breakfast

---

a highlight of the trip has been raki/rakia/rakija etc etc. it is a local brew sometimes also called lion's milk(add water and it becomes white). i especially appreciate it just after my excercise with breakfast. it has been offered mainly by the older, both male and female and they always tell me it is home brewed. very nice but i think with breakfast is a bit much. i also had brandy and a kahlua like drink with breakfast. maybe i'll continue the tradition once home?? something to ponder.

so i left skopje for ohrid, macedonia. it is a great town on a large lake in southern macedonia. i got a room with a view, and raki of course, at a seasonally discounted price. always ask for lower. i had first just walked away from the price that was shouted from the balcony. shortly-15 meters, i decided that was stupid and returned. i went to the room and saw the view. i asked for lower price for a 2-3 day stay and was greeted with OK. i really like this town and should have stayed longer. but as i told a new friend jonas, hindsight is the only 20/20 vision(or hindsight is the only exact science is another version).

from skopje, i took the bus to durres, albania. an ugly industrial city that is too expensive. i was about to give up on even finding a room when i stumbled upon a hotel. they wanted 40 euro. i said i have been staying for 15. wait a minute while i ask the owner. i was told 20 euros is OK but only for the night. i must go tomorrow, so that they can sell the room to more people, it had 3 beds. good for me, i plan to leave this hole tomorrow anyway.

on that bus to vlore, albania i met jonas a german traveler and we decided to room together to save money. so the 15 to 20 euros i have been spending alone is now split. i like this very much. though poor jonas has had to deal with some "aggressive snoring". sorry my friend. neither liked vlore very much despite all the good write-ups and stayed one night. we were trying for a bus to sarande but hopped on one to himare(half-way) instead. it was a good call.

there we found a beachfront hotel and had some nature to hike in and also swam in the sea. we hiked one day about 25,000 steps. in himare, he ran out of albanian leke on sunday. fortunately, i had some, so we started a new currency exchange. i thought i was confused before with all the different currencies, but now i am paying in leke and he is reimbursing me in euros. and of course i am thinking in us dollars too. then we hit upon the best idea. we started trading in gyros (jiros-the pita sandwich). he would pay the room for example in euros and i would be short the euros for payment, so i'd end up owing him a jiro sandwich. it worked amazingly well.

in himare i also started the SHUTTLE BUS HUSTLE dance step. we were told the bus to sarande, our next destination, was at 1000. as we sat on the balcony he noticed a bus, at 0930, for sarande. i ran downstairs and caught the bus at the door to hotel. said we are two and the hotelier came out to help. back upstairs i went and we were on the bus in short order. the next one was yesterday in the rain. we were expecting the bus in 1/2 hour. so we stopped for tea. it had just arrived when we saw the bus. i was out of the seat and on the street before jonas knew what happened. i stopped bus and ran back in to pay while jonas got my umbrella and on the bus. good thing too because i stopped to have some more tea and the driver started to drive off. jonas didn't allow the doors to close and i hauled ass and hopped on.

i owed him a jiro anyway so once back to town i paid up. we have eaten quite a few of these as in the nicer smaller town of himare food was scarce and even in sarande different foods are tough to come by. it is the off season and many places are closed. i have been lucky enough to find a restaurant here that accepts credit cards. so i have had pizza for dinner and leftovers for brekkie for the past two days. i also had a few ouzo's during dinner rather than with breakfast.

sarande has been a dissappointment and i wish to have been in himare and ohrid a bit longer. today i am off to corfu, greece so my fingers are crossed that it lives up to the hype. and also that it doesn't rain which is forecast for today and tomorrow.

---