manifestations of signs

= Day 21 =

Sleep was heavy. It was raining. I was soaked through. Wet sleeping bag. I should have taken a double-layer tent... At 6:00 I left the shelter heading for the exit of the protected area. Along the way I dried my clothes by hanging them on my backpack. Dawn was breaking and the fog was gradually lifting. Walking through the forest, I sang songs to scare off bears. The last thing I wanted was to run into some bear cub right now.

It took me six hours to reach the exit. I went up to a stream and washed my boots. Then I started hitchhiking. A couple stopped – a husband and wife in a Toyota Rav4. Driving past the Partizansky shelter, they decided to stop; they suddenly wanted to dig up a fir tree. In return for their

kindness, I did it. They showed me which fir tree needed to be dug up, and I got out my shovel and did what needed to be done. The man, named Yura, said they were from Rostov. From their conversation with each other, it became clear to me that they too knew something about places of power and their influence on a person. Yura told me that five kilometers from their city there are mines – an amplifying place. They drove me almost to Dakhovskaya, where I'd already been a few days earlier. From where they dropped me off, I walked another 2 km and was given a lift again all the way to Dakhovskaya. This time it was an elderly couple. Along with me, they also picked up another guy who had been riding with them from the nature reserve itself. After that, I started noticing curious phenomena – signs. First, the guy I was sitting with in the last car said he planned to get off at Khadzhokh, from where it's easier to get to Maykop. At that moment I was unsure – whether to continue this mini-trip or whether I should already return to Andrey's place. In my uncertainty, I decided to get off at Dakhovskaya, figuring that from here I could get both to Maykop and to Mezmai if needed (though it turned out to be not at all like that). Second, during my second snack break (after the first I was still hungry and went for a second), while sitting at the inactive (old) bus stop in the village of Dakhovskaya, a guy came up to me and asked where the active stop for Maykop was (as if the world was letting me know that I was sitting in the wrong place at that very moment!). I told him where the bus stops, but I didn't hurry myself. Yet I was still uncertain – whether to go to Maykop, or whether I should go straight to Apsheronsk to then get to Mezmai. I calmly finished my second can of beans and slowly walked toward that stop where I'd sent that guy a few minutes earlier, having decided after all to go through Maykop, from where I could get both to Apsheronsk and home. But that guy

was no longer there. Where could he have gone? Did he leave? Buses here run infrequently. A local woman told me the bus passes by here exactly at 4:00 PM. Looking at my watch, the number disappointed me – it was 4:10. Exactly 10 minutes ago I could have left here, if I'd eaten just a little faster. Annoying. I had to walk to Khadzhokh, that's 7 km. I was in a big hurry. I needed to catch the bus, I thought. According to my watch, I had 55 minutes to cover those 7 km to make it to the bus on time. In Dakhovskaya I met a drunk woman who was also walking toward Khadzhokh. We kept overtaking each other. And that made me think: if I can't walk faster than this clumsy, overweight, and drunk woman, then how am I going to cover these 7 km before the bus leaves? I pushed myself as hard as my body would allow. Every step caused me pain. I probably had blisters everywhere they could possibly be. In the end, I somehow managed to get to Khadzhokh. And I did it in exactly 55 minutes – not a second less. I arrived just as the bus was pulling away from the stop. I waved at it to stop, but it ignored me. But luckily, that bus was going in the opposite direction – back where I'd just come from. The bus to Maykop, as I found out later, would only come in an hour. So I have time, plenty of time, to patch myself up a bit and revive myself. I'd mixed up the time. During that hour I had time to do everything I needed. I bought some cola, a couple of chocolate bars, and taped up my blisters with band-aids while sitting on the concrete steps of a shop that was already closed. Walking still hurts a lot. I waited for the bus and at 7:10 PM I set off for Maykop. Getting into the minibus, I sat in the back seat and met Andrey and his wife again – that couple from Rostov with whom I'd bought tickets to the nature reserve and with whom I'd walked for some

time at the very beginning of the hike. And now for the third time we met again. I was glad of this meeting, a pleasant surprise. Together we rode to Maykop, but we didn't make it to the stations – both the bus station and the train station had closed just recently. We were short by some 10 minutes... While waiting at the station, a very sensible thought came to me – I don't need to go to Mezmai right now. My body simply won't handle any more adventures. And it would be better if I went now to Belorechensk, to Andrey's. In the end, Andrey and his wife left for Rostov, and I stayed to wait for the Lastochka train, on the advice of a street-side disabled man. I'm dead on my feet. Crazy day. And now a sleepless night ahead. The Lastochka will arrive right in the middle of the night – at 4:00 AM. Now I need to somehow wait for the train... I decided to walk around Maykop. It was very interesting to see this city. My body has gotten used to the pain, I've stopped reacting to it. If I had been more attentive to the signs, I would already be in Belorechensk. First, I should have ridden straight to Khadzhokh with that guy who was heading to Maykop. Second, I should have gone to that stop together with the second guy, whom I myself sent there, instead of munching on that can of bean salad. So much today could have been different…