Kayaking through Siberia, Part 4
No one really knew English, so Vladimir did his best to translate for the interviews. One of the questions that came up during the interview was, when exactly did I plan to depart; they wanted to cover the assembly of the kayak, my equipment and of course, the departure. Had I known then what lay ahead, maybe I would have waited a month. For now, we agreed to meet at 10:00 h next morning.
The following day Vladimir and his chauffeur brought me and all my equipment to an island in the Yenisey River, where sporting events typically take place. A crowd had gathered there already. Maybe I should enjoy all that company, as I would soon be alone for a long time on this river, the fifth longest river on earth. This time, a professional interpreter had been invited.
My kayak was brand new. It takes a little doing to arrange the appropriate wooden pieces into a frame that then is inserted into a PVC covered canvass hull. My new friends basically figured it out for me while I was busy answering questions and smiling into the cameras. Besides sharing the basics as to how I envisioned to camp, prepare food, fish etc., I related to the mission of peace I consider myself a part of. “You are my friends and just like you I have friends all over the world. No government has the right to tell me that any of them are to be my enemies. If we were to allow our governments to straighten out the messes they themselves produce and disallow them to abuse us for their agendas, we would have what we all want, namely peace.” In similar words, that was my message, to over a million Russians.
To be continued…
With joyful passion for peace and health,
Hans, the Healthy Adventurer
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