Today the news starts with a happy ending: my eyes are already much better! Upon waking, my humans put the cold bag with smetana on me again, and because I’m a well-travelled and tough dog, I didn't complain at all. I let myself be pampered—that’s what I’m the king of the camper for. We set off at our usual time and headed straight for Semey. It was one of those days for eating up the tarmac, looking out the window and watching the world go by, without any major monuments forcing Edu and Joan to hop out of the car every two minutes. We only made short logistical stops to stretch our legs, drink clean water and sniff around the atmosphere of the villages along the way.

The coolest thing about the route was seeing how the scenery changed. As we approached Semey, the infinite, dry, and flat steppe we had grown accustomed to started to give way to a much more wooded area, dotted with dense pine forests. Going from the bare plains to seeing tall, green trees was a most welcome change of scenery, especially for my sense of smell, which had been missing the scents of resin and forest soil.

We dodged the city centre by taking the ring road and headed straight to find a place to spend the night. Dad Edu found a huge, beautiful green area near the river. Since the heat is really pushing hard today, it’s a massive relief to have some shade to take shelter in. As soon as we arrived, we got into the camper to eat and recharge our batteries, and just after that, we decided to move the car to a more secluded, quiet, and, above all, cleaner spot. You see, up here they have a cultural habit that my "critical snout" finds hard to understand: the place was full of local families spending the day having a picnic, enjoying nature, but many have the ugly habit of leaving all their rubbish scattered on the ground when they leave. And it’s so easy to just pick it up in a bag... Anyway, the contradictions of free humans.

Mind you, you can't deny they are super friendly and hospitable people. One of the families out for their Sunday camping trip came over to say hello and gave some very fresh fruit to Uncle Joan. A lovely gesture that my humans really appreciated. Now that night has fallen, everyone has packed up their belongings, the commotion has ended, and we have been left completely alone in this green paradise. It’s time to curl up and sleep like a log.