Intourist Pyatigorsk

... some views and experience that not everyone of us have a chance to feel. <br><br>Regrettably, the local cuisine and drink is not exciting and the food in the homestay is very basic. We did find the meat of the pigs in the region, which is half-wild and roam freely in the wilderness, is lean and tender, very good for BBQ.<br><br>We were done with Georgia after this and would return to SE Turkey next to Syria and Iraq, the land of the Kurds.

We stayed in Zheleznovodsk in the last week of April. The teams of regions live in 3 hotels, but all solemn actions were in Palace of Culture(old soviet cinema).In this olympiad took part 226 pupils from 66 regions of Russia Federation. The olympiade consist from 2 different parts: Theory and Practice. Theory ...

... Russia - the passport seems to be the primary form of ID here...like our driver's license). This time the officer wasn't satisfied and also wanted to see my tourist voucher, which I thankfully had on me. He looked these docs over, then went to the small depot for a few minutes. I started getting nervous that there might be a problem (even thought I knew there shouldn't be). A few minutes later he came back with all the docs and sent us on our way. I thought "ok, I can deal ...

... Stephan and a field of light reflecting off the snow from his headlamp - it made me feel the true adventure this moment held for me. We didn't speak unless necessary, and it was just a mountain, so it could have been anywhere...but I reminded myself it was in Russia, on the border of Georgia. We hiked slow and steady and at a much faster pace than in our training hikes - mostly since we weren't talking any rest stops (something we did a lot with Olga and Anatoli lagging ...

... for the day. With our crampons on and picaxe in right hand, Stephan illustrated the proper way to walk on the steep ice, as well as how to use the picaxe in case you fall and, inevitably, begin to slide. Its actually quite simple and common sense techniques - grip the ice with as much surface as possible. Eugene and I went ahead, while the others lagged behind. At the top we were both relieved as the climb was very taxing. Along came Stephan, then ...

I'm laying in the tent now inside my mummy bag (thanks Puns for finally getting that back to me!) - I also have on 2 pair socks, long underwear, long sleeve shirt, and a sweater. I think I need to use the restroom, but its just too damn cold outside to care much. I'd rather hold it. I'm finally warm now though and my feet are starting to thaw out. I'm sharing a 2man tent with Stephan and Eugene, so that should make it even warmer. Today we got up at ...

We had a huge breakfast today. The time I was told we were to meet was 7:30am - which I assumed meant "be ready to go" (as would be the custom in the US). I was mistaken - and it was the wakeup time. For breakfast we had: -Pasta with meat -Cucumber/tomato salad -bread -sausage -tea and cookies/pastries I'm feeling ready to hike now - full and warm. At breakfast I was asked if I wanted coffee - to which I replied "chai" (Russian for tea) to everyone's surprise - we all joked that I was ...

Finally arrived, relieved to meet the group. -Stephan, our guide -Eugene, Commercial sailor who is from Ukraine (and speaks a bit of English!) -Helena, who met me in Min. Vody and is the travel planner -Anatoli, guy from Moscow -Olga, woman from Moscow (in relationship with Anatoli) Helena met me right outside my train car as promised (to my relief!) - we tried to speak a lot, with much difficulty - but between my phrasebook and ...