Saturday, March 20: I'm in Petropavlovsk Kamchatsky -- and not because I want to be.
A huge storm is batterring 1000 miles of the Kamchatka coastline with heavy, wet
snow and sporadic high winds. Misha and I are supposed to fly north to the Arctic
town of Vvenka, which is the beginning of our ski, but the planes aren't flying.
We're bivied up at Misha's house, which is a zillion times more comfortable than a
mountain tent on the tundra, yet I'm anxious to be on the trip, not almost on the
trip. Unless I am on the trip already, in which case I would be foolish to wish
myself uncomfortable rather than comfortable. Or something like that.
Anyway.......
Misha called Lydia today in Vvenka. Lydia is our good friend who is closely
associated with Moolynaut, the old shaman. Lydia asked if it were possible
that I was possessed by some trickster spirit that was keeping me away from
Vvenka. I said that I didn't think so; to the contrary, I had been having a
lot of good fortune lately surrounding the trip and that it seemed to me that
the forces were in my favor.
Lydia wasn't convinced.
Apparently, Moolynaut knows a spell that will exorcise a spirit that inhabits a
person and brings bad weather to prevent that person from traveling. However,
to activate the spell she needs some baleen and she doesn't have any baleen.
Lydia and our friends Oleg and Sergei are racing around looking for baleen, so
we can get the show on the road.
The airport officials say that the planes will fly on Monday.
We'll see.
Follow a Shamans Dream across Siberia
Part VII
Part VI
Part V
Part IV
Part III
Part II
Part I and Interview with Jon
