Other days one must get there only by hitch-hiking, and it is possible only in good weather. One can not imagine how many times I had to get to a village using a bread carrier, or a milk carrier, or a tractor, to say nothing about horses, because the only bus route was canceled because of a lack of gasoline. When, at last, I arrived at a village or town, the local people were astonished to learn that I did not use my own car. It somehow lowered my social status and significance of my tasks for local people. But from the other side it drew compassion towards me, and people helped me, willingly sharing their memories, showing former Jewish houses and streets, synagogues, shops, etc.
Elders remember quite well about flourishing past of shtetls, and regret about that times.
But what surprises and shocks most of all is the contrast in attitudes towards Jewish and other cemeteries. If Russian Orthodox and Catholic cemeteries are properly looked after, the Jewish ones are simply destroyed. There are no moral or legal restrictions or barriers to these practices. And often it is so literally, and you have to locate the elderly who remember the place where the cemetery has been in the past. I was told by local authorities that there had never been a Jewish cemetery, but a 90 year-old man was able to show me the place.