South of Biysk the going turns more touristy - we're approaching the Altai, a popular mountain destination for Russian tourists. We stopped at a touristy bistro for lunch, and loaded up on food, including what looked like a yummy dish of mushrooms in an herb cream sauce. A few spoonfuls into it, and Sam remarked, "these aren't mushrooms, they're hearts - look, there's an aorta!" I gagged and couldn't eat any more. Sure enough, what seemed like slightly chewy mushrooms were chicken or some other type of bird heart.
Women selling veggies by the roadside, south of Biysk.
We saw many roadside stands like this one, primarily run by older women. They sell vegetables in bulk, mostly by the bucket-full. My guess is that while an individual is a welcome buyer, sometimes a vendor comes along that will buy their whole stock, which is much preferred. That vendor then takes it all on to a larger market, maybe supplying other stores. It is a more informal supply chain than we have in the States, but effective for getting good produce to market. When we tried to buy two potatoes to add to our evening noodles, the woman thought we meant two kilos and went to dump the whole bucket in a bag. When we made clear that we only wanted two potatoes, she refused and we eventually settled on half a bucket, about 12 potatoes, for $1.50.
We rode all afternoon, making it to near Srotski, birthplace of a guy I'd never heard of, Vasily Shukshin, but it seems like he was a big deal around the village: virtually every building had a sign like "Shukshin's primary school" or "Shukshin's mom's house." Anyway, Wikipedia tells me he was a famous Soviet playwright and director, and his monument on a hill sure provides stunning views of the surrounding countryside.
