Irkutsk

La llegada a la ciudad no pudo ser mejor, el sol brillaba sobre un cielo completamente azul, sin rastro de nubes. La nieve como me amiganinaba lo envolvia todo, y la temperatura era 'Tiplo' (caliente) para Natasha unos diez grados bajo cero, pero claro estamos en Siberia.

La ciudad de Irkutsk es la capital del'Irkutskaia oblast'y se dispone sobre las dos orillas del rio Angara, que fluye hasta su desembocadura en el lago Baikal a unos 70 kilometros. La ciudad es bastante extensa, y tiene u monton de barrios, que son como pequenas ciudades rodeandola. En total alrededor de 600.000 habitantes.

El centro de la ciudad no decepciona, no es muy grande pero tiene todo lo que se puede esperar de una ciudad rusa siberiana, sus iglesias y catedrales (En su mayor parte ortodoxas, ya que la raza rusa es la mayoritaria en Irkutsk, aunque tambien se pueden encontrar otras cristianas o judias)(Catedral de la epifania-foto1 arriba izda), un mercado central donde mezclarse entre los locales y conseguir productos, casitas de madera siberianas, parques y plazas (Plaza Kirova en la fotografia de la izda, donde durante el periodo invernal se moldean esculturas en hielo ademas de un tobogan tambien hecho de hielo- con sus respectivos monumentos de heroes sovieticos, enormes edificios gubernamentales (En la foto de la derecha el edificio gubernamental del "oblast", donde se levantaba una catedral que fue derruida durante el periodo sovietico, y en cuyo recuerdo se reconstruyo justo enfrente una de sus cupulas), museos (Entre 2 y 3 veces mas caros para extranjeros).



Lo que levanta mas curiosisdad de Siberia, es su meteorologia. Y sorprende mucho saber que la mayoria de los dias el sol luce sobre un basto cielo azul, lo que le da mucho alegria. Nieva muy de vez en cuanto y relativamente poco, pero la nieve se acumula a lo largo de la estacion fria.
La temperatura no decepciona, y es que quien se viene a Siberia en invierno es para experimentar con las temperaturas extremas, de media se podria hablar de unos - 20C , pero no es constante, en mi experiencia varia de los dias calidos unos -12C a los -40Ce los mas frios En definitiva, que hay que estar preparado para que no se te congelen las... orejas.

Tambien es verdad que el frio es diferente al de Espana, aunque parezca una estupidez, eso es debido a la poca humedad que tiene el aire, yo diria que a la misma temperatura en Espana la sensacion termica es de mas frio. Y por ejemplo esto provoca que en la calle la nieve no se forme hielo, sino que permanece en polvo, como cuando callo. Es un alivio porque los resvalones, y porque no decirlo, las caidas son ya bastante frecuentes sin hielo.

Pero sin esta temperatura, quien iba a poder patinar sobre hielo en campos de futbol, quien podria coger los esquis y eskiar practicamente desde la puerta de su casa, y los toboganes de hielo (Foto de la derecha) y las esculturas de hielo de los parques... los rios y lagos congelados (Recordemos que el Lago Baikal, uno de los mas grandes del mundo y el que tiene mas agua dulce del mundo, unos 600km x 80km, se congela e incluso se "construye" una carretera sobre el para que los coches la atraviesen). Ademas en mi opinion, lo mejor son cuatro estaciones lo mas diferentes posible unas de las otras, como aqui ocurre, ya que te permite disfrutar de un lugar de cuatro maneras distintas.



Tambien es impresionante ver como el rio Angara despide una especie de niebla desde su superficie (Foto de la derecha), y poco a poco el agua se va haciendo mas espesa, comienzan a aparecer trozos de hielo llendo rio abajo, se multiplican, hasta que por ultimo se funden en uno solo y por fin el rio se congela.

Hay un embalse construido no hace mucho tiempo que constituye otro puente de paso de una parte de la ciudad a otra.Desde alli se puede obtener una impresionante panoramica de la ciudad.(Abajo)




Una de las grandes dificultades para moverse por la ciudad, y no solo por los posibles problemas con el idioma, es el transporte publico. Pese a que hay trambia y troleibus, estan muy anticuados y solo tienen una linea, lo cual hace que el medio de transporte mas utilizado y relativamente comodo sean autobuses y 'Marshrutnoi taxis" (Basicamente furgonetas).

Los autobuses se distinguen por un numero, que indica la ruta circular que sigue, al que solo acompana el nombre de alguna de las paradas mas importantes a lo largo del trayecto. Hay paradas en toda la ciudad, pero raramente hay carteles que indiquen que autobuses y hacia donde se dirigen.

