buki

i did not know what Buki was: maybe a village, maybe a park, maybe a park within a village that had a fountain. but we decided to go.
it is about a 2 h car ride, as i am told. packed in the car, we pick up my cousin's daughter and drive off. starting off on what seems like an interstate, we follow the GPS, sort of. for some reason, despite GPS's stern pleas to make a right turn, we do not turn right. we further ignore any attempts to redirect us and make a U-turn to go back and make a right. we are following the GPS, but we are no longer following the GPS. down an interstate, through the Ukrainian country-side. we stop at a Shell to pee and eat hot-dogs (coffee for me), to continue on the road of not following the GPS. it is unclear which direction we are headed, somewhere southwest, towards Odessa. the ride is bumpy, interrupted by GPS's annoying reminder that we are exceeding the allowed speed limit. are we there yet? i take a nap, maybe two. are we there yet? the GPS is guiding us through back roads now, we drive through a small town, ignoring pleas to make a right. are we there yet? the mid-day sun is getting hot, we are driving through vistas of fields. are we there yet? I have no hope left of reaching our destination altogether, but somehow, 3 hrs later we made it.
Buki is really an estate owned by an agrarian businessman and build for his family/the public. there is a church, a river, and a park. you can walk around the grounds, celebrate wedding here, or just relax on the weekend. we take a tour around the property. there is a alley with magically carved sculptures, there is a sculpture of a lady who brings good luck and fertility. there is a zoo. the zoo is super sad, especially, since i hate zoos. a cage with 2 bears, a cage with a lion, a cage with 2 other bears. i had to walk away. and the tour itself is littered with references to the owner: this is how old he is, this is when he bought this, this is what he did for his foster kids who live on teh property. it is odd as you realize you're walking through someone else's backyard, someone's very expensive backyard. after that we head back.
the decision is to stop by yet another village. but the gps, stupid gps, starts taking us through the back roads. we drive between village homes, chickens running across the street. i start getting nervous: it already took us 3 hrs to get here, and we are seemingly aimlessly lost again, despite the fact that multiple shirtless men stopped on the side of the road point us in the same general direction. after a while of sharing the road with farm animals, we decide to head home, ignoring the GPS, now because we actually found the right interstate. i am smelly, i need a shower.