A quick note on Bulgaria

So, here we are, in a Bulgarian town which i can't pronounce let alone spell, but having a good time. Bulgaria has been a great experience for us, as we have continued to run into tremendous hospitality. This time, however, it's come from a variety of different Americans.

John and Nancy were kind enough to put us up for three nights. It was a wonderful visit with some great people. We got some much needed R & R, got to hike up a nearby mountain and get a really cool view of the city of Sophia, and then we got to explore the city itself. John and Nancy also exposed us to some other great things in Sophia, including the US Embassy, which was a very unique and interesting experience, some dining at a local microbrewery, and an authentic Bulgarian meal, prepared by their incredibly kind housekeeper, Sladka.

Sad to leave the comfort and warmth of the Sassers, but excited to see what more the road would bring us, we departed Sophia via a short train ride to a town called Karlovo. From there, we rode about 15 km or so to a smaller town called Kalofer, where we connected with a Peace Corps Volunteer named Matt.

Matt works for an NGO in the town (in the tourist info center) that works with the national park that is near the town, as well as deals with tourism in the town. He was very kind to us, and put us up at his place for the night, and showed us around the town a bit. We went to really the only restaurant in town and had some pretty good food (i did have to send my chicken back to get fully cooked, but it was tasty the second time around) and a couple of beers with our host. Got a good rest, and prepared ourselves for a ride through the Balkan Mountian Range, over the Shipka Pass.

The pass was long, 15km or so from the bottom to the top. It took quite a while and i had to stop a couple of times along the way, but we all made it to the top with little problem. Going up, i did see some brave people going down, attached by a tow-strap. They're even crazier than we are.

At the top, we met an older guy who made all three of us look like wusses. He was a Swiss, who had biked from Switzerland all over the continent, almost 6000 km when we met him. He was headed the opposite direction. His bike was loaded down, front and rear bags, a huge bag on the back, and a 10L jug (which was empty when we met him at the top) for water. He shared with us that he had been hit from behind when in the Ukraine. His left knee was certainly missing a chunk. Nice guy, though.

We made it over the pass, the way down taking only a fraction of the time it took to go up, and at least the same distance, and into the town of Gabrovo, where we had planned to meet a couple of Peace Corp Volunteers, who were also going to put us up for the night.

Casey and Lindsey are from Oregon, and work with the local municipality doing a variety of projects, including work with a women's shelter, a local orphanage, and some teaching at the University. Amanda was another volunteer who lives right next door to Casey and Lindsey, and who will be teaching English starting this fall. Amanda was kind enough to take in our bicycles, while Casey and Lindsey took us in and gave us a place to sleep. They were three more great people, with whom we had a very wonderful time.

We got an afternoon start out of Gabrovo, and made the short ride through Veliko Turnovo to a nearby town named Gorna Oryahovitsa. Yeah, say that ten times fast. Say it once, and i'm impressed. Anyways, here we met Melanie, who is kind enough to put us up for two nights, as we explore the tourist town of Veliko Turnovo in the evenings and rest today before a long ride tomorrow to Russe, where we will stop tomorrow. From Russe, it's across the border to Bucharest, Romania.

It's been a pretty and good ride through Bulgaria, and has been wonderful to meet so many young, kind, and ambitous Americans during our travels. It's been a great insight into the Peace Corps, and great to see what motivates these young people, and the difference they can make within their communities.

Hope all are well!

JC

Finally, Pictures!

Yep, you read it right. Finally, you all can get a glimpse of some of my trip, the way i've seen it (or at least the way my Sony has seen parts of it):

My travel mates, Day 1 or 2 after my arrival

Me after two days worth of cramps, getting ready to do some serious mountains on Hvar, an island off the coast of Croatia

The statue of Our Lady of Peace, in Medjugorje, Bosnia. i think it is now my favorite depiction of the Blessed Mother

Greg chillin' over the canyon in Montenegro

Our heads are dry, no matter what kind of shower

Foosball's not for the devil, it's for hoodlums like us

That's all i've got for now. Hope you weren't expecting anything too exciting. You might end up seeing some more from me when i make it back to Prague. Until then, don't hold your breath waiting for pictures.

i'll fill you all in on Sophia later. Hope all is well.
JC

Beautiful Bosnia

Well, we have finally left Bosnia behind, at least i think. And our final days there left us with memories i am sure none of us will ever forget.