Los autobuses y "marshrutkas", se acercan a la parada donde paran el tiempo suficiente para que los viajeros se posen y los que anden listos se suban, acto seguido continuan su ruta. Hay que pensar que en las paradas normalmente no hay menos de 5 autobuses y marshrutkas y que estan en continuo movimiento, unos llegando otros marchando. Es un autentico caos! Pitidos de los auobuses que llegan para que les dejen sitio, pitidos de los autobuses que se van para que les dejen salir, pitidos de los coches que vienen por el carril porque los autobuses se reincorporan a la circulacion no miran si viene alguien, sin mas se incorporan.... Sin embargo es un caos asumido y al que todo el mundo esta acostumbrado, por lo que solo es un caos para los visitantes.

Una vez solucionado el problema de saber en que autobus te tienes que montar, y consigues estar dentro, surge otro, como identificar tu parada. Las paradas casi nunca estan indicadas con carteles, por lo que no vale solo con mirar por la ventana....Si esto fuera posible, porque normalmente el autobus va lleno y la mayoria de la gente va de pie. Aun asi recordemos la temperatura fuera es de alrededor de -20C, y la de dentro bastante mas alta, lo que significa que las ventanas estan completamente congeladas y no se ve absolutamente nada a traves de ellas (Foto izda).

Con lo cual la mayoria de las veces la unica solucion es preguntar al conductor, pero de nuevo mucha gente en el autobus, mucho movimiento en las paradas y el conducor se olvida, por lo que tienes que estar continuamente recordandoselo. Evidentemente esto es posible solo si tienes un razonable manejo del ruso, sino me imagino que la mayoria de las veces la unica solucion posible es pagar un taxi 25 publos el km X Numero de kilometros X 3 o 4 por ser extranjero.

Al principiono, cuando llegue, no sabia que autobuses coger, me confundia de autobus, me pasaba las paradas... Sin embargo despues de un mes y medio de aprendizaje forzado, y la verdad no se muy bien como, todo empieza a tener sentido y no suelo tener problemas. Aprendi a interpretar los carteles de los autobuses, tengo una idea en cuanto a la duracion del viaje a los diferentes sitios, estableci algunos puntos de referencia, y tambien hacer pequenos agujeros en el hielo de la ventana cuando consigues sentarte ayuda.



La ciudad hasta hace alrededor de 200 anos estaba en su mayoria construida de madera, pero un gran incendio la destruyo casi por completo. Razon poe la cual se decidio reconstruir el centro de la ciudad en piedra, como asi se puede ver entre las calles principales Ul.Lenina y Ul. Karla Marxa(Foto de la derecha, Ul.Urizkogo).

Sin embargo, en toda la ciudad se encuentran pequenos o no tan pequenos barrios de casas tradicionales de madera. Lo que convierte a la ciudad en un autentico coladge.

Las casas de madera habitualmente estan talladas lo que las hace bonitas y atrae a los turistas. Pero la vida en su interior es mucho mas dificil que en un feo edificio sovietico de hormigon. En la mayoria de los casos no tienen calefaccion central sino chimeneas, y los banos suelen estar fuera de la casa (Lo que hace que te pienses dos veces el ir al servicio), incluso muchas de ellas no tiene agua corriente.



En cuanto a la gente, hay clara diferencia entre generaciones, cabiendo distinguir:

Personas que viveron la mayor parte de su vida en la URRS, normalmente por encima de los 60 anos y cuyo comportamiento se acerca mucho mas al de aquellos tiempos que a lo presentes. Son austeros en su modo de vida, visten con ropas que cumplen con su cometido de resguardarles del frio pero sin ningun tipo de concesion a la estetica, compran exclusivamente lo que necesitan y no entienden el capitalismo actual, mantienen vivas tradiciones antiguas.

Personas que vivieron la URRS como ninos o jovenes, actualmente tienen entre 30-50 anos y aunque los inicios de su vida se enmarcaron dentro comunismo de la URRS, la adaptacion progresiva a los tiempos modernos no supuso un gran trauma. Son el punto de union entre las dos Rusias sovietica y capitalista, ya que mantienen ciertas costumbres y tradiciones comunistas pero tambien se hicicieron suyas otras del nuevo sistema.
La apreciacion en cuanto al consumo de alcohol que existe en occidente de Rusia, se toma en mi oipinion de este grupo poblacional que vivio los momentos mas duros del cambio.

Entre los mas jovenes ya practicamente no existe diferencia con occidente. Quizas los cambios vitales como el casarse y tener hijos se adelanta en el tiempo a alrededor de los 25 anos. Pero de otra manera comparten suenos y problemas con los jovenes de occidente.


