October 11 - Listvyanka

The perfectly clear and sunny autumn afternoon made for a beautiful drive to the small lakeside town of Listvyanka, where we plan to join a scientific expedition investigating marine life in Lake Baikal. Apparently the road from Irkutsk to Listvyanka has some Soviet/American history: It seems that as late as 1960, there was still no road to the lake, but then President Eisenhower, who had Russian ancestry, made plans to visit the region. To impress the American president the Soviet government rushed to construct a road, only to have Eisenhower cancel the trip after Francis Gary Powers' U2 was shot down over Russia later that year.

In Listvyanka, we went to the Limnological (the study of fresh water) Institute, where we were to meet the expedition team later in the day. We visited the museum and watched a short film about the lake. Later we had the good fortune to meet Galina Mazepova a 71-year-old scientist who has been working on the waters of Baikal since 1948.

The bus carrying the expedition team was two hours late. So it was already dark by the time we finally arrived at the port. The boat's captain decided that rather than leave today, as planned, we will spend the night in the harbor and set off early in the morning.



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