The Ukraine

Day 170,  Mile 7,167


Typical Ukrainian road

 We are currently in Odessa, Ukraine on the Black Sea, taking a break, reflecting on our trip, and catching a much needed breath after almost six months of bicycle travel.  Our ride through the Ukrainian hinterlands was more on the "adventure" side of bicycle touring, and less on the "sit in a cafe and sip a coffee" side of bicycle touring.

Women driving cows in the rain

Entering Ukraine: Like previous border crossings, we were amazed at the difference of all aspects of life immediatley upon leaving Poland and crossing into Ukraine.  As a sidenote, it was quite satisfying when the border guards ordered us to the front of the line, past the 200 jabbing, pushing, and yelling Ukrainian women, arms full of boxes of sneakers they crossed the border into Poland to obtain.  We got some evil looks as we wheeled our bicycles past them, but it was a relief to not have to push an old lady to the ground to keep our space in line (she surely would have knocked us down!)  As soon as we crossed through the gates, a different world opened up.  The pouring rain was the same (our 30th day of rain out of the last 37 days!), but the whole atmosphere and feel of our world changed.  Poland is by no means a rich nation, but wow, we did not realize that Ukraine is a third world country.

Horse drawn carts were the norm in villages

Crumbling Infrastructure: As bicycle travelers, the first thing we noticed was the crumbling roads.  When we looked ahead, all we saw were water filled potholes.  The roads were all twice as wide as originally designed, because cars would just drive on the grass shoulders to avoid the immense density of holes.  They would weave in and out of holes, drive on the wrong side of the road, even drive on the wrong shoulder, barreling right at us at 70 miles an hour.  It was crazy, but we actually got used to it.  We'd be passed on the right, on the left, by horse and buggies coming one way, and a coal truck coming the other.  Downhills were even slower than the ups because we just had to grip our brakes as we descended, trying to control our speed lest we find ourselves being slammed into ruts and holes.  Wow, it was amazing and almost indescribable, but we certainly didn't fault the Ukrainians.  There is so little here, and certainly no extra funds for repairing roads.


This was once a cement bus stop bench


The crumbling continued with all of the concrete.  It seems that everything was once made of concrete, but it has not been maintained since the Soviets left 20 years ago.  Whether it's buildings, curbs, bus stop shelters, benches, or stores, they are literally crumbling before the Ukrainian's eyes.  It looks like things used to be better, but there has just been no maintinence. We tried to take pictures of it, but without seeing the full surroundings, the buildings and parks and towns don't look too bad. They're in sad shape. Trust me.

Stikingly common Lenin statue

A Land of Contrasts: Despite the nearly universal crumbling infrastructure,  the statues of Lenin are still standing tall and clean.  We were sure that these would have all been removed by now, but alas, they are not.  Also, standing tall over the houses are the freshly painted and gold or silver topped churches.  These onion  dome topped houses of worship were absolutely amazing. Bright blue buildings with gold tops sparkling in the sun. Maybe the Catholic church could help with some other parts of people's lives?? 

Beautiful churches were in every town

The other odd contrast in this crumbling country is the amazing outfits people are wearing.  Picture going through a town, chickens are running around, there's cow poop all through the streets, mud puddles everywhere, and all the young women are walking around in mini skirts and high heels.  Or in the city, from a tenament apartment building that you would think would just cave in on itself, out walks a young lady looking like she's living in Las Vegas.  She walks down the street, avoiding the blowing garbage, and gets on a bus that was built 50 years ago, and heads to a job somewhere.





They don't have running water, but the villagers all had wells,
which were our regular source of water 



And, of course there is horse & buggy and Mercedes dichotomy.  Here we'd be, riding our bikes along through a village that hasn't changed in fifty years.  They're getting water from a well with a metal pail, and a woman and man are driving their horse and buggy to the field to pick potatoes, she's in a smock, he in wool pants, moving at 5 miles an hour.  Then racing by in the opposite direction would be a Mercedes, with a cell phone talking driver going sixty miles an hour.  It literally looks like landlords and serfs of a hundred years ago.



Seemingly lawless city driving

They may not have much, but they do have time: The amazing poverty that was on full display in both the countryside and small cities we traveled through was hard to see, but living in the countryside actually looked less desperate than in the larger towns.  Everyone had HUGE gardens.  I mean no square inch of land that they own is unplanted.  Potatoes, beets, cabbages, and other hearty storeable vegetables took up most of the space.  We were told that most Ukrainians in the countryside live on $100 per month. 

The Cryllic alphabet added another element to navigation

What we witnessed was like going back in time.  People would literally wake up at 6AM, walk their cows to some distant field, stay with the cows all day, and walk them home again around 9PM.  This is not one or two people doing this,  but rather nearly every household had a cow watcher.  Little old ladies would be walking behind their cows with a switch in their hand, or sitting under a tree watching them eat.  ALL DAY!  I guess they're like shepherds, but with cows.  We'd see the milk from the cows the next morning.  There would be big jugs sitting on the road waiting to be picked up and dumped into the milk truck. (Did I mention it was 90 degrees?)  And then other people in the house would be sitting on the benches that are in front of each of their homes, watching whatever passed them on road.  We'd go through a village, and there lining the streets would be two dozen people, just watching us go by.  We'd see little old women sitting on the side of the road selling jars of raspberries.  They, too, would be out all day.  If they sold all their jars, they'd bring in about $5.  The Ukrainians don't have much, but they do have time.  I guess five dollars is five dollars, no matter how long it takes to get it.

The plains of Ukraine planted with wheat

The Countryside: The riding through the countryside was quite beautiful, if not easy.  It was great to see the land open back up again, after densly populated Poland.  We rode through the vast Ukrainian plains, which looked remarkably like the American West.  They're flat on top, we but found out the hard way that they are also regularly bisected with deep river valleys.  Up and down we went, but the skies were blue, the heat was on, and the views were grand in scale. 

Our lovely little Odessa studio apartment

Odessa, it's a different world here: And now we're in Odessa.  We actually took a train the last 200 miles to this city.  It's our first public transport since our plane to Portugal.  Ukraine was tough, but we did not just set out to see the French cafes of the world.  We wanted to see all that lay in our path from West to East as we traversed North America, and Europe.  Odessa is not technically the end of Europe, but on all the maps of Europe we've seen, it is the last city.  And what a city! It is stunning.  It is absolutely mind boggling that this city is in the same country (or on the same continent) as the rest of Ukraine.  It is beautiful, the buildings are spectacular, there are tourists walking around, grocery stores, and restaurants, none of which we saw at all in the hundreds of kilometeres we peddaled across the country.  There is certainly poverty here, but there are also people making it and thriving.  It is clear that tourism certainly has its benefits to the locals. We have rented an apartment here for a month and will stay to rest up, enjoy the city and its food vendors and sea-side beaches, and plan what we are going to do next.  We'd love to hear from you.  Drop us a line and let us know what is happening in your world.