La ciudad ha sufrido en los ultimos anos una notable transformacion en cuanto al sector servicios,en parte por el turismo y en parte por la mejora de las condiciones laborales. Aparecieron innumerables restaurantes de comida rapida, tiendas de ropa de marcas occidentales, cines, bares-cafes-restaurantes, discotecas... Lo que se vio tambien acompanado de una gran subida de precios tanto en articulos de lujo como en otros esenciales como vivienda y comida, cuyos precios se parecen a los de una ciudad de iguales caracteristicas en Espana.

En cuanto al ocio, cuenta con una gran oferta, ya sea de los tradicionales teatros,("Dramatichiski teatr"foto de la derecha) marionetas, auditorios, cines. O otros incorporados mas recientemente como lugares de patinaje, boleras, macro sala de fiestas, festivales de musica.
Ademas a esto hay que sumarle las posibilidades de disfrute de la naturlaza. Ya que el lago baikal se encuentra a escasos 70 km, pero alrededor de la ciudad hay numerosas zonas practicamente virgenes donde caminar entre las colinas y bosques, hacer esqui cross country...


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(English version)


The arrival to the city couldn’t have been better, the dun was shining and the sky blue and clear. The snow as I imagined was evolving everything and even the temperature was “Tiplo” (Warm) for Natasha, about -10C, was it is also true that we are in Siberia.

Irkutsk is the capital of the” Irkutskaia oblast” and it is located on both sides along river Angara, which flows to Baikal Lake about 70km further. The city is quite spread out, and it has lots of neighborhoods, which are like small cities, surrounding it. All together there are around 600.000 people living here.

The city center doesn’t disappoint, is not that big but it contains everything that you may expect from a Russian Siberian city, churches and cathedrals (In general they are all orthodox, due to the Russian ethnic group is predominant, though it is also possible to find others Christians or Jewish (pic-Epiphanies cathedral), a central market where to mix with locals and get good products, Siberian wooden houses, squares and parks (kirova square, pic on the left, where ice statues and a slide are molded during the winter time, monuments remembering old soviet heroes, huge governmental buildings (Pic on the right- Oblast’s governmental building, where used to stand a cathedral which was pulled down during the CCCP, in order to remind this one of the domes was rebuild in front of the building), museums (2-3 times more expensive for foreigners).

The most attractive thing in Siberia, I guess it is the weather. And I was surprise when I saw that most of the days the sun shines over a blue sky. It only snows from time to time and relatively not much, but since the temperature is several degrees below cero all the time, it just accumulates during the cold season.

The temperature doesn’t disappoint either, since I guess people coming to Siberia during the winter also want to feel these extreme temperatures. In average we could talk about -20C, but is not constant, my experience is that it range from warm days when is around -12C to very cold days when the temperature could be about -40C. So we must be ready if we don’t want our ….ears…..frozen.

It is also true that the cold here is not the same as in Spain, though it sounds senseless, and this is because the low humidity in the air, I would say that the wind chill factor is colder in Spain. And that’s also why the snow doesn’t get frozen in the street; it remains like flakes, the same as when it fell. And what a relief because slips and falls are already quite frequent without ice.

But if it weren’t so cold, it wouldn’t be possible to skate over football pitches, or ski just almost from your house, and the slides and ice statues in the parks…the rivers and lakes frozen (Must be remind that Lake Baikal, one of the biggest in the world and the one which contains more fresh water, around 600km X 80Km, gets frozen and even a road it is built in order cars to may cross it). Also my opinion is that it is better to live in a place where there are four different seasons, in this way it is possible to enjoy the same place in four different ways.

It is also amazing to see how river Angara releases fog from its surface (Pic on the right), and gradually the water gets thicker, peaces of ice appear flowing down the river, the multiply, and finally all the peaces merge into one and the river gets frozen.

There is also a dump not a long time ago which serves also as bridge to link both sides of the city. And from where incredible panoramic pictures of the city may be taken.(Down)

One of the biggest difficulties for moving around the city, and not only because of the language problems, is the public transport. There are both trolleybus and tram, but they are old and there is only one line of each, that’s why buses and marshrutnoi taxis (Basicly they are vans) are more convenient and relatively comfortable.

Busses may be differed by a number, which shows which circular itinerary they will follow, the same letter also shows some of the most important stops on the way. There are stops all over the city, but letters informing the name are very rare

Buses and marshrutnoi taxis approach to the stop where only stops for the time needed for travelers to get off and if you are fast enough to get into it, afterwards they just continue the itinerary. Normally at the stops there are at least 5 of them and continuously moving, some of them arriving others leaving. It is a real chaos! Busses beeping for getting space, busses beeping for have the chance to leave the stop, cars beeping because bus drivers don’t pay attencion if other cars are coming when going back to the road… However this chaos is assumed by everyone and everyone is also used to it, that’s why it is only a chaos for visitants.

