November 3, 2010 3:24 pm Yakutsk time
Today, Olga and I walked to ProFit. The temperature was somewhere around -20 Celsius. At that temperature, you can feel the moisture in your nostrils freeze when you inhale.
After we got back from our workout, we loaded onto a “bus” with the rest of the family and headed out to see the annual ice sculptures. As traveled further out of town, I recognized the terrain as the route we usually take in the summer time to get to the Lena River. We go camping on the beach at the river. The Lena is the second largest river in Russia.
Anyway, this time our destination was not the river, but instead some old retired mine shafts. The mine shafts had been converted into a type of “frozen museum” of ice sculptures. We had a guide that led us through the tunnels and explained each piece of art as we got to them. We took some really good pictures and video. I will post something soon.
The roads here are horrible in the summer time. In my opinion, they are actually better during the cold season. However, our bus still managed to get stuck twice while on our way to the mines. After we got unstuck, Olga reminded me that I had the camcorder, but I was too late.
What’s funny about getting stuck is that once it was on a turnout part of the road that the driver really didn’t need to travel on in order to get where we needed to go. Another funny thing was that it was on large loose gravel. There was a water truck spaying down the gravel to make it freeze and therefore easier to navigate through. Whatever works!
Malcolm really enjoys the snow and actually seems to like the cold. He has a blast walking and listening to the sound of the snow crunching beneath his feet.
I also think he is having a bit of a growth spurt while we are here. He has been eating anything we have put in front of him, including beef tongue (yuck!). He still isn’t interested in caviar or fish, but give him time.