Siberia...close to home

Today I truly realized that parts of Canada are not so different from Siberia. We hear about Siberia as children, or when learning about Russia in junior high school. It sounds so foreign, so isolated, so desolate. Some times, we forget that although we are so far apart, the common thread of nature always exists between us.

I saw splices of home (Calgary home) everywhere today on our trip to Baikal Lake. We had a water shut down emergency (no water...anywhere) around our area so classes were cancelled and we had to try to get away for the day. Why? It's Russia!

Our interpreter & site contact, Kate, rented us a car and driver for the day and we spent about an hour listening to Russian music while observing the Siberian country side from the window. The scenery is a little of what you would expect of the Siberian country side...vast dry yellow fields, little civilization. However there was an additional palette of colors that I didn't expect - the bright evergreen trees, the white birch trees, the burnt sienna backdrop of the bushes. The sun was bright today, and the drive was peaceful.

First we stopped at the open air museum of siberian log architecture in Talzia, a place where you could see how ancient Siberians lived. It is situated on the bank of the Angara River between Irkutsk and Listvyanka.  We saw huts and traditional Russian churches made of wood. I felt like we had been transported back into time.

[an ancient woodent church - using no nails, just interlock]

[Kate and I in front of the horses]

Then we made our way to see Lake Baikal - absolutely beautiful. Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, and one of the largest bodies of fresh water with 3500 species of living organisms. We visited the Scientific Museum to learn more about the lake, and then went on a hike with a Russian tour guide. Thankfully, we had our translator along. The hike felt like I was walking in Calgary or Banff. Familiar smells, sights, sounds. Evergreens, pine cones, squirrels. The weather was literally like a typical March day in Calgary. The Sayan mountains were in perfect sight over the incredibly clear waters of the lake. Then we went to the main fishing market and bought the local speciality food, smoked omul salmon, and ate it with our picnic on the beach. I literally haven't felt so relaxed since lying on the beach in Xcaret last December. After smelling the choking smog of Irkutsk during rush hour, it was such an incredible feeling to breath in the crisp, cold, Lake Baikal air. Tomorrow our students will be taking us around the town to show us some local Irkutsk sites.

[view from our trek - Lake Baikal with some ice. Hard to see the mountains in the background, but they are there]

[the beach]

[the ice]

[our picnic]

[me]

[the smoked omul]

[I actually ate this and it was amazing!]