It turns out that it wasn’t the blog that needed to go camping, it was me that needed it! 2 days in the great outdoors did me wonders, and I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated!
I went camping this past weekend, and it was fantastic! I got pretty nervous and insecure about it when we were loading up on Friday. 75+ people, all of them looked like professional outdoorsmen to me. There was a huge group from a scuba diving club, plus a small group (the one I went with) of outdoor enthusiasts. We left about 8:00 pm and drove all night Friday (1 big bus and 4 mini-buses), and our mini-bus was the first to arrive, around 8:00 am Saturday. We made great time! The big bus (with about 50 people and most of the equipment) didn’t arrive until almost noon.
Everything was really professional – there was a “camp commandant”, who had a team of helpers to set up tents, organize and cook meals, and in general keep things in order. The camp site was spitting distance from the sea, and about 20-30 km from the nearest village (closest town on the map is Chornomorskoye, on the far western side of Crimea). For tens and tens of kilometers in either direction were the most striking cliffs all along the shore. And inland was pure, unadulterated Ukrainian steppe – just like I’d always imagined it looks! Flat plains, tall wavy grasses, beautiful yellow, violet and blue wildflowers, fields of wild red poppies. Everywhere I looked, it was more and more beautiful!
Saturday morning, Sergiy (the colleague I went with) and I walked to the northeast along the shore. Most of the way the cliffs were too high and too steep for us to descend to the sea, but we found one great bay. Sergiy couldn’t resist the water, and even though our bathing suits hadn’t arrived yet (they were in the slow bus), he stripped down and jumped in the cold water! He’s a certified deep sea scuba diver, a PhD in environmental science, and has all kinds of other sea and outdoor certifications. It was so interesting to just listen to him as he talked about all the different kinds of plants, wildlife and sea life we were seeing.
It was bright and sunny, but the wind from the sea kept us cool, and we promptly both got sunburnt to a crisp. After a 2 hour walk Saturday morning, we went back to camp to wait for the bus and lunch.
The group we were with had traveled for a “voluntourism” kind of activity – they organized a sea and seaside cleaning, with national media along to report on it! The scuba divers cleaned the bottom of the bay by our camp, and others (including me) collected garbage along the shore. Later, the mayor from the nearest village came to meet with everyone, give press interviews, and to have a kind of “town meeting” with the campers. The next day, he came back and had a tractor come to haul away all the garbage. It was really impressive!
Saturday night it rained, and Sunday morning it was pretty cold and yucky. The divers didn’t care, though, and they hit the water early. Sergiy and I went for a walk in the southwestern direction from camp, again all along the cliffs. We saw a wrecked ship, still stuck and abandoned from last year, not far from shore. The skies cleared up about an hour into our walk, and it was again breathtakingly gorgeous.
It was completely rustic- truly “outdoor” toilets (i.e., the bushes), and of course no bathing facilities, but I didn’t care a bit! It was so quiet and peaceful, such clean air, wonderful fragrances – a mixture of the sea, wild sage, and just plain “freshness”.
I’m in Crimea for another week. I’m doing some business in Simferopol until Thursday, meeting with colleagues from other UNDP projects. Then on Thursday, Joanna arrives from Moldova and we head to Yalta for 4 days – and a fabulous, memorable 40th birthday for her!
Anka in Kyiv 