We left Sarajevo, to make it to a place called Visoko, where apparently the largest pyramids in the world are. However, there is debate as to whether or not they are really pyramids or if they're just mountains in the shape of pyramids. Only time and digging will tell, i suppose.

We left Visoko, and continued north. Our eventual destination was to be Banja Luka, but it would take us two more days to get there. So we rode, and rode, and rode. Out of Visoko, we did a 120km day, that certainly didn't go as planned.

We got lost. Partly due to a road we couldn't find, partly due to our poor excuse for a map. We had a town point we wanted to stay at (as camping amongst land mines isn't my first choice), but we didn't get there. On the road, towards the end of the day, we found the first person in the area who didn't really like Americans, and we rode on. We eventually came to a place that pointed towards a campground. We figured it safe, and headed towards it.

The old lady there was not friendly at all, didn't speak any English, and wanted to charge us a lot of money for a room with no running water or toilet, despite the fact that there was no one else at the campground. Across the road, some people were just sitting by a small fire and eating, and came over to help us.

It was two families, one from Germany, the other from Bosnia. The wives of each were both Bosnian, and cousins. The Bosnian man was a police officer in the area, who also served in the last war, and the man from Germany was of Albanian decent. He was the one who spoke some English.

After some talking, the police officer told us that the area where they had a small fire and were eating was public land, and that we could sleep there for free if we wanted to. We jumped on it, and spent the evening with the two families. Of course, they had lots of left over food, which they cooked for us and made us eat, and while we did so, the policeman made a campfire for us, found us extra wood, and chopped some stuff for us as well. It was a graced ending to a stressful and frustrating day.

The next morning, as we were preparing to leave, some guys show up at the place where we are at. They start to get a lamb out of their car, put it on a stick, and relight our fire, which was still warm, but far from burning. As we're almost leaving, one of them offers us a beer, and though no one there at that time spoke English, we communicated a small bit.

A beer turned into a beer and a coffee, then two beers, and more people showed up. Turns out, one of the crews from a shoe factory in one of the towns we passed through the day before was having their yearly picnic, where they roast a lamb (and bring one that was recently roasted), eat a ton of food, drink beer, play football, and have a good time. We happened to be at the site, and we were invited to share in the festivities. One of the guys spoke some English, Budo, and we were set. We spent the next four to five hours drinking beer, eating some amazing food, sharing stories, and getting our butts kicked in a Team Bosnia vs. the Dream Team football match. Team Bosnia went up early, but the Dream Team came back with a couple quick goals. After that, Team Bosnia turned up the heat (they had one guy we nicknamed "Ronaldinho" because of his fancy footwork) and was pretty much toying with us as they left victorious, 6-3. The game was called after so many minutes, and all six of us went straight back to the beer (and them their cigarettes as well) and fatty meat. It was a great afternoon.

The picnic got relocated just after the lamb finished roasting, as the weather began to look ominously like rain. We all said our good-byes, and they even invited us to the public shelter area where they were going to continue the festivities, but we took the opportunity to finally get onto the road. 3pm i think was when we finally left camp.

Heavy from the beer and the lamb, i actually had my best day in the mountains. It was a bit more uphill than we anticipated, but much of the nearly 80km we road that day was down, so it wasn't too bad. Of course, the rain came back, but it was slow, without wind, and actually fairly warm outside, so it wasn't nearly as bad as before. The change in signs from the latin alphabet to the cyrillic alphabet, however, once we arrived into the Serbian Republic area of Bosnia, did throw us for a short loop. But we eventually found Banja Luka, and accomodation.

Just kind of relaxed and slept during our night in Banja Luka. The next day, we had tentative plans to explore some of the city before taking a night train to Belgrade. That was, of course, until we met our soon to be friend and personal tour guide, Nikola.

When i came down the stairs with my stuff, the guys had already met him, and were talking with him about his car, which he described as having two motors. He told us some stories about it, how he rally raced with it and street raced with it, and offered to bring it by the hotel to show us, if we were interested. We of course, were. He then offered to drive us to his house to show us, and we took him up on it. The car was pretty sweet, two 16 valve engines, one in the front and one in the back. He showed us how he connected everything, and it was quite impressive. He fired it up, and actually took Greg on quite the ride around the city, some of which he got on video.

While Greg was gone, Fitz and i talked with Nikola's son, Nikica, who is about our age and who not only races cars, but also bicycles. He had with him his mountain bike, which was incredibly light but looked more than capable of taking on the most rugged terrain.

