[caption id="attachment_916" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Me in front of Teto&#39;s final resting place"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-916" title="Me and Teto" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07380.jpg?w=300" alt="Me in front of Teto's final resting place" width="300" height="225" />[/caption]

I woke up this morning to find myself once again in Sofia.  Phew.  It's good to be back here.  I've been traveling for the last few days as part of the May 1-6th holiday that we had in Bulgaria.  The thing is also woke up sneezing.  The thought crossed my mind: am I allergic to Sofia? Ha, ha.  Not a chance.  I think that more than likely I am allergic to life.

So I took some medicine and got on with my day.  I have some life administration things to tackle given my travels (laundry, groceries and cleaning) and I've got some classes to prepare for Tuesday.  Nothing like jumping right back into your life after being away.

I had a great time traveling.  Truthfully, I was a little bit nervous about traveling around in the Balkans by bus and by myself.  But I realized that I was never going to see these places if I didn't just do it so I booked hostels for my trip looked up as many bus routes as I could and depended on the kindness of strangers (hostel owners, locals and fellow travelers) for the rest.  And now that I am back, I have to say that the experience was exhilarating and I don't know why I didn't do it before now.  The answer is I think that I was scared.  <!--more-->

[caption id="attachment_917" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Me in Sarajevo"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-917" title="CAE in Sarajevo" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07502.jpg?w=300" alt="Me in Sarajevo" width="300" height="225" />[/caption]

It's not easy to go somewhere without a plan.  And it's hard to know what's feasible when you can't read the bus schedule because it's in another language or you worry about getting lost because you don't have a good map (and the places you want to travel to aren't on google maps).  Also given the complicate history of the region and the countries I traveled to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia, it's hard to always know fact from fiction.  So I did a little research, took along a the guide book Eastern Europe by Lonely Planet and depended on maps produced by local tourist information centers.

All in all, the trip went off without a hitch.  I caught a couple of  buses at the last minute (much to my relief), wish I had stayed in a couple of cities a day or two more (Kotor in Montenegro and Dubrovnik in Croatia) and tried as much local food and beer as I could.  And for the first time in my life, I did exactly what I wanted to.  I walked around a lot, went to plenty of churches and museums, did a little shopping and tons of people watching. Oh, I also tried my Bulgarian out on lots of unsuspecting former-Yugoslavians who for the record don't speak Bulgarian but luckily for me the basics are similar and when I needed to I was able to make myself understood (but I probably should apologise to them because I am sure it was pretty obnoxious).

[caption id="attachment_919" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Me in front of the famous Mostar bridge"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-919" title="CAE in Mostar" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07624.jpg?w=300" alt="Me in front of the famous Mostar bridge" width="300" height="225" />[/caption]

The funny thing is that when I sat down to write this post I wasn't sure that I would be able to really give words to my trip.  In part, I think this was because it was a very personal experience but also because I didn't have someone to process the travel with as it was happening as I have in the past.  I really don't want this to be a list of things that I did or saw or ate because that seems really boring.

Instead I'll talk today about the kindness of strangers.  I think that maybe you notice this more when you're by yourself.  Your interaction with people means something more than it does when you've got friends or family around--at least did for me anyway.  In part you're dependent on these people for food (waiters), for accommodation (hostel owners), for conversation (random people that you meet) and for insight on a country, the people, culture and food (again, random people that you meet). Oh and you're dependent on them to take your picture places as well.  Some of these people you are paying and as such you more or less know what to expect from them but for the other people it's a risk.  You smile say hello and hope that they reciprocate.

What did this mean in practice? Well, I met a group of Dutch students out one night in Sarajavio at a restaurant I went to have dinner in--they asked me to join them and I did.  We had a great time talking.  In Mostar, I started talking to an Irish woman who was also traveling by herself after she asked me to take her photo.  Later we meet for dinner and sat outside in a cafe talking, drinking a beer and people watching.

