Rambling Rosa: Yekaterinburg and the Village Sagra

Train stop number two was the city of Yekaterinburg - which means Catherine in English. It was named after Peter the Great’s wife and also St. Catherine, who happens to be the patron saint of mining. It has come to be known for its sad history. The last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his entire family were murdered here by the Bolsheviks after the 1917 revolution. They were killed in a non-descript house which has since been destroyed. A big church has been built over the spot.

This is also roughly the point where the train crosses onto the Asian continent and we leave European Russia behind. The dividing line is the Ural Mountains and Yekaterinburg is situated in the foothills of these mountains.

I spent little time in the city itself and instead went about 40 minutes out of town to the tiny village of Sagra. The population of Sagra is about 100 people. Going to this town was literally like walking back in time by at least 100 years. With the exception of the satellite dishes. I was so touched by the hospitality of the people in this village. The villages of Russia are like places I’ve only read about in books. The houses look more like the Seven Dwarfs or Goldie Locks should live there. There are farm animals everywhere and all the food has come from people’s gardens and the surrounding forests. No one talks about organic farming or locally-sourced vegetables - that is just the only option you have in Sagra. There are old, rusty Russian Ladas sitting outside the little houses. That touch of modernity did hurt my fantasy of meeting tree nymphs or fairies or other creature of legend a little. But fortunately, there were cows and donkeys hanging out right next to the cars, satisfying my pastoral needs.

I met the most wonderful people in this village! I can’t stress enough how I have found almost everyone on this trip to be so nice and welcoming! Two families took me into their homes and set out feasts of tea and cakes and pickles. These are people who live in one-room, tiny wooden cottages. They make very little money and have almost no amenities. Their homes are heated by only a little stove. The first home I went to didn’t have indoor plumbing. You never know what you’re going to get in the rural parts of this country when it comes to the toilet. Lots of people still use outhouses and that would be exactly what I used in Sagra. It never got above -8 degrees Celsius while I was there. Outhouses in Siberia = not fun.

The second house I visited was owned by a husband and wife. Oxana (the wife) made the best eggplant spread (in New York it might have been called “tapenade” but not in Sagra) I’ve ever had and she didn’t even have a kitchen sink. The running water seemed to all be located in the bathroom. She had only two gas burners to cook on. She had a collection of porcelain souvenirs from faraway places. She showed them to me one by one and was so proud of them. They are all gifts -she’s never been to any of those exotic places. But she did have an indoor toilet which she was really happy about. And so was I…

Outside the house without a kitchen sink but with an indoor toilet I also met the most amazing turkeys (see pics below). This family just had them hanging around like pets that would eventually be eaten. The man who lived there (Oxana’s husband Andrei) loved hunting which was apparent from the number of guns lying around his house. They also had bright red and orange curtains with an animal safari theme printed on them. I loved everything!

I have managed to pick up a brutal head cold. I can’t imagine why. Did I mention how cold it is and that I regularly use outhouses? The patriarch of the village, a charming bearded man named Viktor, thought he could fix my cold. That would be by pouring me a shot of vodka and dumping a bunch of black pepper in to it. Yep, I had to take it - there was no way out. To his credit he did the same shot with me. The spicy shot was of course followed by a pickled tomato. Because that made my throat stop burning. No, it didn’t. But my head did clear for a good 30 minutes and I much appreciated it.

To any Westerner’s eye the village of Sagra was completely impoverished. The people live in a community of under a hundred houses, all made of wood, with no heating and only a few homes have plumbing. BUT Andrei the hunter’s house had a satellite dish and a huge flat-screen television. It reminded me how in Moscow I will often ride on a dilapidated old Soviet-era bus that has been recently revamped with a new digital screen showing the time and temperature or with a flat screen TV showing advertisements. But the bus breaks down every mile or so. While I have met some very endearing people on this trip so far I still don’t totally understand the way things are done here. But everyone in Sagra seemed really happy and they were super welcoming so if they are happy nothing else really matters.