After a light lunch we continued south on unmarked roads toward Pinsk. Endless cornfields, plowed ground, small villages with pumpkins around every house were evident - most homes made of wood in the old Russian style with brightly painted window trim. As the afternoon wore on, my optimistic side kept hoping that the next village would hold our farmstead. How wrong I was!
8-10 cell phone calls helped Victor hone in on our destination. We were told later that all he had for directions were the latitude and longitude of the house. Several false starts meant turning toward a village, then turning around again to leave. Just as dusk was turning to darkness, a woman waved from the side of the road which by now was a 2-track dirt path. She climbed into our van, and directed us to her house. Our "farmstead" was in the middle of an eco-designated wetlands area in the Pripyat Marsh, and was very small, though it did have an inside bathroom of sorts. Our hostess served us a traditional Belorussian supper and we sorted out the sleeping arrangements, deciding before bedtime that we'd only spend one night here, not the two that we'd planned.
We'd wanted an "authentic" experience, and we'd gotten it.
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| "Museum" in a shed at our "farmstead" |
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| Typical Belarus village home |
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| Bryant relaxes at the Farmstead amidst PATTERN! |
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| "Our" Farmstead |
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