Akhchahandroz, Hitchhikers, Blablakar or in Makhachkala with Dagestani truckers
Come on!! They'll kill you there or worse, wrap you in a rug and take you to the mountains and force you to marry! This is what my mother told me when I told her that I was going to the forum "Caucasus Heritage" in Makhachkala with two Dagestani truckers.
I bought a ticket for the train, but due to my inattention (and sometimes laziness) I was late for the train, and there was no way to return the money for the ticket. So I stayed in Moscow with 1500 in my pocket, and I had to get to Makhachkala!! On Blablakar (the site where you can find a fellow traveler) there were different options, but they began from 2000 rubles, which was beyond my pocket, but a little later there was an option for 1100 rubles and it was perfect for my dates. But..but there are always some "buts" in the user profile was not specified brand of the car and registered this same user only 2 days ago.
When I called him, I found out where I needed to go and set out. This journey to Makhachkala began not from Moscow, but from the city of Railway (about an hour by train from Moscow). Arriving at the place, I called the driver to find out the number and make of the car (yes, I did not do this earlier due to my inexperience and desire to quickly go to Makhachkala), explained that I was standing with a large red backpack. They said, "Yes, girl!" We see you, come to the car.” "Car" was a huge red KAMAZ with a trailer. And “we” turned out to be two brothers from a small village in Dagestan (between Makhachkala and Izberbash). The second is how to tell my parents that I am going to Makhachkala with two young people I don’t know from Dagestan.
Perhaps someone will consider this story a miracle, someone will say that I embellished everything, and I was just lucky, and someone will not believe that everything can be like this.
But the companions were the most amazing, kind and simply fantastic people! Why don't I write their names here? Because they're very difficult to pronounce. I will call them friends from Dagestan and just wonderful people.
They're very caring. During the trip, they kept asking, “Are you cold?” You're not hungry? You thirsty? Not tired? We talked about stereotypes, traditions, national cuisine, listened to national music, told jokes. In addition, they constantly fed me - bought cakes and cola, treated me to cheese and Korean carrots, paid for my breakfast in a cafe! And nowhere did I get paid myself. When I told them that I was going to the forum and forgot to take my toothbrush, as if at the wave of a magic wand, the driver of the truck pulled me a brush from the shelf, he bought a brush for my sister, but she forgot to take it, and the brush had been there for a month.
After the phrase: “I need to be on the forum there as soon as possible (and we left on the 27th at 23.55, the forum began on the 28th at 12.35, and it takes about 30 hours to go from Moscow to Makhachkala, if you do not stop)”, they replied, “Don’t worry, now we will solve everything – you will arrive almost on time!” And 20 minutes after that, they solemnly tell me, "Xenia!" We found you a foreign car! Come as fast as the wind! An hour later we stopped at the track and I moved to another car. The car was another foreign car. It’s like driving on our spot and then moving to a Volvo or some Mercedes, and the driver of this truck was a trucker – a fellow villager of my first friends from Dagestan. By the way, an unmarried fellow villager trucker, it was also interesting to go with him, he talked a lot about life, cities, food, traffic police officers. When we stopped at the cafe for dinner, he, like my two first friends, wouldn't let me pay for anything. With him we passed Volgograd, Kalmykia and reached Dagestan. But he did not pass the place I needed, dropped me at the entrance to the city of Kizlyar, from it to the place of my stay was still about 220 km. After dropping me off, he called a taxi, explained to the taxi driver that I should be put on a minibus to Izberbash, paid me for this taxi! Helped to move things out of the car, wished him a happy journey and went on his own business. Already approaching Makhachkala, my first friends from Dagestan called me, asked me if I had arrived and if everything was fine, and said that if I needed help, they would help.
I can’t say I wasn’t scared, but I have to trust people, trust myself. Try new things and find non-standard solutions. Thanks to this trip, I met beautiful people, learned a lot about the Caucasus, enjoyed the unique nature, and most importantly, once again made sure that the world is beautiful - even though I sometimes look at it through rose-colored glasses!
Text by Ksenia Komarova
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