Day 2 - Transfer to Cheget

We get to Moscow airport at about 5am with our next flight not until about 08:30 or so. Luckily, this gives us time to complete the various transit and customs procedures and even have a discussion on the identifying characteristics of an alcoholic - the only one we can identify that none of us (usually) display is needing a drink in the morning. This leads onto a discussion on what is meant by the morning and whether the fact that you have not been to sleep impacts. Before we can come to a conclusion on this, we discover a cafe selling beer next to our departure gate and decide to do some research. Quite conveniently, this is when our guide Dave turns up and he is more than happy to lend a hand.

As we are much better 'prepared' and a lot more tired for this flight we sleep most of the couple of hours down to Mineral Vody airport. There we meet the local agent and board the bus for our transfer to Cheget which is on the Georgian border (our base for Elbrus). A bit more sleep and then a break to try some local food which is very similar to Georgian food and reminds me of what I used to eat at times in Kazakhstan - deep fried light pastry with melted cheese inside.

We get to Cheget in the early afternoon to find a small, decaying village for what was once a popular skiing area with health spas and other outdoor activities. People only really come here for Elbrus now so much of the infrastructure that is away from the mountain itself is falling apart.

Our hotel seems good enough although its Soviet origins come through when we meet in the evening. There is no common room so we meet in the dining room. I try to order a beer but am flatly told no, without the useful extra information that alcohol must be bought from reception where there is a well stocked fridge. Secondly, the hotel provides a set dinner and I ask if they can delay bringing it out until we have had our 20 minute meeting - we had not booked the table so it is not as if they can have been expecting us then - but am again told no and dinner is brought out and dumped on the table. The food is actually pretty poor Soviet stodge which only adds to the overall experience. A friend who has been here before told me of the great cafes and shashlik so I resolve not to waste my time and appetite here again.

After that, at about 9pm it is off to bed to try and catch up on all the missed sleep and early rise for tomorrow's acclimatisation walk.