Destination..... Ohrid, Macedonia!

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After having reached the Skopje bus station, I was immediately approached by various taxi drivers all asking me, "Hey, where are you going?". "I'll take you anywhere you wanna go." They stand outside of the bus station seeking customers left and right. I have never experienced persistent taxi drivers like I had in Skopje. Many of them even offered to drive me to Ohrid. I got price offers from as high as 80 euros to as low as 30 euros. No thanks! The bus will be just fine with a nice little price tag of around 10 euros. "But you can ride in comfort in my nice car," several of them said. "No, it's ok, I wanna experience the local buses since I'm here for the adventure," I replied. One of the more persistent taxi drivers finally asked me to name my price and I simply said, "Free!" He then said, "Ok, no problem!" I politely declined his fake offer and proceeded to buy my bus ticket to Ohrid. Since I had some time to kill, I decided to grab a bit to eat. Of course one of the taxi drivers helped me to locate a place on the other side of the station where I could get some chicken and french fries and even translated my order. While I was sitting down to eat, one of the taxi drivers periodically came around to 'check up on me.' He even asked for a picture with me. Once again I was met with several curious stares from the local people while I ate my food. I think I received several taxi business cards from various drivers. I guess if I ever come back to Skopje, I'll always have someone to call. Even the lady at the fast food restaurant where I ordered my food discreetly handed me a taxi service business card. She said, "Don't worry, this is good service!" I guess everyone is trying to make a living!

Finally, my bus pulled up to the station. I took the 2pm bus, which would arrive in Ohrid around 5:30pm. I took a nice spot at the back of the bus. I met a man sitting nearby who spoke English. He actually lives in Ohrid with his family and I explained that I was traveling around the Balkans and Ohrid was a must see place to visit in my book. He allowed me to use his cell phone to call my host who would be waiting for my arrival in Ohrid!

Once we pulled out of the bus terminal, something caught my eye! I saw an advertisement of the OPRAH WINFREY show in Macedonia! I was actually surprised, but this is OPRAH so I guess I should not have been too surprised! Apparently her show is well known around the world. I took a couple of pictures of the advertisement and prepared myself for the 3 and a half hour journey to Ohrid.

Somewhere in the middle of our bus ride we made a brief rest stop. I saw this one couple getting off the bus. I realized that I had met them back in Pristina. My host introduced me to them just the day before. I remember them mentioning going to Ohrid for a few days, but I did not even realize we were on the same bus until our rest stop. Once they got back on the bus, I walked over to say hello. We chatted for a few minutes and then I returned to my seat.

FINALLY IN OHRID.

When I had arrived, I said goodbye to the man sitting near me and I was met by my host. She was a nice girl who learned English solely from television. She had such a great American accent and used idioms and expressions with ease! I found it quite cute actually. She took me to my studio apartment located on the ground floor of the same building she resided. I was so fortunate to have found her. Normally it's impossible for a foreigner to rent a whole studio apartment for 5 euros a night. Usually the going rate starts at 10euros and goes up from there. Since she knew the apartment owners, who were living abroad, she was able to cop a special deal for me.

I took a nice shower, took a stroll into town with my host and finally returned for a good night's rest!

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