the road is my home

At the end of the workday, another surprise awaited me, one I should already be used to – a flat rear tire. Unexpected, inexplicable, strange. How did it happen? After all, I rode especially carefully this morning, picking a clean road and never hitting anything. In the end, I had to walk home. And when I got home, I discovered the front tire was flat too. Maybe plant thorns? They say there are a lot of acacias here. According to Andrey, his wife's bike is sitting in the yard right now with flat tires for that very reason. And how do people even manage to ride bikes here? No idea. And yet, even old ladies in long skirts tear around on Ural bikes like youngsters. These constant bike surprises led me to the decision to continue without it. Tomorrow I'm heading to Adygea, toward Maykop. And the first place I'll visit is the Rufabgo waterfalls. But the main destination of this upcoming mini-trip is Mount Fisht. I reckon this will be the wildest time I've had on my entire journey. After all, I'll be spending most of my time in the mountains…

THE ROAD IS MY HOME = Day 14 =

By morning I was already in the village of Kamennomostsky, whose second, more popular name among tourists is Khadzhokh. There was a market near the bus station, and I decided to stop in to buy some supplies for making a keepsake talisman, in case I felt like crafting one.

Near the bus station, on the way to the waterfall entrance, I ran into two feral-looking hippies on bicycles. At first I thought they were a homeless couple. The guy had matted, unwashed hair, and his clothes looked the same. The same could be said for his bike. His companion differed from him only in her hairstyle. Looking at them, I couldn't help but recall the phrase – "the world is a reflection of yourself," or "the world is a mirror." And I got to thinking. )) I'd run into this pair a few more times today. Once I managed to chat with them a bit. The guys told me I was heading toward a paid bridge, and that not far from there was a way to get to the waterfalls for free – a detour, without missing anything. According to them, not many tourists know about this secret passage (which isn't all that secret), even though just 3-4 years ago everyone used the free route – the paid bridge across the river was built only recently. It might be useful for drivers – you can safely leave your car near it and go for a walk. But if you arrived without a car, there's no benefit to it at all – the detour is actually more convenient in some ways, since at the entrance to the reserve there are cafes and shops where you can buy water, for example, or food. Before parting, the guys gave me their business card and invited me to a fire show they organize and run themselves, which would happen tonight closer to midnight somewhere in Dakhovskaya (a stanitsa 10 km from the waterfalls). Where exactly – they didn't say, only that it wouldn't be hard to find, that I'd figure it out on the spot. )) The free entrance to the waterfalls is right near the bus station. I had already walked about two kilometers from that spot up toward the bridge, but on the advice of those fire performers, I turned back. This happened near an old fortress that really impressed me. It was imposing, and of course I didn't pass up the chance to wander a bit among its ruins. I also didn't skip the "Museum of Ancient Man," located inside a cave not far from the fortress.

The museum is divided into two parts. The left tunnel leads to sculptures of ancient cave people, and I must say they're quite well-made. In the right part of the cave, you can see various ancient artifacts, like fossilized ammonites. As the museum worker told me, millions of years ago these ammonites were living organisms – aquatic creatures over 350 million years old. They look like big shells, nothing special. Maybe they're just ordinary shells? ))

And so I reached that very sign reading "Khadzhokh Gorge." This is the spot where, instead of going straight along the road to reach the waterfalls, you need to go down – that's where the free trail the fire performers told me about is located. I found the path without trouble, entered the reserve, and headed toward the main campsite. Along the way I ran into several groups of tourists – the place is pretty crowded, as it turns out. Nature all around, wide old trees, water babbling, the smell of the forest…

And from this side of the river, I got to see that old fortress again, the one I'd been looking at just an hour earlier from its base. It reminds me a bit of a medieval castle. A magnificent structure. It's located not far from the campsite, where various sweets and other souvenirs were sold. A cozy spot, well-chosen. I set up my tent there and took a walk over to the benches. It was already getting dark, there were almost no people left, the last tourists were coming down from the forest. Right now I'm sitting on a bench a little ways from the main campsite. I'll sit a bit longer and then head to the tent – time to eat something. The lentil sprouts I've been germinating since morning should be ready by now.

It's 11 PM, and I can't fall asleep. So while I have time, I'll write down some observations. About food – my body is starting to want only fruit. Which is strange in itself, given the huge amount of physical exertion. Other food no longer satisfies me; it just makes me feel heavy. As for my training and practices – it's completely impossible to do them in these conditions. All of that requires stability, routine, excess energy – I have none of that. I live in a state of constant fatigue, and there's no question of any extra training. I barely have enough energy for endless moving around – this is all really not easy... Another observation – the world is becoming my home. That fatigue, emotional and physical, that constantly accompanies me – it's the echo of my former way of life, the hothouse city conditions. Something is happening inside me, some psychological shift. Perceiving the world as your home – that's truly unusual. It's that case where you feel at home everywhere, wherever you are, whether at a friend's place, in the forest, or in a café. The road is my home? I'll say more – the whole world is home…