A. and I went to<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pancharevo" target="_blank"> Pancharevo Lake </a>this past weekend. It's a man-made lake right outside of Sofia. It's been really hot this past week so we went in the late afternoon when it was a little cooler.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7405749276/" title="pancharevo lake by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7405749276_6b97cd3c7e_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="pancharevo lake"></a>
It was still sunny and hot but maybe not <em>as</em> hot as it had been. We grabbed beers and then walked along the side of the lake for a little bit and found a place to sit and watch men fish (A.) and the ducks (me). Nothing seemed to be biting in the late afternoon. There was lots of casting, waiting and casting again. We took some bets on who was going to catch a fish but after 30 or more minutes nobody had.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7405742766/" title="fishing and ducks at pancharevo lake by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7085/7405742766_1c2af307e9_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="fishing and ducks at pancharevo lake"></a>
I am not really up on my fish and of course fish in Bulgarian and English don't have the same names but I was surprised to see men walk by with baskets of fish that they had caught earlier in the day. One fish was probably 24 inches long and fat and it was joined the basket by a lot of smaller fish maybe 6-8 inches long. A. said the big one was a bottom feeder and told me the name in Bulgarian but I now I can't remember it.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7405737962/" title="ducks at pancharevo lake by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7104/7405737962_bf8ab7aa20_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="ducks at pancharevo lake"></a>

I was surprised that there was such a big fish in the lake and said so. A. shrugged it off and said that's the difference between a lake and a river. Fair enough, I've never really fished in a lake I'm used to the 6-10" trout that I grew up catching in the Blue Mountains at our family cabin along Mill Creek in Oregon.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7405740382/" title="bold ducks by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7094/7405740382_b83f163a40_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="bold ducks"></a>
While nothing was really happening in terms of fishing, there was some excitement with some ducks. They got really close to us. I wished that I'd had some bread to feed them and they clearly wished the same thing. I said so but A. told me that there are signs up that say don't feed the animals. <em>Oh</em>. I guess neither the ducks nor I speak Bulgarian (or bothered to read the signs).
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7405745250/" title="part of pancharevo lake by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8017/7405745250_18da15ed4e_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="part of pancharevo lake"></a>
My experience from childhood is that ducks really like day old homemade pancakes (you know, American pancakes) or day old crusty French bread but I didn't know that there were going to be ducks at Pancharevo Lake or maybe I would have put some bread slices in my purse--not that I had French bread or pancakes. <em>Too bad</em>. Instead I had to settle for taking some photos.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7405747252/" title="pancharevo lake in the late afternoon by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7100/7405747252_5ff5bfa1a1_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="pancharevo lake in the late afternoon"></a>
After a beer, we walked around some more. I took some photos. Surprise, surprise. Then we had some dinner at a restaurant outside by the lake. The place wasn't fancy but the food was good. I am talking plastic tables, plastic chairs and a tablecloth that has cigarette holes burned into it and the kind of recycled paper napkins that as soon as you touch them begin to disintegrate in your hands. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kebapche" target="_blank">The kebapcheta</a> were hot and tasty and my shopska salad was delicious--what a difference a few weeks makes in terms of the quality and ripeness of the tomatoes and cucumbers.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/7405751716/" title="pancharevo lake is so green by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5333/7405751716_39acc08892_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="pancharevo lake is so green"></a>