crawling protein

Just a little ways left to go – some 10 minutes. A pathetic drop in the ocean. But adventures still wouldn't leave me be, and the weather decided to play one last joke – suddenly the sky unleashed a real deluge onto the earth. And this wasn't even a downpour. It was a deluge, plain and simple. There it was, the wrath of Poseidon. Good thing I at least had the sense to put on a raincoat just in case – or rather, half of one; I decided not to wear the pants from it, and that was a mistake. My feet got soaked instantly – took less than half a minute. Well, here's home. It's done. Just a few last steps left. Walking into the yard, I saw Andrey's car standing there with the window open. And I saved it. Now, thanks to me, Andrey won't find an unexpected little ocean in it before he drives to work today. )) Finally, I entered a place where I can feel comfortable and safe. Andrey and Oksana were already awake; he was getting ready for work, and she was boiling tea and making some appetizing treats. I spent the last drop of my strength telling them about what had happened to me over these past couple of days. And, finishing the last sip of tea, I went to sleep. All night, two little cats slept on me – one on the right, the other on the left. I fell asleep surrounded by care and melodic purring. I only slept about five hours. In the morning, I got down to business and started preparing for the next hike. Tomorrow I'll continue my journey and head to the western part of Krasnodar Krai…

CRAWLING PROTEIN = Day 23 =

In the morning, I headed to Anapa on BlaBlaCar. It's become a habit – turns out it's really convenient. I got lucky with the driver – I sat up front, and we talked the whole way about all sorts of interesting topics: politics, conspiracy theories, etc. He thinks that in our country (and not only in ours) everything is tightly controlled at a higher level than what meets the eye, that everything is very, very carefully planned out many steps ahead. And the whole way from Belorechensk to Krasnodar, he kept laying out his point of view. Turned out to be an interesting conversationalist. In Krasnodar, I switched to another car. This time the driver was a woman around forty. I sat in the back, and her friend sat in the front passenger seat. They mostly talked about travel. They'd been to a lot of places. We're similar in some ways, but our travels are different. They prefer tourism, whereas I'm not one for lying around in the sun day after day; I'd take active, unforgettable experiences over passive relaxation. The kind you could later write a little book about. )) Made it to Anapa, rented a place for three days. Later I went to the store and bought everything I needed to make a rune set. I'm not planning to take up fortune-telling or anything like that – it'll be more of a symbol than a magical artifact. After all, I'm traveling through Places of Power, and it'd be nice to craft something unusual. Making a rune set is my first time, so I decided to ask my friend Roma how to do it right. He's into shamanism and knows way more than I do about making this kind of paraphernalia. And he advised me that before cutting off a branch, I should ask the tree for permission, and after cutting it, tie a few colored ribbons onto a neighboring branch. That's what I'll do. I settled into a guesthouse right in the city center. Walking into the yard, I saw several houses – some two-story, some one-story – and all of them were set up for renting out. They gave me a tiny room that could easily be called a separate little house. It must have been a utility room before, but now it has everything I need – a bed, a fridge, a stove, and a kettle – and it's actively rented out. Just perfect. A room for the price of a hostel bed, and all to myself. Evening came. It was already dark. I stepped out into the yard; under the roof in the yard stood a big table where my neighbors were having dinner. The guesthouse owner asked me to help bring a cabinet from nearby. I had to cross the road; the cabinet was standing by the entrance. Two of us went for it – me and a man around fifty. He was from the family that was having dinner. We carried the cabinet, which was more bulky than heavy. After that, Sergey invited me to the table and treated me to something I'd been eyeing for a while – fried snails.

His family had already left the table – they're leaving today – so we ate just the two of us. He offered me beer; I declined. I won't say these snails were very tasty, but you can eat them – they're perfectly edible. In Eastern countries, according to Sergey, snails are something of a delicacy, but around these parts, they're just crawling protein. )) There are lots of them crawling around, especially in rainy weather. His women – his wife, daughter, and sister – didn't like them, so he gave me the extra fried snails he'd made, since if he took them with him, they'd just spoil. I, of course, accepted his gift. At least I won't have to cook anything while I'm living here. )) And here's the recipe Sergey passed down to me, from survivalist to survivalist. )) Soak for 10-60 min., salt, boil for 40 min. After boiling, take them out of the shells, remove the innards, and they're ready to eat. You can also fry them – some people like them better that way. They turn out a bit crispy.