Diomita Maurer’s Blog

Yesterday, Wednesday February 19th, I came across Khodovarikha again when scrolling through scoop.it SL Destinations. I visited this extreme lonely place back in October 2017 (see Simploring 2017 (80) Khodovarikha).

Khodovarikha (in Russian: Ходовариха) is a weather station located on the freezing Barents Sea. Remote and desolate, with a permanent population of just one man, Slava. Witness his ‘arctic limbo’ in one of the loneliest places on earth. Once Khodovarikha was a village and there are a number of buildings scattered around on the sim. The most striking is the lighthouse, built in 1933 and decommissioned in 1996. It is made of timber, which Slava is cannibalising for firewood, and sits high up on a raised section of the land.

Serene Footman, who has a passion for unknown, strange and outstanding places, had brought Khodovarikha alive in Second Life and gathered a lot of information about it so that we could get an impression of it – and not only by reading about it in his blog (read here) and watching a video but also by exploring it in Second Life and thus getting a feeling for the place. That all was back in 2017 and as Serene’s places are temporar and stay about one month (some stay longer, some shorter) Khodovarikha is gone for more than 2 years now.

Khodovarikha in Summer – birds eye view

Welcome back, Slava – Serene Footman has reopened Khodovarikha on Saturday, February 15th. The first Khodovarikha was set up in Winter, the one we can see now is giving us an impression of it during Summer. In the above mentioned video we see that Khodovarikha is a real mess. Serene writes in his new blogpost: “the windswept sand is littered with barrels and crates, as well as miscellaneous bits of rusty salvage. I have often wondered about those barrels – why are there so many of them, and why are they left lying around, quite literally, everywhere … I have wanted to design a summer version of Khodovarikha ever since closing the sim in December 2017.”

Impressions of Khodovarikha in Summer (1) – the “new” abandonned house

When creating Khodovarikha in Summer, Serene added a lot of life, in particular birds, many many birds and thus the place is full of life. As opposed to the first place, the lighthouse is not working anymore this time (like in reality). Serene has found more information about Khodovarikha, in particular he learned that the lighthouse was also used as a place for fun and sports back when Khodovarikha was still a village with at least some more inhabitants and even children. That is why Serene installed a zip line from the top of the lighthouse to the ground – and provides the fun for us visitors as well!

Impressions of Khodovarikha in Summer (2) – climbing up the lighthouse

There’s really a lot to see, explore and to discover at Khodovarikha. I started my visit with exploring the “new” abandoned house close to the lighthouse. Yes, as described by Serene and as could be expected it is a whole mess inside. I sat down close by and enjoyed the strange atmosphere. All over the sim you find places to sit, just that you can breath in the atmosphere of the place. And birds, birds, birds. They have taken over Khodovarikha.

Of course I climbed up to the top of the lighthouse. At one level on your way up you can watch a slideshow with pictures of the real Khodovarikha. Using the zip line is fun by the way.

Impressions of Khodovarikha in Summer (3) – birds, brids, birds

Did I already mention the many birds? The are also noisy (don’t forget to turn your sound on). One larger colony of them is by the water where they have occupied the rocks. Another colony occupied a small pond. I didn’t change the windlight. This ensures that the place still looks not inviting but facinating in its depressiveness despite of all the birds and the corners where you can blind out all the barrels and garbage spread all over of the sim.

Impressions of Khodovarikha in Summer (4) – Ustin’s and Slava’s house

I visited Ustin’s house as well as Slava main living house. I don’t remember the kitchen in the 1st Khodovarikha, but it caught my attention this time. What a mess! It’s hard to believe that someone can live with such a mess (and dirt).

Impressions of Khodovarikha in Summer (5) – the pier, Slava’s garage and other impressions

I also can’t remember that there was a pier and a boat in the 1st Khodovarikha. And for sure Khodovarikha offers may more opportunities to sit and watch this time. That makes sense as it is Summer but on the other hand I can’t imagine that Slava would clean up the place in Winter and bring all the stools and sofas back into his storage garage *winks*.

Finally I played a bit with the windlight and created a sunnier Summer day. This changed the atmosphere a lot! It swept away the melancholy on one side, on the other side the mess and all the garbage are more disturbing the peace.

Impressions of Khodovarikha in Summer (5) – just imagine the sun would shine at Khodovarikha

If you want to visit yourself, you shouldn’t wait to long with a visit as Khodovarika will only stay available for a few weeks.
Thank you so much for realizing Khodovarikha in Summer, Serene. I had a lot of fun exploring and learning more about this strange and outstanding place.

Landmark to Khodovarikha
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Saint%20Denis%203/203/182/21
My visit to Khodovarikha in October 2017 “Simploring 2017 (80) Khodovarikha”
https://themaurers.me/2017/10/11/simploring-2017-80-khodovarikha/
Video “Arctic Limbo”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-DzOJyGqGk
Serene Footman’s post about Khodovarikha in Sommer “Welcome back, Slava”
https://furillen.org/2020/02/15/с-возвращением-слава/
Serene Footman’s post about the 1st Khodovarikha in 2017
https://furillen.org/khodovarikha/
Flickr group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/khodovarikha/