Tripping through the Balkans (pt.4)

It doesn't feel like 2 1/2 weeks, it feels much longer than that; like I lived a quasi life out here. I got my first taste of the Balkans a few years ago via Belgrade, Serbia but till now I thought that it was a Serbian thing. Well, it turns out that it isn't. I always knew that this place was special but I didn't know to what extent. 

I dragged my feet but eventually I made it out of Ohrid with an unexpected stop in the capitol of Macedonia: Skopje. I met the owner of the hostel Nena, a 6'2" broad-shoulder bearded beast of a man and aspiring actor. He gave us a tour of the city and the ridiculous amount of statues that surround the center and then he took us to a local restaurant. We broke bread and then Nena shared his dreams of coming to LA and making it big as an actor, his two daughters, and the other obscure jobs he has. It was late into the night when we began to walk back to the hostel. A tiny car pulled up behind us, I naturally tensed up but it was Nena's other job. He said his goodbye and quickly sped off into the night.

The next morning Andrew hopped on a bus to Thessaloniki and Danny and I took another to Sofia. That was 3 days ago. My time here Bulgaria has been chill but I feel like my mind body and soul know that my time here has come to an end. A few hours ago I had to say goodbye to Danny, a complete stranger I knew nothing about a week ago but now I feel like I gained a Dutch/Chinese brother, along with another French/Serbian and English brother. Can't forget about my Turkish and German/Italian sister that I left bedhind in Ohrid or my other Montenegro brothers Urosh and Danilo, and the crazy Swiss-French Sebastian who I met up with here in Sofia. 

Sofia, you seem like an amazing city but you've caught me at a rocky time. I appreciate your city and its beautiful lasagna layers of culture, architecture and people but I'm feeling a little blue at the moment. But it's Friday night and I'm planning to shake those blues away because something tells me that this isn't goodbye.

Tripping through the Balkans (pt.2)

The distance between Podgorica and Tirana is 130 kilometers, which is roughly 81 miles. Back in LA I can travel this in little over an hour; it's a different story in the Balkans. It took almost 6 hours on bus and all I kept thinking about was this.

I arrived in Tirana 4 days ago and in the course of writing this entry yesterday morning, two exhausted Aussies walked into the hostel and naturally we began to chat. 2 hours went by, we spoke of our travels and I found out why they were so exhausted. It turns out that they had just taken a 24-hour bus ride from Athens to Tirana and as our warm homecooked breakfast - omelets, fresh cheese, peach marmalade and toast - was brought to us, the look on their faces was priceless.

I began to tell them about Tirana and how originally I was going to spend only a night but then I told them how thankful that I didn't. I told them that the city is small, very walkable, nothing really that'll blow your mind; not so quite like 
Podgorica but in the same neighborhood. Having said that, again it all comes down to the people. It doesn't seem like it at first because frankly they're also looking at you in the same manner but the Albanians and Albania is still getting warmed up to tourism, which is why its such a great & exciting time to be here. People are very inviting if you give them a chance and that's what I did and what I'll continue to do.

As I begin to wrap this entry I sit on the top balcony of Sunny Lake Hostel, sipping some warm joe, seeing another beautiful sunrise over the mountains.

The location: Ohrid, Macedonia. The journey to this place involved another bus ride (not so long this time) to podgarec, then hopped on a cab to the Albania-Macedonian border where we literally walked across, and then finally waited for a city bus that took us through the mountains and finally here in the early evening.
 From the little that I've walked I can only use one word to describe this place, mystical: the lake, the mist, the thick green algae on the shore, the strewn and abandoned boats laying side by side, the tall mountains in the back, yeah mystical sounds about right and today I'll get to see the full extent of it. 

I had no idea that this trip was going to bring me through the Balkans but that's the beauty of traveling with a blank boarding pass. God is good and I'm very fortunate to be having these moments, 

God bless!

Tripping through the Balkans (pt.1)

Sleep has been something of an elusive chase as it usually is during these kind of trips. The 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to Istanbul went smooth but things got crazy in Turkey as I only had less than 40 minutes to connect to my gate to Montenegro. If it wasn't for the kind kelp of the Turkish Air transfer desk lady who gave me my seat but also gave me that dreaded look, the one which I've come to know of very well I probably would've slept in the airport that night. She looked at her wrist watch, made a call, heavy Turkish was exchanged and then she said "go, fast!" She took me to the front of the security checkpoint, wished me luck and waived goodbye.

 All that mess seems like such a lifetime ago. 

It's currently morning and I'm sitting inside a living room in Tirana, Albania after spending the last 4 days in Podgorica, Montenegro. When I tell other travelers how long I stayed in PG they give me a strange look "4 days, really?!...in Podgorica?" Yep, 4 days. 

The truth is that nobody should ever stay longer than 1-2 day in Podgorica. There's really nothing to note, nothing that'll have you blowing up your instagram/snapchat other than a few raggedy old dogs, a futuristic looking bridge, and the delicious burgers from Rostilj Perper.
I say this and yet it only took a few human connections to make it a great place to break bread with the locals and find that it takes but a few Beatles and Fleet Foxes jams to relate and enjoy laughs together. 

This is when Urosh and his younger brother Danilo came into my life. 

I cant honestly tell you how i came to meet Urosh. I had already befriended Sebastian, a Crazy Swiss-French who was staying at my hostel. It just so happened to be the eve of Montenegro's 10-zear independence, Sebastian and I were both coming out of Berlin and we somehow caught wind that the next place to be at was District. We never found it but being the loud Swiss-French that he is, Sebastian began to make friends along the way. the next thing I remember is this gentle Sasquatch of a man walking alongside giving us a tour of the city at 3am. We walked so much but it didn't matter, we kept cracking jokes till the sun rose and promised to hang later that night. Hours later I woke explosions and for a second I wasn't quite sure where I was. It slowly came to me as I saw the fireworks overhead 

Sebastian and David came downstairs shortly after, then we headed back to Berlin, where Urosh's younger brother Danilo was DJ.It was a repeat of the night before this time with a bigger crew. we were invited to a friend's apartment in the outskirts of town.

Things got a little dodgy as some of the guys in the group brought out their favorite recreational drug of choice; at one point of the night we were also waiting for a drop? I don't know, it all got kind of cloudy but we ended the night as we hung from the 5th story of an incomplete balcony as the sun rose behind us and the moon set behind the mountains and hills in front. 

Danilo began to strum the guitar and played a few ballots, then we began to walk back to our hostel. Urosh and Danilo took us to eat breakfast and then we said our goodbyes.

Sadly it was to be the first of a string of many goodbyes I've already made on this trip but that's the nature of traveling. You meet people, you get thrown into these crazy, fish out of water situations and you quickly build bonds. Urosh and Danilo, you've made a Mexican brother and you will always have a home in Los Angeles. 

Now to get a home in Los Angeles...