon
River. 4-th crossing of equator. The season of rains. Selva, hills,
loam and problems. Crossing. French Guyana, a part of a road had
been almost washed out. Flight to Cayenne. A visa. Cosmodrome Curu.
Surinam. A visa. Gauana. Vodka “Ivanoff”. A doctor - a Russian
graduate. Georgetown, an embassy of Russia, warm reminding. A
navigation on a barge to Venezuela. Mountains, Karakas, en embassy,
changing a passport to a new one and receiving last 4 visas till the
end of the trip. Columbia, Cartagena. A flight to Belize. 6 landings.
Difficulties with my bike. Belize. A finish is very close. Mexico,
Cancun and all Yucatan. A loop of Mexican gulf. Verakruz. A ship. The
sincere “grand-dad”. A border. USA, a dash to the north. Texas,
Louisiana, New-Orleans… Florida, Pensacola, meeting with Russians, a
newspaper. Panama-city. A newspaper. 2000 km around Florida. Gaterras
cape. New York., two weeks - have no money. Meeting at the
broadcasting centre with Mikhail. TV, plans and realities. Time is out,
but I keep traveling. Boston, State Man.
The 14-th of October,
Canada, Sen-Jons, Nova Scotia, Meeting near a ferryboat. Halifax.
Changing my equipment. Cold on Gaspe. Snow, St.Lavrentiy River.
Sept-Iles, a night, changing of a wheel. Havr-sent Pier. Deiv, meeting
with Martin. Two days together. An overnight stop in “picket”.
14.11.2000. Natashquan, 132 000 km. the end of the road. That’s
all.
Wanderer 