Once you got to solve the problem to know in which bus do you have to get into, you actually are into it, other problem come up…How to identify your stops. Stops are rarely shown by signs, so it is not enough to look through the window… If that would be possible, because usually the bus is full of people mostly standing, anyway we also have to take into account that outside the temperature is around -20C and inside is by far warmer, that means that the windows are completely frozen and it is just not possible to look through(Pic on the left)

So at the end most of the times the only possibility is to ask the bus driver, but there are lots of people at the bus, lots people get off and getting in, and the bus driver easily forgets about that, so that you need from time to time to remind it to him. Certainly that’s only possible having a reasonable knowledge of Russian language. Otherwise I guess most of the times the only possibility is to pay for a taxi 25 rubles/km X Number of km X 2-3 times for being foreigner.

In the beginning, when I had just arrived, I didn’t know which bus to take, I confused the bus, I missed the stop… However after one month and a half learning, and I don’t know very well how, everything started to have a sense and now I usually don’t have problems, I learnt to interpret signs, I have an overall idea of how long should take, I established some references all over the city, and I also learnt that make small holes on the ice of the windows when it is possible also helps.

The city until around 200 years ago, mostly it was made of wood, but a fire almost completely destroyed it. That’s why it was decided to rebuild it using stones instead, how it is possible to see at the main streets Ul. Lenina and Ul. Karla Marxa (Foto de la derecha, Ul. Urizkogo).

However all over the city, small patches or not that small of Siberian wooden houses are found. Which converts the city into a real coladge.

These houses usually are carved which make them beautiful and attract tourists. But life inside may be not that easy, and it is by far more difficult than in one of those soviet concrete made buildings. Most of the cases they don’t have central heating but chimney, and toilets are outside (You think it twice before going), and even many times there is not running water.

In terms of people, there is a clear difference between generations, and it is possible to distinguish:

People who lived most of their lives in the CCCP, normally they are more than 60 years old and their behavior is more similar to the one they had during the soviet times than the current times. They are austere in the way they live, they were clothes which keep them warm but not very into fashion, the buy exclusively what they need and don’t understand the current capitalism, they also keep their traditions alive.

People who lived during the CCCP times as children or teenagers, currently between 30-50 years old. Though during the first years of their life they lived the communism, most of them got to progressively adapt to the modern times. They are the joint between the old communism and the new capitalist Russia. The keep some reminisces from the soviet times but they got other new from the new system.

The western appreciation in terms of alcohol consumption, in my opinion is taken from them, due to they lived very hard times in their life.


Among youth, there isn’t a big difference with occident. Maybe the vital periods occur before, like usually they get married and have children a bit earlier, when they are about 25 years old. But in any other way, they share dreams and problems with occidental youth.

The city has suffered a big change along last few years regarding to the services sector, on one hand for tourism and on the other for the improvement of working conditions. Numerous fast food restaurants established, occidental brand clothes shops, bars, coffe coffe shops, night clubs... But at the same time prices also raised up for luxury goods as well as for survival goods. Prices are mostly the same as in an Spanish city with similar characteristics.

Regarding to leisure, there is a wide offer either from the traditional theatres (Dramatichiski theatre on the right), puppets, auditories, cinemas… or other newer like ice skating rings, bowlings, huge night clubs, music festivals…

Furthermore, is very easy to enjoy the nature all around Irkutsk. Lake Baikal is very close, less than an hour by marshrutka, though there is no need to go very far from the city to find great places for hiking, cross country skiing…

Transiberiano; Camino de Irkutsk / Transsiberian; on the way to Irkutsk

Una vez solucionado, todos los problemas para conseguir el visado y con mas de tres meses de retraso con lo previsto el 7 de diciembre de 2009 cogi en Barajas el avion que tras previo paso por Roma, me llevaria a Moscu. Moscu es la capital de Rusia, pero estamos hablando del pais mas grande del mundo, y mi destino final, Irkutsk se situaba aprox. 5.200 km al este.

