кирилица любов

Sorry about the delay on this! For some reason some parts of Turkey have blocked blogspot, youtube and apparently Google maps?
Anyways, the next stop on my eastern trek after Albania was Macedonia.  The journey there might just be the most memorable yet.  I've started to take advantage of taxis... I always refused before this point, thinking them a HUGE waste of money... but when I'm faced with an hour long walk with all my things down a sidewalk full of holes, or a comfortable (if not slightly panicky) 20 minute ride in a taxi for just $4... well, the taxis have come into a much more favorable light.  So in Tirana, I took a taxi to the "bus station," which was really just a gravel lot in front of the university filled with 10-passenger vans.  The drivers stand there and yell their destinations at everyone walking down the street, and once the van is stuffed with about 10 or 12 people, it finally leaves.  I got squished in the front seat with the driver and an old woman, as ten more random people shoved in the back.  Then hilarity and chaos ensued.  We started flying down the road through the mountains, narrowly avoiding chickens, people, donkeys, etc... then the police stopped us at a checkpoint and I think told us to slow down, but it didn't do much good.  The old woman next to me kept babbling in Albanian, unaware or perhaps just uncaring that I didn't understand her, and crossing herself and praying every time we came close to the edge of the mountain.  For some reason, I just found this all so ridiculous I had to shove my fist in my mouth to keep from laughing.

Lake Ohrid

     The girl at the hostel told me the "bus" would drop us off right next to the Macedonian border... well... the driver left me on the side of the road in the dumphole of a town Pogradec.  Luckily, some random guy saw my distressed look and loaded my bag in his car and drove me to the border.  Thankfully he didn't kidnap me or anything.  He dropped me off near border patrol, and I grabbed my suitcase and started walking.  I got past the Albanian police, then walked about another 10 minutes to the Macedonian side.  This was also quite ridiculous as cars kept driving past me as I went for a stroll down the highway just rolling my little suitcase along and singing to myself.  After I got into Macedonia, the police said I could sit and wait by the curb and eventually a bus (aka taxi) would come along.  So I made myself a sandwich, read a book, listened to some music, chatted with the border people, sat on my bag and took a nap, and then the taxi finally arrived.  It was interesting to see how different it was, just ten minutes away from Albania, even though they both share a huge lake.  The Macedonian side was lacking the trash, stray livestock, and potholes that seem to define Albania.

     After making my way to the town of Ohrid, situated on the lake of the same name, I decided to stay a few days and relax.  I met Henning from Germany and we spent a day hiking to the beautiful, old Orthodox churches and up to the fortress overlooking the city.  Ohrid was a great place to rest up, take lazy walks around the lake, and just sit in the sun and read.  After Ohrid, Henning and I traveled on to the capital Skopje.  It's a nice capital city with a young vibe to it, but as far as tourism goes, there isn't much to see.  One day was enough to explore, so I then set off for Pristina, Kosovo... not a lot to see in Kosovo either.  The first day I managed to get about three miles off my map when I thought I was close to my hostel... I blame Kosovo's aversion to street signs of any kind :)  The next day all I accomplished was making it down to Bill Clinton Street to see the huge statue of him and the American flag.  The people in Kosovo really seem to like Americans, because they say we helped them so much in gaining their independence, so the owner of the hostel I stayed in gave me "only the best for the American."
     After Kosovo, it was off to Bulgaria.  Let me mention that in Macedonia and Bulgaria, they use the Cyrillic alphabet, rather than the Latin alphabet that English and Romance languages are based on.  On the bus to Skopje, Henning was kind enough to let me use his book that had the Cyrillic alphabet, so I memorized the letters.  And I was surprised to see, that even though I don't speak Macedonian or Bulgarian, some of the words are still very similar to English once you get past the 'weird' letters. However, it still takes me forever to sound out a word.  Me in the restaurant: "ha..ham...ham..burger. Hamburger!!  Ok, just one second... co..co..coca..coca cola!"  The waiters were never very amused.

Sofia

   Anyways, from Kosovo, I took the bus back into Macedonia to catch the bus to Sofia, Bulgaria.  I got dropped off at the bus station around 9 pm and hopped on the tram toward my hostel.  All seemed to be okay until I realized there was no one else on the tram and the driver came back and started yelling at me in Bulgarian, said something that resembled 'garage,' then threw me off the tram.  I decided I hated Bulgaria as I found myself in a dark, cold alley with all my things, no map, and no idea where I was or where I needed to go.  I wandered a bit until I found an intersection and just stood there for about twenty minutes waiting for a taxi since I didn't even know which direction to start walking.  And of course, the driver didn't know where the hostel was... Well, eventually we made it there, and the next morning after a good rest, I decided I didn't hate Bulgaria anymore.  Sofia is roughly the size of Indianapolis, but everything is close together so you can walk from end to end of the city in about an hour.  There I met Daniel from Valparaiso, IN (the hometown next to mine.. small world, huh?), and we spent a few days trying to find the perfect Bulgarian kebab and exploring the city (once again, not to much to see in Sofia... it seems to be a recurring theme).  And then, my solo journey came to an end as I left for Turkey to meet up with my mother.  I had sort of mixed emotions about ending my trip.. part of me was ready to see someone I knew, but part of me is really going to miss being on my own and having to fend for myself.  Now I know though that the travel bug has bitten me, and I'll just have to start planning for my next trip :)