[caption id="attachment_921" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Me and my tiny tour guide"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-921" title="CAE and tour guide " src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc077501.jpg?w=225" alt="Me and my tiny tour guide" width="225" height="300" />[/caption]

In Kotor, I met a 6 year old who didn't speak any English.  She spoke to me in Serbo-Croatian and I "conversed" with her in Bulgarian.  I was having a coffee by myself when she walked by my table in an outdoor cafe.  She looked at me and I waved.  The second time she walked through the square I said hello and she asked me where my family was.  I think I told her I didn't have one--her eyes got really big and I explained my family lived in the States.  We talked. Well, really she talked at me.  Then she told me she wanted me to meet her mother.  I said okay.  Her mother it turns out works as the attendent in the public bathrooms collecting money from people who need to use the toilet.  She didn't speak English either.  The little girl proceeded to take me all of the old town in Kotor.  She knew it like the back of her hand.  A funny little tour guide.  I bought her an ice cream cone in return.

I met all sorts of interesting people in the hostels I stayed in.  This is by far the best way to travel and to get to meet a group of people who are exploring the same country (or countries) you are.  Lots of the travelers I met knew or had run into people either up or down the coast from me--the web that travelers weave is a complex one and inquiries about fellow travelers regular.

In Ljubljana, the town was beautiful and relaxed.  I went out the first night with a hodge-podge of British travelers.  We all happened to be staying the same hostel.  The Brits hit it off and before I knew it were talking a mile a minute in English--but at times their slang was almost as unrecognizable as when my Spanish friends here speak to each other in their mother tongue.  I couldn't help but laugh at that.

[caption id="attachment_922" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Me in Dubrovnik from the city walls"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-922" title="CAE in Dubrovnik" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc07936.jpg?w=300" alt="Me in Dubrovnik from the city walls" width="300" height="225" />[/caption]

About this point, another American turned up in the bar.  One of the Brits learned that he'd just moved to town and was working at the American embassy.  I went to say hello to him (that what you do to a fellow American--right?) and within 10 minutes was completely turned off by him.  He was the kind of American you dread meeting while traveling or living abroad (and I was embarrassed by him).

He talked about how little their is to do in the city, he was uninterested in learning the local language, he was brash and fairly rude, he made ungrounded assumptions about me (telling me at one point that I am the kind of person he protects America for--something I think that if he actually knew me and how very liberal I am he would not be saying) and the kicker was when he called Bulgaria and Macedonia "shit-holes."  At this point, I excused myself to go to the bathroom, left him standing at the bar and never returned to talk to him.  I guess it's lucky that in nearly the year I've been living in Bulgaria, I've never met another American like this so it made it hard for me to know how to handle the situation.

[caption id="attachment_923" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Me enjoying a coffee in Ljubljana"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-923" title="CAE in Ljubljana" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/dsc08213.jpg?w=225" alt="Me enjoying a coffee in Ljubljana" width="225" height="300" />[/caption]

But one of the nicest things that happened to me while traveling also happened in Ljubljana.  It happened when I was eating dinner at an outdoor cafe that serves fusion Mexican food.  I had walked by at lunch time and the place was packed and everyone was eating what looked like awesome Mexican food and I made a mental note that I was coming back for dinner before hopping on the night train to Belgrade (10+ hours).  I ordered what turned out to be a pretty decent burrito with chicken and spinach--something I haven't eaten in nearly a year--and was sipping a glass of wine while sitting by the river that cuts through the old town and I found myself thinking that I didn't want to go home yet.  I finished my meal and my wine and realized that one of the first things I want to eat when I get back home to Walla Walla, WA is "real"  Mexican food (whatever that is)--hot chips, spicy salsa and runny re-fried beans along side a burrito, tacos or enchiladas.  I ordered a second glass of wine and spent some time watching everyone walk past.  Then I asked for the bill and when the waiter brought it to me he told me that one of my glasses of wine was paid for.  Really? He said that a man at one of the tables did so but that now he'd left.

I paid what was left of my bill and walked back to the hostel to collect my things on the way to train station and thought about the kindness of strangers.

<em>Oh and I should note that all of the photos I've posted today (with the exception of one) were all taken by strangers.  Strangers who I smiled at and asked to take my picture.  Not once did anyone I ask say no or refuse to take my picture even if they didn't speak English.  Amazing really. </em>