ATMs, unwilling computers and high fees

As we are not allowed to enter Kazakhstan until the day after tomorrow because of our visa, we have decided to stay in our beautiful factory hall accommodation for the day. As I have often mentioned, the success of a trip or expedition often depends on not exhausting yourself right at the start, but using the first few weeks to build up perfect fitness. This means starting slowly and giving your body and mind time to get used to the exertions. Tendinitis caught early or other overstimulation can end such a trip prematurely. Apart from that, we have enough to do anyway. I can use the time to write, feed pictures into the laptop and label them, study the maps and much more. We also do yoga to stretch our muscles or gymnastics to strengthen our backs. Usually one day is far too short for the entire program. This is precisely why we decide to stay for two days before breakfast, so that we are up to date with all our work.

Around 3 p.m. there is a knock on the door of the room. A woman from reception comes in and assaults us with a torrent of Russian. We only understand the station. It turns out that we have to pay more money for our beautiful apartment. It doesn’t cost 650 roubles (approx. 18 euros) a day as expected, but twice as much. “650 rubles per person”; we understand. “Funny, the woman I spoke to at reception yesterday said 650 roubles for both of us,” I say to Tanja. “Obviously a misunderstanding,” she replies. “Now we’re running out of money.” “How much do we have left?” Tanja wants to know. “It could just about last, but it’s certainly not good,” I say, pondering, because if we can’t find an ATM to withdraw money at the border with Kazakhstan, and we can assume that we will, we will be standing in a foreign country with empty pockets. We decide to take a cab to the town center to get some money from a bank machine. This is generally not a problem in Russia with an EC or credit card. The lady representing the small reception today assures us that we will find such a machine in the village and orders us a cab. For safety reasons, she agrees a price with the cab driver beforehand and tells him to drive us back to the Gastiniza once the transaction has been completed.

As we enter the building in the run-down center of this dilapidated border town, a brand new ATM beams at us. A woman behind thick glass panes plays a card game on her computer. She completely ignores us when we insert our card into the machine. We follow the machine’s instructions and confirm the stated maximum amount of 6,000 roubles (164 euros). “Your transaction cannot be processed” is the answer and the stupid machine spits out our card again. “It’s a good thing she didn’t eat it,” says Tanja dryly. “That’s true, but we still need money,” I reply. When I knock on the window to ask the bank employee for help, she is so frightened that she almost slips off her chair. She looks at me reproachfully with wide eyes. When the initial shock subsides, she comes out of her glass box to give us a Russian rant. We understand the name of another bank. “That’s where you have to go,” she says sternly, turns her back on us, disappears into her glass box and continues playing.

The cab driver takes us to the other bank. We are surprised to find two banks in the poverty-stricken Bolshaya Chernigovka. The lady at the counter takes the card. We write the amount on a piece of paper and she hands me the little machine with our card in it. I pull the thing through the slot in the window and enter the secret number. Lo and behold, the computer rattles. A load off our minds. But unfortunately too soon. The computer now wants a number. The bank employee turns the card from front to back and back again. She enters one number after the other, but the computer is dissatisfied, very dissatisfied. A colleague is fetched. Now the two of them are trying it out together. Unsuccessful. In the meantime, two impatient drunks are standing behind us. They wait and wait and become increasingly annoyed. We try to ignore them as much as possible. There are now three ladies typing different numbers into the computer. However, he is still dissatisfied. The ladies disappear. Do not come back. Only after about five minutes do two of them appear. Now the bank manager also rushes over to help. He also enters numbers in vain. Phone calls are made. No answer or the line is not working. “My God! Will we really get our money here?” it goes through my head. But the officers have to continue working because the computer has authorized the transaction, only the number is missing. Phone calls are being made again. Again without success. The bank manager runs away. The lady apologizes to us. The drunks behind us start to get angry and the cab driver has retreated into his car. Then all of a sudden, you can hear and be amazed, a cash machine rattles and spits out a long receipt. A smile creeps onto the woman’s face. In fact, she counts out rubles. Phew, lucky you. But suddenly she pushes the receipt through the slot in the window with an embarrassed expression on her face. “450 roubles (approx. 13 ?) bank fee,” she apologizes. “And that’s just the bank in Russia. The local bank will also deduct another fee,” I say. “That’s true, but we’d better be liquid again,” says Tanja. “When you think that a pensioner in Russia only gets 1,500 to 1,800 roubles a month, that’s a lot of money,” I realize. Then, after an hour, we get into a cab, drive to our guestiniza, pay double the price for our accommodation and continue our work.

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