Day 26: Panorama, monster trucks, and a collapsed house

Early in the day we finish off yesterday's lake and fishing visuals by recording some additional panoramic takes of the lake, with the fishermen sprinkled as small dots across a vast empty and blindingly white area. What a difference between the seasons! As most of our team who's at the lake originally comes from Germany and Switzerland, we are well used to different weather in different seasons, but not to the extent in which it is the case up here in the North-Eastern corner of the European Union.

 The endless summer days in which the sun barely sets, sun and warmth, the lake inviting for a swim, everything is very green and everything simply smells of fresh and pristine nature... and then the winter, in which as it feels nature is asleep, and so are the people. The sounds are dampened, the air is crisp and clean and smells of nothing much but cold and ice, the lake has disappeared under a cover of ice and snow, and what's the shore in summer is nothing but a barely noticable bump in the snow blanket during the wintertime.

We go around the villages, saying hi here and there, taking some mood videos and photos, and in Nina we meet Igor, who is happy to show us his home-built monster truck: Built from two regular cars and airplane tyres, these sort of vehicles are a good way to get around on the frozen lake in winter. They're practical, and again thanks to the big tyres, they're less likely to sink if the ice breaks - in fact, with tyres like these, chances are you'd just roll on even if the ice underneath cracks and breaks at some point. Visually impressive vehicles - we're happy for the footage!

Later in Kolkja, we meet Vadim, who is just coming out of a door to clean up the house next door, which had collapsed under the weight of the snow. It turns out it's his house that had collapsed, yet Vadim seems in a surprisingly relaxed mood. He tells us he'd be rebuilding it all by himself, because he doesn't have any money to pay people to help, but he's not worried about it, and plans to have it rebuilt within two weeks. Looking at the collapsed house and the amounts of snow, we seriously doubt his time plan, but we don't say anything and rather just wish him luck, and offer our help in carrying some of the collapsed parts away - which he gently refuses, saying he would have no problem rebuilding the house. Wish you luck, Vadim.

Day 25: Ice fishing, water and visitors

Mother Varvara had invited us to go ice fishing with Vassily, who had treated us with his fish soup (and some vodka) back in October. At 9 in the morning we arrive in Kolkja at Varvara's house, only to find a number of fishermen at the shore behind the house getting ready for a day of fishing on the frozen lake. They're equipped with motor sledges, some of which need a bit of additional effort to start up, and of course Vassily and his friend show up, happy to see us again. And so are we - it's a good feeling (and also good for this project, of course) that by now we really know people in the villages, they consider it normal and even nice that we keep coming back, and are simply familiar with us.

Vassily gets his vehicle ready: An unbelievable construction, basically a motorbike of which the front wheel is replaced with a sledge foot, and two huge tyres are attached to the back - a trike made for driving on the ice, and with its huge tyres, apparently designed not to sink so easily should the ice break under the vehicle. We take our seats in the flat trailer that they attach to the trike, and out we go onto the lake, with Vassily's little dog running next to the trike.

The lake is full of fishermen: An amazing view, plenty of small black dots where the fishermen are spread out all over the frozen surface, and except for these spots - a perfectly flat, endless, white nothing. That's Lake Peipus in winter. Suddenly we stop, as Vassily has apparently found the right place to get started - we don't quite understand how he decided that, but he sure knows his trade. We jump off our vehicles, and Vassily starts to drill a hole in the ice using a special drill he brought along. Lure is attached to small fishing rods, and the hooks placed under the ice.

Unfortunately we're not very lucky that day, and only small fish take the bait - yet we know what a delicious fish soup Vassily will make from these later on! In addition to the fish, vodka is an important ingredient to ice fishing, and after half an hour on the frozen lake, nearly unprotected from the cold wind, with ice and snow under our feet, we perfectly well understand why. Our minibar is a wooden box from the trike, and indeed we value how the vodka warms us up.

After some hours we return to the mainland with our catch of the day and the vodka bottles emptier than they were in the morning, freezing and happy about the scenery and experience we could share. We decide to walk through Kolkja a little bit, and meet an elderly couple sitting on a bench in front of their house. The man explains that he used to go for long walks, but he recently had a heart attack, therefore he now prefers to simply sit in the fresh air, which anyway would do him good. We ask for some water, and he gladly helps and takes the short walk to the well to bring us some.

Later in the evening, Edgars and Ivite come to visit from Riga; Edgars promised to help with the soundtrack respectively the musical design of the documentary film, so it's good for him to see the actual place firsthand. We spend a pleasant and quiet evening with pasta and red wine, looking at old photos of the region, discussing the project and the musical part of it, again and again meeting the countless fishermen who apparently come from further away to stay in our guest house at the lake for a few days for their favourite wintertime hobby. Judging from voices and accents, some of them come all the way from Riga in order to fish here with their friends.