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Jon Turk
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intro part 2
- Older in Siberia 2004: intro part 1 - Newer in Siberia 2004: intro part 3
Moolynaut, a 96 year old Koryak shaman, conjured up the storm that brought us to Vvenka. OK, you don?t believe that one. You think that I?m a crystal-watching, ohm-chanting, new-age crackpot. OK, I?m not sure I believe it either?.But then again; I?m not sure what I believe anymore. Anyway, a big storm came up as Misha and I were paddling along the coast ? that?s a fact. We sought shelter in the small Koryak village of Vvenka ? another fact. Does that sit better in your cynical, Western, consumer-oriented, fun-hog brain? The people fed us and gave us a warm house to sleep in and we dried our soggy clothes. We met the old lady, Moolynaut. She didn?t pass on any great mantras to chant into my quartz crystals when I returned to North America. Most of the time she was bent over on the summer tundra cleaning fish. If there was any message that she conveyed, it was, ?Work hard when the salmon are running, cause you gotta eat come winter.? When the storm ended and we prepared to leave, she stood up, all bent over and wrinkled, fixed me with an intense stare, and muttered something in the guttural Koryak tongue. One of the women translated into Russian, and Misha carried the words into English, ?She says you men should come back. It will be good for you. It will be good for the people of Vvenka.? And you know what? We came back. That?s a third fact.
Dated: 03/02/2004
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