Nikola returned with a dazed Greg, and offered to take us back to the hotel. On the way, he said he would show us around some of the city. He took us to a medical center which is on the top of a hill overlooking a city. He then took us to another overlook, then to another hotel in the city, which is actually owned by the same lady, Maria, who owned the hotel we stayed in. This hotel was along the river, very peaceful, and had a 14 hole miniature golf course. Nikola is friends with the owner, and he hooked us up with a round of putt putt, from which Fitz took home the gold. Afterwards, we had some lunch by the river, and just relaxed and talked some more with our friendly host.

The rains returned, and we left the hotel. Nikola spoke of an overlook on the other side of the city near a WWII monument, that he said was the best in the area. The problem, though, was that it was a three km hike on a road from where you could park your car. Driving up, usually, is not an option. Nikola drove us there, and worked some magic (telling the guard at the parking lot that we were Americans working on a special report), and was able to drive us up to about 500 m or so from the top. We waited a bit for the rain to cease, and walked the rest of the way up the hill. The view was spectacular, and the monument offered a very detailed picture history of the area during WWII.

On the way down, we were fortunate enough to get a very thorough and relatively objective explanation of the most recent war in the area. It was the best personal story i had heard on the issue, and was very informative.

Nikola drove us back to the hotel, after what felt like a day of VIP treatment. We thanked our host, who was to turn 63 the following day, picked up our stuff, and headed towards the train station to make our train. After pleading our case to allow our bikes on, we had to attach them above the seats in the train. We slept a little on the train, but arrived early the next morning in Belgrade, pretty tired. Fortunately, we found a hostel right away, and slept a few hours, before exploring the city.

Belgrade was a large, bustling city, particularly relative to the cities we had recently visited. Larger than probably Banja Luka and Sarajevo combined (Sarajevo really hasn't regained a lot of the population it lost during its seige), it is home of the largest Orthodox Church in the world (started in 1935 and still not anywhere near completed) and an incredibly large castle, which sits right where the Danube and the Sava rivers meet.

After exploring the city for at least half the day, we ended up eating at a less than high quality Italian restaurant. We were just finishing up our meal, prepared to make it an early night and go to bed, when someone walks up from the street and covers up Fitzy's eyes. We were all surprised to see our friend from the day before, on his birthday, with Maria, in Belgrade.

Nikola, of course, had us join him for a birthday drink. We had beers, he and Maria coffee (they were going to drive back to Banja Luka that night), all of which he paid for. The outdoor cafe we stopped at had some musicians, which we got to come to our table and play for us. It was a wonderful conclusion to an exhausting day, and it wasn't without some sentiment that we said good-bye, again, to our last link with Bosnia.

It is a truly wonderful and blessed person who can offer so much hospitality, and expect nothing in return. If there is one thing i have encountered on this trip so far that has simply caught me by surprise, it's the unassuming kindness that we've been shown by complete strangers. We're foreigners, don't know really any of the language, and yet we're treated like family.

And in that same light, Bosnian hospitality, we have found ourselves with an American family in Sophia, Bulgaria. The Sassers, John and Nancy, have been incredibly kind and hospitable to us, letting us stay in their house, hooking us up with incredibly comfortable beds, great food (Nancy's brownies are amazing), and a great place to kind of use as a base to explore Sohpia and the surrounding area (they live on a mountain that overlooks the city, which we will try to climb probably today, since it is clear).

So, yeah, that's the update. It was three days in the making, sorry it is so long. i may actually get a chance to get some pictures up while here at the Sassers, so look for that in the coming days, and as a precursor to that event, here's a video from Fitz's camera of me jumping into the Adriatic (pardon the obscenity):

(How about that tanline, eh? The midsection has definitely shrunk some (i'm down to 87 kg now) and the hair is looking short and poofy. Still don't like heights, though. )

And as usual, check Fitz's and Greg's blogs for more exciting pics and videos. Thanks for holding out this long on this incredibly extensive post. Hope all are well.

JC

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

So, that's the song we have been singing on the trip the last couple of days. Our last two days of riding -- leaving Montenegro and heading into Sarajevo, Bosnia, where we are now -- have been marked by rainy, cold weather, up and down mountains. But it hasn't been all bad.