En un principio la idea era llegar desde Mieres (Asturias) a Irkutsk (Rusia) utilizando medios de transporte terrestres, principalmente el tren. Sin embargo por su excesiva duracion, y la incopatibilidad de ello con el programa EVS, el trayecto terrestre se redujo de Moscu a Irkutsk, utilizando algo mas de la mitad de la linea popularmente conocida como transiberiano que une Moscu con Vladivostok.
Los motivos principales para ello eran en primer lugar que no tiene sentido acudir a un lugar a trabajar como ecologo, si no predicas con tu ejemplo. Y es que el avion contamina mucho mas que el tren. Y en segundo lugar, tampoco entra en mi cabeza el conceptode mudarme a vivir a perdiendome todo lo que hay en medio, sin poder ver los cambios en el comportamiento de las personas,...
Para recorrer estos 5.200km se necesitan algo mas de 4 dias en el tren. Pero para evitar un colapso nervioso por inactividad, decidi parar un dia en Yekaterinburgo y otro en Novosibirsk. Ademas asi poder tener una idea mas amplia del concepto Siberia. En conjunto desde que llegue a Moscu hasta que finalmente alcance mi destino final transcurrieron 7 dias.

En Moscu ya habia estado dos anos atras, y con un solo dia disponible me limite a recorrer zonas de la ciudad desconicidas y a regresar a otras que me habian gustado. Plaza roja, el paseo a lo largo del rio y calles centrales principalmente, parando de vez en cuando para tomarme los cafes mas caros de mi vida, y es que Moscu de barato no tiene nada.
Mas tarde por fin me reuni con Katia y Ania, las hijas de una amiga de mi profesora de ruso, que muy amablemante me habian ofrecido ensenarme la ciudad y alojamiento para mi noche en Moscu.

El dia 9 de diciembre a las 16.00 de la tarde hora de moscu (Y es que Rusia es atravesada por varias franjas horarias, lo que quiere decir que la hora varia dependiendo de en que region te encuentres, pero no para el tren, ya que en todo el pais el tren sigue la hora de Moscu), comenzo la aventura desde la estacion Yaroslavski y camino de Yekaterinburgh.
Se habia acabado la seguridad aparente que te da el tener un numero de telefono al que llamar en caso de problemas, y el poder recurrir al ingles en caso de aprietos. Ahi estaba yo con tres cincuentonas, avidas de saber como es la vida en espana con toneladas de comida que no dudaron un minuto en ofrecerme y lo mas importante una botella de conac armenio. Una vez comidos, bebidos y su curiosidad saciada cada uno se dedico a sus menesteres, dormir, leer, beber te del omnipresente samabar...
Las noches en el tren son mucho menos pesadas de lo que cabe esperar, ya que cada persono dispone de cama con su respectivo colchon, almohada y sabanas. Unicamente la gente que al pasar roza tus pies puede molestar, y esto solo ocurre en platkart (Es la clase mas barata, en la cual los compartimentos no estan cerrados), si el viajero requiere mas intimidad simpre puede a costa de un mayor precio disponer de un compartimento coupe, aunque este en mi opinion es mucho menos interesante.
A mi llegada a Yekaterinburgh mas de 1 dia despues de haberme montado en aquel tren, me esperaba Alex, un couch surfer que me habia acogido para pasar la noche en la ciudad. Tanto el como Anna su novia, con la que vivia me acogieron como si de un viejo amigo se tratara. Anna preparo una deliciosa cena durante la cual tuvimos unimadas conversaciones, esta vez mezclando el ingles con el ruso acerca de la vida en los Urales, la vida en Espana, y repasando la actualidad mundial como la guerra de Chechenia, Kosovo....temas controversicos y mas estando en Rusia, pero que pudimos debatir en paz. Despues de esto pasamos la noche los tres en la misma hanitacion, tipica salita-habitacion de tiempos sovieticos, eso si ellos en su cama y yo en la mia.

Ya por la manana ellos se disculparon una vez mas por no poder acompanarme en mi visita por la ciudad, pero sus obligaciones se lo impedian. Eso si Alex me llego en si shiguli de 30 anos al cual le fallaba un "poco" el embragre, los frenos, y despedia un denso humo por el escape, pero que consiguio sortear la trampa matinal en que se convierten las calles de Yekateriburgh cuando la gente se dirige a sus puestos de trabajo.
Yekaterinburgh es una ciudad de mas aprox. 1 millon de habitantes, cuya calle principal, para variar se llama Av. Lenina y cuenta con una gran estatua del revolucionario. La ciudad es famosa fundamentalmente por dos cosas, ser la rica capital de los urales y por haber sido el lugar donde los bolcheviques acabaron con el zar, su familia y por tanto con la monarquia rusa. Para conmemorarlo y solo post union sovietica se construllo una iglesia.
La temperatura ya se asemejaba mas a lo que se puede esperar de Rusia en Diciembre (Despues de los decepcionantes 6 grados pasados por agua de Moscu), pero la nieve todavia no hacia acto de presencia.


