Ukraine. Part 11.

January 2nd, 2009 – Death of a Pig. Part II.

After the pig had been killed, Volodimir and the man dragged the pig to a more accessible area. There was surprisingly little blood. Apparently all the blood goes directly into the chest cavity. With the pig moved and laying stomach down, we went inside for a quick breakfast. Afterwards, the man returned outside and Volodimir and I followed. Volodimir filled a container with Benzene and then lit it. He used it as a torch. He went over the pig’s body with the flame and a knife to get rid of all the hair.

Volodimir with his torch.

De-hairing the pig.

At this point my never-get-dry feet had been reduced to icicles in the 14 degree cold so I politely excused myself. Jess tells me that the next step is to raise the pig onto a platform and cut open the pig. They carefully remove all the organs and the skin/fat which is cooked into that crunchy treat called ‘salo.’ Every part of the pig is used with the exception of the eyes and snout. Many of the body parts that aren’t considered meat outright go into sausage and kielbasas.

When I got back to the house I took a nap and then we embarked on the next adventure of the day. Anatoliy, the peace corps dude, was going to take us cross country skiing. It took Jess and I WAY too much time to retrieve the cross country skis that were waiting for us at the school. But eventually we found ourselves with two sets of skis and we walked to Anatoliy’s place.

After a quick snack we made our way outside. It had warmed to a comfortable 16 degrees and was perfect for skiing. The sky was clear and as we zipped along, I saw some of the most beautiful landscapes of the whole trip.

Anatolli at the start of our epic cross country skiing adventure

Tragically, my camera died at this point in the trip. Anatoliy and Jess took pictures however. Hopefully I’ll be able to snag those pictures by tomorrow. If I can… oh man. Get ready for intensity.