First, a catch up, as it has been quite some time since i have had time to update this thing. We had a great time in Dubrovnik, and actually ran into some girls from Colorado, one of which i knew from as far back as high school. They were all visiting from Sarajevo, where they were each doing a different internship through DU. Unfortunately, their internships are now all finished, and they all left before we got into town.

It was hard to leave Dubrovnik, not only because we had a good time, but also because it was impossible to find a bike shop with an intertube for our bikes. We left later in the morning, planning to only have to ride about 35-40km to cross the border into Montenegro and get into the next town. The plan was to find a bike shop on the way out, get some tubes, and hit the road.

Well, we found the tubes at a bike/auto shop, but the connection didn't fit either of our pumps very well. We thought it was good enough, and headed on. Perhaps fortunately, Greg got a flat in town, and needed to replace the tube. We soon discovered that we couldn't inflate the new tube fully, and returned to the bike shop to try to get different tubes, which they didn't have.

Six hours, 12 km, and four bike shops later, we ended up with the same tubes, a new pump, and most of the day done. We left Dubrovnik at about 5pm. We camped just on the Croatian side of the border in a vineyard, and finally made it into Montenegro the next day.

After riding most of the day along the coast, we made it to the town of Kotar, which is along the coast of the largest fjord in southern Europe. It was certainly impressive, and we got a view from much higher up as we climbed out of town, and into the mountains behind the town. That night, we camped out in a spot that overlooked a harbor on the other side of the fjord. It was to be one of the many beautiful sights we would see in Montenegro.

The next couple of days consisted of more hills. We made it to a town called Nekšič, where Montenegro's best beer is brewed. We didn't stay long there, just long enough to buy some food and get some directions. The market we visited was just outside of town, and upon our arrival, some neighborhood kids stopped by to chat. They didn't speak much English, but they were very friendly and enjoyed checking out our bikes and gear. They rode their own bikes with us down the road towards town aways, almost sending us off. We left town, and when we finally stopped to camp, we had ridden our first 100 km day.

The goal the next day was a town called Zabjlik, which is a ski town near a national park. The park is home to the second largest canyon in the world, the Tara Canyon. Not as sheer as the Grand Canyon (at least from the outlook we hiked to), it is nonetheless quite impressive. It is 1.3km deep, just a shade under a mile. We spent two nights in Zabjlik, and then headed north towards Bosnia. The road we had planned consisted of crossing a pass 1907 m above sea level (the town we started in was around 1450 m or so), and then going through the hills to a campsite near the border. We crossed the pass and ran into dense fog and wind, and upon arriving into a small town for lunch, we decided to take a different route, one that followed a river, hoping it would be both warmer and less hilly. We were more than happy with what we found.

About a half an hour after leaving the town, the sun finally appeared for the first time all day, drying out our clothes and our spirits. As we continued on the road down towards the river, we discovered that the river had actually been dammed, and that we were riding towards a reservoir. The road was littered with tunnels. Never in my life had i gone through so many tunnels on the same road. There was even one tunnel with an intersection inside!

We reached the reservoir, and continued on towards the dam. We were now riding in the valley, and the views of sheer cliffs, the beautiful blue-green water, and the many more tunnels all lit by the warm sun made this the most beautiful road i have ever been on. We stopped several times to take pictures and videos along the way.

Rejuvenated, we continued on all the way across the Bosnian border, to a town called Foče. Upon arrival, we had little to no clue where to find any accomodation. We stopped at a cafe/bar and asked some young guys, none of whom really spoke any English. They understood our gestures, and one of them hopped into his car and led us to the hotel in town.

After an omlette for breakfast (included in the price of the stay, we found out), we set out on the road to Sarajevo. The rain had already started to fall, but it wasn't falling hard, so we decided just to do it. It was a slow, cold day. We stopped for lunch under a tree, finding at least some temporary relief from the rain. Tired and soaked, we continued on, finally arriving into a dry but cold Sarajevo.

We have three nights left here, and are anxious to explore this exciting city full of modern history and conflict. The apartment we are in is cozy, but nice, and the son of the family has already shown us around the town some, pointing us to good places to eat and drink.

Almost 900km in, i am certainly getting more used to the bike. The problems that arose from the big pothole seem to have been corrected, perhaps by hitting smaller subsequent potholes. All the bikes are holding fast, though the ride through the rain certainly gave them some extra designs. It's hard to believe we are almost a week into August already, and only about three and a half weeks remaining for the tour.

Sorry this was long, hope it wasn't boring. Hello, and good-bye, to all who still are reading...

JC