Tras las visitas de rigor, me hice con comida ya que me esperaba de nuevo un dia entero en el transiberiano camino de Novosibirks. Esta vez me toco una babushka (Abuela) y un dadiuska (Abuelo) que no estaban dispuestos a hablar demasiado y atajaban mis preguntas con afirmaciones y negaciones, probablemente era el primer extranjero que veian. Tras varios intentos me di por vencido, comi algo y a dormir.
Poco mas tarde, tres chavales con pocas ganas de dormir y con muchas de juerga que habian dado cuenta de una botella de vodka, comenzaron con sus canticos, a respetarse mutuamente en voz alta y demas. Uno de ellos sucumbio bajo el vodka, mientras que los otros dos cada vez estaban mas excitados. Y mira tu por donde que uno de ellos me pregunto algo, y al percatarse de que era extranjero, me hice centro de su excitacion. Por lo que me fue imposible rechazar la invitacion a un par de vodkas, a responder un monton de preguntas con poco o ningun sentido, y a escuchar su punto de vista (Y el del vodka) como era vivir en Rusia.
Uno era checheno pero su mujer vivia en Novosibirks y se dirijia a verla y el otro era un ruso medio de unos 30 anos, con una hija que cuidaban sus padres mientras el "se esforzaba" por sacar el permiso de conduccion de locomotoras.
Cuando la conductora del vagon se canso de las voces, y nos llamo la atencion por cuarta vez, yo les convenci para cambiar de sitio e ir entre los vagones donde hay un pequeno habitaculo donde se puede fumar. Al rato querian volver al vagon, pero de nuevo les convenci para tomar una cerveza en el vagon-restaurante, que por desgracia acababa de cerrar. Por lo que fuimos de vagon en vagon intentando convencer a alguna conductora mas permisiva de que nos vendiera una cerveza, y como quien la sigue la consigue aparecieron dos conductoras a las que les gustaba ser aduladas, por lo que ambos utilizandome a mi como pretexto se pasaron 1 hora diciendoles lo guapas que eran y lo buenas que eran. Para mi ya era suficiente y aunque no fue facil al final me permitieron irme.

En Novosibirks me esperaba Johanna una couch surfer alemana con la que habia coincidido en una reunion de CS en Gijon, y que habia estado de profesora en Novosibirks los ultimos tres meses. Y justo la noche que yo iba a pasar en Novosibirks era su ultima noche en Rusia.
Nada mas llegar cogimos un taxi hasta la casa de sus amigas donde habia pasado la ultima semana, y donde yo tambien pasaria la noche. Alli dejamos mis cosas y recogimos a sus 2 I amigas ldiko y Carolin, y sin tiempo para una ducha, acudimos a la presentacion de un festival de cine aleman al que ellas habian sido invitadas, ademas tambien acudimos a la primera pelicula del mismo "krabat"(Entrada de cine mas cara de mi vida por cierto, casi 10 euros). Pero que mas tarde por hazar recupere con creces. Y es que al final de la pelicula, habia un bufet para invitados VIP, con todo tipo de esquiciteces como caviar, salmon, pato y todo ello regado con buen vino y champan... debido a un calenton del alcalde de la ciudad invito al grupo de alemanes con el que yo me encontraba, sin darse cuenta que un espanol mal oliente (Recordemos que mo me habia duchado los ultimos dos dias, ya que en el tren no hay duchas) y hambriento se colaba entre ellos.
Despues un grupo de VIPs junto conlos dos actores principales de la pelicula, decidieron ir de fiesta, llevandose consigo al que creian un trabajador del consulado alemana unos o un consagrado actor espanol que habia trabajado con almodovar otros.

Novosibirks, es la considerada capital de Siberia, titulo que le arrebato a Irkutsk. Cuenta conunos 2'5 millones de habitantes, por lo que se extiende ampliamente por el territorio, no asi su pequeno y poco interesante centro que cuenta con un teatro (Mas grande que el Balshoi de Moscu, dicen) y... buena compania para tomarme un cafe. Y es que para entonces me habia encontrado con las hijas de otra amiga de mi profesora de ruso.

Como agradecimiento a las amigas de Johanna (Para entonces ella se encontraba camino de Alemania), les prepare la tortilla de patata mas rica que existe regada con un vino espanol en cuya etiqueta aparecian la silueta de un toro y una bailaora de flamenco, adquirido a precio de rioja reserva.

