For the next thirty minutes, both the ferry and our bus were subjected to bad weather coming from the Bering Sea. I wondered why the Soviets had decided to build the town and its airport on the opposite sides of a bay. In summer, the link is by ferry or motor boat. In winter, a drive on ice is the only way. A flight to Moscow costs ten times more.
Prices are two to three times higher than in Moscow.
No matter how meager these salaries, pay days are frequently delayed, sometimes for years. To survive, people catch fish and collect berries and mushrooms which, ironically, have names derived from names of trees never to be seen in the surrounding tundra. Since salaries are not paid and there is little cash around, life goes on with something similar to both food stamps and plastic money. Life in Anadyr is tough, but not as bad as in some villages where, last year, starvation became a real threat and people ate husk to survive. There are some 11,000 people in Anadyr.