Nov. 2, 2004

These travellers cleaned up a couple of miles along the left bank of the Volga river.

The sparse population is nevertheless able to generate heaps of garbage. What's more, when the local paper printed an article about Phillip and Tomke (left), a couple of readers expressed outrage that you foreigners teach us how to live.

Consider ecological activities if you enjoy a bit of a good-natured controversy.

Of course I would be quite happy if you planted a few dozen good trees around my dacha in place of alder, if that can be considered eco-tourism.

Soul tourism
to expand your horizons  and put you in touch with God/universe/your inner self

Need your religious sentiment re-awakened ? Try getting to my dacha across the Volga in a leaky wooden boat.

Please read before asking about working holidays.

Although opportunities to apply yourself are plenty, you must be self-sufficient and motivated. Don't ask me to find you a job to do or otherwise to organize the world around you. Unless you are a paying client of course. I will help you - but only after seeing you make the first few effective steps. Although by nature a loser  myself, I simply cannot afford helping my ilk in sorting out their psychological and existential problems. Further, I suspect the nature of the problem requires you to work on them alone and only alone. Vision and willpower is the resource in short supply, not your skills or willingness to work. They are important but that's not where the bottleneck is..

Pasha-the-webmaster

Want adventure? Count on at least one episode per trip of which you won't want to tell your parents.

Andre from Argentina is earning his keep at my dacha by loading, transporting and, most importantly, laying stones to make a lasting and stylish walkway.

I spoke with the local hunting warden who seems to have understood the concept and agreed to help those who merely want to SEE the animals: deer, moose, wild boar, raccoon, fox etc. Summer (off season) is best for doing that.

Are you into hunting? Please click here.

COME TO STARITSA TO OBSERVE UNIQUE LIFE FORMS AND MYSTERIOUS NATURAL PHENOMENA

[photo of horse holes]	In response to temperature extreme local horses developed glove-like shells to protect their outer ears. They also evolved the ability to dig holes in piles of hay. Sheep went further and evolved portable electric heaters.
Warewolf legends may have originated in Staritsa. Interbreeding with canines resulted in this sub-species. On seeing one don't panic but offer the creature good food and a glass or better a goblet of decent semi-sweet wine. That's your chance to survive the encounter.

[sewage fountain]	The vicinity of Staritsa still offers mysteries beyond the capabilities of science. Take this fountain. The legend says that one of direct descendants of Moses visited Staritsa (the city was not there yet so he stayed at Pasha's dacha) and pulled his predecessor's trick. A tour to observe this phenomenon can be organized on request.
Waters of this spring are saturated with iron, which explains the colour. In the fall of 1941 a German tank sank into a swamps, and iron comes from its rusting body. Those unwilling to believe the story are told that Napoleon's guns sank in the same swamp in the winter of 1812. And so on until you give up your irrational drive to seek explanations.	[red spring]
	In the space-race era every collective farm was required to build its own space-ship. This one still stands about 3 miles from my dacha.
	These collective farm spaceships were powered by low-intensity nuclear fuel extracted from cow manure. This giant dill is an example of many radiation-induced mutations you'll find here.