On The Move, For Real

Day 557

I was up early and after showering and packing up I went downstairs and took full advantage of the free internet. I got a lot of pictures sorted and entries loaded. Eventually I had the receptionist call me a cab and soon I was at the bus station.

I had been assured that the 1 pm bus would be running today. I was lucky to meet German Hanka while boarding. He studied Balkan languages and proved to be really helpful over the next couple of days.

The scenery from the bus was just spectacular. I would have missed it all had I gotten the night bus, but I don’t think I would have complained. At the border I got a Kosovo stamp, which was pretty cool. Some of the towns we stopped in were so poor and in such disrepair that I was reminded of India. Livestock hung out all over the place and partially bombed buildings had been stripped of anything that didn’t support them. Well, I think that some of them were stripped to the point of collapse.

When the bus got to Pristina I was extremely happy that Hanka was there. The station was empty and the level of English was really low. I had been feeling kinda sick on all the mountain roads so when Hanka got some food at the bus station restaurant I just ordered tea. The people working there spoke a bit of German and Hanka’s Albanian helped us order.

We then got in a cab and had them take us to the one hostel in town. We asked for the dormitory and ended up with us being the only two there. The room was split into two, I think part of it was once a balcony that had been enclosed. This gave us both some privacy. The best part was that there was a tv in the room with a lot of channels. After such a long day all I wanted was a beer, but there wasn’t anywhere to go really, so we just picked up some beers and some snacks at a nearby grocery store.

On the way back to the room we passed the computers where a bunch of Poles from Torun were hanging out. Polish happens to be a language that Hanka understands. The group said hello to us and we both responded. When we got back in the room Hanka told me that one of the Poles had said “you can tell she’s American by the way she say’s hello” in a very condescending manner. I had to charge my ipod on the computer and I went down to do that. When the Poles started chatting to me I apologized for offending them with the way in which I said hello. They looked at each other all thinking that I could speak Polish. They stuck to English and had nothing negative to say around me after that.

Even though the day had just been on a bus I was pretty tired. The only thing on tv was Animal Planet so I watched that until I fell asleep.

Make it Work

Day 556
My alarm went off at 3:30 am. It really hurt. I packed up my bags out in the hallway and walked the short distance to the bus station. It wasn’t far, but it’s always a bit eerie to be out at this time with all the empty streets. Soon I was on a bus headed to Podgorica, I had never heard of it before, but this is the capital of Montenegro.

About 3 hours later I was in Podgorica. There wasn’t a bus to Pristina until 8 pm. I had a very long wait in front of me. There is nothing, and I mean, nothing to do in Podgorica. First I finished my book, then I started to get my blog up to date. I’ve been pretty good about it lately and there just wasn’t all that much to write. I also got my haircut. Every little bit I would move to a different café.

Eventually I had nothing left to read or to write. I wandered for a long time before I found the only internet café in the city. After about 2 hours there the power went out. I still had 3 hours left to kill.

I wandered back to the bus station and sat there trying not to sleep. I was beyond exhausted and I really needed a shower. A night bus was going to be torture, but at least I was tired enough to sleep thru most of it.

About 10 minutes before the bus was meant to leave I went to the desk to grab my things that I had checked all day and to find out what platform my bus would be at as it wasn’t posted. This is when I found out that the bus was canceled, had been all day. I got my money back but I didn’t get an apology or anything, just a stay in a hotel or go to Belgrade, the complete opposite direction.

After throwing a bit of a fit and started walking. I was so beyond tired at this point that I was having real issues carrying my bag and staying calm. The first hotel I came to was way too expensive but the guy working there was really nice and understood my predicament. He called a place that was further out of town but cheaper and then called me a cab. While I waited for the cab I picked up a bottle of wine. I figured I deserved it.

The room was still expensive but I had free fast internet and my own room and bathroom. I called my Mom and chatted for a bit and then called Edward. Eventually I was too tired to go on and simply went to my room and passed out.