Y por fin, ultimo tren antes de mi destino final, eso si, era el trayecto mas largo, un dia y medio con dos noches. Fue ademas el menos interesante de todos porque me toco en el sitio mas incomodo posible, paralelo al pasillo (Mas cortos por lo que no entraba de largo) y al lado de la puerta del servicio que borrachos, fumadores y meones utilizan no menos de 500 veces en una noche (Sobre todo una chica mas bien feona, peliroja y su novio que iba de lado a lado, los cuales pasaron al menos 50 veces en cada direccion), y ademas rodeado de ninos recien llegados de un torneo de Moscu, a los cuales no les atraia en absoluto la idea de escuchar a un estranjero.
Pero la verdad que tampoco necesitaba hablar demasiado esta vez, estaba sumido en una conversacion conmigo mismo en la que trataba de imaginar detalladamente lo que me esperaba.
Por fin, despues de un precioso amanecer siberiano, en el cual los colores rojizos y anaranjados se mezcalaban con el azul del imenso cielo, llegamos a Irkutsk!

Alli me esperaba Natasha, la encargada de mi progrecto, que me condujo primero a mi casa para el siguiente mes y medio (Una residencia para estudiantes), y la oficina.

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Once solved all the problems for getting the viza and delayed more than three months, the 7th of December of 2009 I took the plain at Barajas airport, which after doing a transfer in Rome lead me to Moscow, Russias’s capital. Though we are talking about Russia, the largest country in the world so that I was still 5.200km away to the west from my final destination, Irklutsk.

In the beginning, my idea was to get from Mieres (Asturias) to Irkutsk by land means of transport, mainly by train. However because it would be to long and that was uncompatible with the programme “EVS” I was gonna carry out, we decided to reduce it from Moscow to Irkutsk, using a bit more than have of the worldwide known transsiberian railway, which links Moscow and Vladivostok.

Mainly I had two reasons not to fly directly to Irkutsk, on one hand it has no sense to go over a place to work as environmental scientist, if you don’t lead with the example. Because, the plane is by far more contaminant than the train. And on the other hand I don’t see the point of moving 10.000 km away from your hometown if you don’t see at least a bit about was going on in the middle and also without feeling how progressively people’s behavior changes.


Normally about 4 days are needed to cover this 5.200km by train. But in order to avoid getting bored on board, I decided to stop a day in Yekaterinburgh and other one in Novosibirks. Furthermore I would wider view of what Siberia is. All together it took me 7 days to reach Irkutsk from Moscow.



I had already been in Moscow two years before, and having this time only one day available I decided to walk along the city center over some unknown places, and go back to others I had already been but I liked. The red square, the walk along the river and the streets in the city center, stopping from time to time in order to drink the most expensive coffes in my life, Moscow is not a cheap city at all.


Later on, I met Katia and Ania, the doughthers of a friens of my Russian teacher, who kindly show mw a bit around and host me the night I was going to spend in Moscow.


The 9th of December at 16.00 in the afternoon, Moscow’s time (In Russia there are several time zones, which means that depending on where you are the time may be different from other parts of the country, but not for the train since it always follows Moscow’s time) started the adventure from Yarovslavski station on the way to Yekaterinburgh.



The apparent security of having the possibility of calling to an acquaintance in case of trouble disappeared, or to turn to speak in English. There I was with three women in their 50’s, willing to know things about how life is in Spain and having loads of food and what is more important a bottle of Armenian coniac. Once we all had already eaten, drunk and got the answers we wanted each of us did our own stuff, sleeping, reading, drinking tea from samavar…

Nights on board the train are not as tedious as you may think, every person has a bed with it’s mattress, pillow and sheets. The only thing may disturb is people pushing your feet when passing next to your bed, and that only takes place on the plastkart (It is the cheapest class, on where the compartments are open), but if the traveler requires more privacy there is the possibility of getting a place at the more expensive and less interesting (In my opinion) coupe class.


On my arrival to Yekaterinburgh more than a day after getting into that train, Alex was waiting for me, he was a couch surfer who accepted me to spend overnight at his place. Both Alex or his girlfriend Anna treated me as anf old friend. Anna prepared some food and we had a delicious dinner while we were speaking about Russia, Spain, and other current issues like the war in Chechenia,Kosovo… Topics which could have been conflictive, but we were able to discuss peacefully. Afterwards we spend the night all at the same room, but of course, not in the same bed, it was one of this typical sovietic rooms where the living room and the room are all together.

Already in the morning, they apologized for no being able to show me around, but they had obligations. But Alex was nice enough to take me right to the city center by his Shiguli 30 years old. It didn’t matter if the clutch and brakes weren’t in the best conditions, or the thick smoke from the pipe, he succeed escaping from the traffic trap that the streets became when everyone head to work.


