Siberia

After Ekaterinburg we traveled to Irkutsk and then to a small village on Lake Baikal where we enjoyed a home-stay. Here is our host mom and our guide. It was amazing how the people in this village lived. There was no running water and they lived mostly on fish out of the lake.
We enjoyed taking Russian baths...a sauna with water heated by wood in which we dipped pots and poured over our bodies (a luxury they only took part in once a week). We went on hikes up the mountain and enjoyed the amazing views of this little village.









And everyone's favorite the outhouse! Yuck!










The wooden houses were very simple. Our host used lots of rugs...on the floor, on the furniture, on the walls....it gets very cold there in the winter! Check out the real bearskin rug!


This is the Russian Orthodox church and everyone stood up for the entire service.