'Thrown' at the end of the road, absolutely not fulfilling the contract.

Karelia is one of the most beautiful places in our vast country. Each participant of the trip received unforgettable pleasant emotions from communicating with the nature of this magical land, but at the same time a lot of negative memories regarding the work of the travel agency that organized our trip. "Karelian World" - this is the name of the ill-fated travel agency, which left an unpleasant aftertaste in our memory.

The contract, for about 200 thousand rubles, signed by the director of the travel agency, Sergey Evgenievich Pupyshev, describes the details of the rafting of 15 people along the Vonga River, which implies the complete passage of a beautiful route along a chain of lakes connected by channels with access to the White Sea. The route involved a nine-day rafting with two "days", the accompaniment of two instructors, the supply of high-quality watercraft, as well as full board.

None of these items were completed!

As an instructor (one, subject to payment for the work of two), we were introduced to a handsome fellow - Yuri, with highly commendable recommendations - so good that he can handle it alone! Unfortunately, the reality turned out to be completely different: Yura catastrophically failed to do his job, had no idea about the route where he was supposed to play the role of leader - he studied the route using our maps (I wonder how we would go if there weren’t any?) . In all cases, when it was necessary to make decisions quickly, he made fatal mistakes for us. Let's give 2 examples.

1) Every tourist passing this route knows perfectly well that there is an island on Muroe Lake, which can be bypassed by water (about 12 km) or make a small drift (200m). Yura ordered to row in a strong headwind.

Naturally, our company (mostly experienced people, but not very young) was a little tired, we had to camp half way around, and the next day the wind blew in the opposite direction ....

2) Due to several mistakes of Yura, we were critically late for the evening train (the next one in 2 days). At the same time, Yura was afraid to pass the Vyaker rapids on the water (in our company there were people who passed the Chatkal, the upper reaches of the Kodor and other "five"). As a result of the portage, we missed the train.

On the last day, when Yura was our leader under the contract, we were at the entrance to the Assu rapids (the White Sea, and even more so a day at sea, has long been out of the question). At this point, Yura's duties ended, and he ceased to be active. Fortunately, there was a railway bridge nearby (10-15 km to the village of Kuzema).

We were forced to pack up and walk along the sleepers in conditions of abnormal heat (+32 degrees in the shade and much more in the sun, and even on hot gravel). There was a catastrophic lack of water, as well as, in fact, transport, which the Karelov Mir travel agency promised us so much.

By the way, about transport. Calling the management of the company, namely the above-mentioned Pupyshev S.E., and requesting the promised transport so as not to be late at least for the return train, we heard an unambiguous negative answer: “I am on a hike as an instructor. I can’t help you” - the “ideal” answer for the head of the company, bravo! So, even an elementary request to provide us with the promised transport was not satisfied.

About “high-quality” boats: out of seven inflatable kayaks provided by the Karelov Mir travel agency, one had a broken check valve, and two of our company had to scoop water out of the kayak with a mug for the entire route; three more kayaks constantly leaked, although the instructor Yura constantly glued them up.

Undoubtedly, the only positive feature of our instructor (Jura) was his extensive culinary skills. Yura got up before everyone else, prepared good breakfasts (within the modest limits of the wretched diet that his organization gave us). Special thanks to Yuri for this. The travel agency, represented by its leader, S.E. Pupyshev, did not deserve any thanks, because it did not fulfill any of the above clauses of the contract.

Nevertheless, all the difficulties described above were successfully overcome by our team, we managed to catch the return train, miraculously finding 2 large cars in the village of Kuzema and overcoming 100 km on them to Kem, where our train stopped. Despite any obstacles, everyone returned satisfied, but not thanks to, but in spite of the "efforts" of the representatives of the travel agency mentioned above.

The only wish to the management of the travel agency "Karelov Mir": do what you can do - cook food, and do not fool people's heads about the fact that you can provide a decent vacation on the rivers of Karelia.

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