Roughly 1 million people live in Yekaterinburgh, which’s main street is called Ul.Lenina not for being too original, and of course there is a statue of the revolutionary. The city is famous mainly because of two things, It is the reach capital of the Urals and for being the place where bolcheviques killed the tsar, his family and with it the monarchy in Russia. In order to commemorate it a church was built.The temperature was closer to what I expected from Russia in December (After being so disappointed for the wet 6 degree in Moscow), though there wasn’t snow yet.


After visiting the most important highlights that the city may offer, I got some food for the next step on board the transsiberian train on the way to Novosivirks, This time I shared the place with a babushka (Grandma) and a dadiuska (Grandpa) who weren’t willing of talking more than necessary and from whom I just got affirmations and negations. Maybe I was the first foreigner they had ever saw. After some tries I gave up, I ate something and fell asleep.



A bit later, three guys who didn’t feel very much like sleeping but in the mood for parting and after drinking a full bottle of Russian water (vodka), they started to sing quite loudly, to respect each other and so on. One of them surrendered to vodka, while the other two were feeling more and more excited. Eventually one of them asking me something realized that I was foreigner, what made me the center of their excitement. At was impossible by any means to reject their invitation for drinking a couple of vodkas while answering loads of sense or senseless question that they in turns asked me, and also I got to know their (And vodka’s also) point of view about how life is in Russia.One of them was Chechenian and he was heading to Novosivirks to visit his wife and the other an average Russian 30 years old who had a daughter, but his parents where taking care of her while he was struggling to get the license for driving trains.


At some point the wagon’s stewardess got fed up with us, and after some of her complaints and threats I manage to convince them in order to change the place and go to the place between the coaches where it is possible to smoke. After a while they just wanted to go back to the coach but again I could convince them to go instead to the restaurant to drink a beer, which unfortunately was close. They decided to go from coach to coach to try to find a permissive stewardess to get some beers from her, and after a while two of these stewardesses who liked to have three young men around appeared, after that the two Russian guys spent an hour saying how beautiful, intelligent and so on the stewardesses were, but this was too much for me, it wasn’t easy but after that I got to escape back to my seat.



On my arrival to Novosibirks, Johanna a German Couch Surfer who I did met once before in a CS meeting in Asturias and who was living in Novosibirks working as a teacher, was waiting for me at the railway station. And that day was also her last day in Russia. We took a taxi and headed to her friend’s, where we both would spend the night and we picked them up, Idiko and Carolin, and without time even for a shower we jumped back in to the taxi and went to a German film festival presentation. There we also watched the first film that they showed “Krabat” it was by the way the most expensive ticket for a cinema in my life (who the hell said that Russia was cheap?). Though later on I got all the money back, because after the film there was a buffet for VIP’s with all kind of delicatessen like caviar, salmon, duck, good wine and champanscoe… and due to I still don’t know why, the city mayor invited to it the German group which I was with, I guess he didn’t realized that an smelly, hungry Spanish guy was among them (It is goof to remember at this point that I didn’t had a shower last two days, since there are not at the train).


And it didn’t end up there; afterwards one of the real VIP group, which eventually didn’t know we shouldn’t be there and we weren’t as VIP as they were, including the two German actors who played in the film we had just watched, invited us to go to a party. How not to invited important workers at the German consulate in Novosibirks and a young Spanish actor who was acting for Almodovar…


Novosibirks is considered Siberia’s capital, title which snatched from Irkutsk. About 2,5 million people live there. And it is quite spread out along the territory. Though there is a lack of tourist and interesting highlights, since the city center is rather small. The most interesting thing maybe the theater which it is said is the biggest in Russia, even more than the Balshoi theatre in Moscow… and it’s people, at least the once I knew, which again were my Russian teacher’s friends daughters.


I very much appreciate Johanna’s friends (Since by this time she was already back in Germany), so I decided to prepare one of those typical Spanish omelets and also bought some Spanish wine with a bull and a flamenco dancer on the label which cost as much as a good Rioja.



At last I found myself taking the last train before the last destination, though it was the longest one, a day but two nights. And it was the less intereting one also since I got the most uncomfortable place on the train, parallel to the corridor (Shorter than the transversal ones) and right next to the toilet and smoking place, where drunk people and smokers were heading every 30 seconds (Most of the times a red- haired girl and her drunk boyfriend who pushed me no less than 500 times) and also I was surrounded by loads of children who were coming back home from some competition and of course they weren’t attracted at all to talk to a foreigner who was not that easy to understand as their friends.Anyway this time didn’t bother me, because I had the time to think and imagine about my future in Irkutks.


And at the end, after a colorful Siberian sunset we arrived to Irkutsk. There Natasha, my host’s organization coordinator, was waiting for me. After that she took me new place for the next month and a half an my work place for the next year.