16-8. WATER IN THE POTS

24 hours after the break-down Misha had the gearbox back and it worked! We were deeply impressed and clapped in our hands. He told us it was the first time he had opened a gearbox. Rain was pouring down most of the way to Krasnoyarsk. Here in the middle of Siberia we had to change trucks. We got new horsepowers and Valodja, a seasoned trucker. His "evacuator" was higher and stronger and ready to take us and Green Car over the worst part of the road to Irkutsk. We set off as night fell and drove without rest for 24 hours. Potholes became bathtubs, puddles became lakes and the mud deeper and deeper until we could hardly pass crawling along in first gear. At midnight we arrived groggy to Irkutsk. We found a safe place to unload Green Car. The first two back-packer hostels were full and the expensive hotel too expensive. In the cold rain we trudged along the empty Irkutsk streets looking for a bed. It had its own poetic charm, like a romantic French movie. We did not think to record it ourselves. Good luck found us a room in a private flat on Lenin-street - and it turned out to be a perfect place to stay.