Vokhma , the last post of civilisation

The title of this blog post is taken from an article I found about the Kostroma Oblast, A very interesting and yet sad article of the Kostroma region I am still searching and looking for, The disappearing villages and the declining amount of young talent leaving the area.

The link to the story is here. Rai or Paradise

I don't know the writer of this article or even if they really have visited this town or even Russia. What I do know is that we had a wonderful stay with family and the town and area is stunning,wild and for sure an outpost , but not a Hell town.

Perhaps the image here of a lone horseman could underline the statement , 'The last post of civilisation', but for me, it is what I was looking for. Not so long ago, horses would have been much more common to see in the area as working animals. this is a wild land, have no doubt! I somehow survived the bumpy 10 hour journey on a bus that somehow got us to our destination. The facilities for such a journey seemed to cater for smokers and not the general public with smoke breaks and very few toilet breaks. With  all of that shaking, I constantly wanted the loo!

The Vokhma museum was a complete jewel in the crown, it had these huge mammoth tusks,The curator gave us a guided tour and was delighted to have us as visitors, I loved her enthusiasm, even when describing simple artifacts, tools and utensils of a time gone by, not so long ago, in fact.

 A highlight of my visit to the Vokhma was a visit to the local apiary and the beekeeper. пчеловод
In the light of what our farmers in the west, including Britain are doing to the bees with pesticides and God knows what else. It was a delight to see an old fashioned set up with a lot of hives and the most beautiful honey you can imagine. however our trip was twofold. The main aim was to buy honey of course, but we then had another quest, Uncle Slava had a nagging back pain and he asked for a local cure. To which the Beekeeper gladly agreed and the next photo has Uncle Slava dropping his pants for a bee to sting the base of his spine. MMMMMM. not for me! He also got a sting on the eye for his pleasure!

 Photo has been removed! Thank God!
Considering Uncle Slava is a doctor, Something may be said for natural medicines?