Friday, 18 January 2008
CURIOSODADES
Vou comecar agora a postar sobre curiosidades e fatos interessantes aqui de Belgrado, e dos outros lugares que visitei. Minutinho que o 1o. post jah vem ;)
Saturday, 12 January 2008
+ 6 days in Beograd :))))))))
10 graus e solzinho em Belgrado. Tem sido assim nos ultimos 6-7 dias. Sinto falta da neve, mas sol com friozinho de leve eh o que ha!
E consegui, depois de alguns instantes de tensao, remarcar minha volta a Alemanha e esticar uns diazinhos aqui em Belgrado: eu ia embora amanha, e agora soh me vou pra Alemanha dia 21. Uhuuuuuu :)))))))))))
10 degrees and sun in Belgrade. It's been like this for the past 6-7 days. I miss the snow, but sunny-cold days are just great too!
And, after several minutes of tension, I made it to postpone my coming back to Germany and stay a few days more here in Belgrade: I was gonna leave tomorrow, and now I'm only back to Germany on the 21st. Yay :)))))))))))
And the good news? By the end of june/early july, there's more Balkan Spedicija for me \o/
E consegui, depois de alguns instantes de tensao, remarcar minha volta a Alemanha e esticar uns diazinhos aqui em Belgrado: eu ia embora amanha, e agora soh me vou pra Alemanha dia 21. Uhuuuuuu :)))))))))))
10 degrees and sun in Belgrade. It's been like this for the past 6-7 days. I miss the snow, but sunny-cold days are just great too!
And, after several minutes of tension, I made it to postpone my coming back to Germany and stay a few days more here in Belgrade: I was gonna leave tomorrow, and now I'm only back to Germany on the 21st. Yay :)))))))))))
E a boa noticia? No final de junho/inicio de julho, tem mais Balkan Spedicija pra mim \o/
Quem vem comigo da proxima vez?
And the good news? By the end of june/early july, there's more Balkan Spedicija for me \o/
Who's coming with me next time?
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
...e a Teta encheu a cara...
Haha, como o Kostov vivia me dizendo que iria acontecer, aconteceu: os Balkans fizeram eu me render ao alcool. Sim, sim: Teta, que nunca, nunca bebe sequer uma gotinhazinha de alcool, agora bebe. Muitas goticulas, hehehe.
O Pai do Kostov eh o culpado - ficou lah, me seduzindo em russo (ele soh falava em russo ou ingles com a gente, haha), dizendo "chut-chut, chut-chut" (significa "soh um pouquinho, soh um pouquinho", em russo) e pah: bebi vinho no Natal, bolas.
De volta pra Belgrado, a coisa foi ficando intensa: no primeiro dia de kafana com a Fecula, o Rodrigo em Belgrado, eu fiquei consideravelmente altinha, haha. E no ano novo, a coisa desandou bonito: entornei, sozinha, uma garrafa inteira de vinho, bebendo no gargalo, hahahaha. Fiquei torta como nunca. A unica coisa que me lembro bem dessa noite eh de mim e do Tomica, 6 da manha, parados no meio de um cruzamento vaziiiiio, debaixo de neve pesada, rindo feito dois pamonhas de nada e esperando por um taxi que nao veio, hahahahahahaha. Lembro tambem da minha odisseia pra subir a ladeira coberta por 20 cm de neve, as 7 da manha, sem escorregar, hehehe.
Depois disso a coisa ficou frenetica, vinho todo dia, soh pra constar. E o segundo porre fenomenal foi no ultimo dia de Kafana antes da Fecula e do Rodrigo irem embora: litro e meio de vinho, kolo, acordeon, Titos rodopiando na parede, festa de rock, casacos perdidos, hamburguer as 4 e meia da matina, cartazes (lindamente) vandalizados pela Fequinho com neve, crises de riso e festa no albergue, ateh de manha. E eh claro, uma dor de cabeca filadaputa dia seguinte, olheiras, cara amassada e por aih vai.
E o pior? Eh que eh bom, hahahaha.
Amo muito tudo isso.
O Pai do Kostov eh o culpado - ficou lah, me seduzindo em russo (ele soh falava em russo ou ingles com a gente, haha), dizendo "chut-chut, chut-chut" (significa "soh um pouquinho, soh um pouquinho", em russo) e pah: bebi vinho no Natal, bolas.
De volta pra Belgrado, a coisa foi ficando intensa: no primeiro dia de kafana com a Fecula, o Rodrigo em Belgrado, eu fiquei consideravelmente altinha, haha. E no ano novo, a coisa desandou bonito: entornei, sozinha, uma garrafa inteira de vinho, bebendo no gargalo, hahahaha. Fiquei torta como nunca. A unica coisa que me lembro bem dessa noite eh de mim e do Tomica, 6 da manha, parados no meio de um cruzamento vaziiiiio, debaixo de neve pesada, rindo feito dois pamonhas de nada e esperando por um taxi que nao veio, hahahahahahaha. Lembro tambem da minha odisseia pra subir a ladeira coberta por 20 cm de neve, as 7 da manha, sem escorregar, hehehe.
Depois disso a coisa ficou frenetica, vinho todo dia, soh pra constar. E o segundo porre fenomenal foi no ultimo dia de Kafana antes da Fecula e do Rodrigo irem embora: litro e meio de vinho, kolo, acordeon, Titos rodopiando na parede, festa de rock, casacos perdidos, hamburguer as 4 e meia da matina, cartazes (lindamente) vandalizados pela Fequinho com neve, crises de riso e festa no albergue, ateh de manha. E eh claro, uma dor de cabeca filadaputa dia seguinte, olheiras, cara amassada e por aih vai.
E o pior? Eh que eh bom, hahahaha.
Amo muito tudo isso.
Friday, 4 January 2008
Belgrade photo tour :)
Fotos da ultima semana, quando a Fecula e o Rodrigo chegaram aqui em Belgrado
Photos of the last week, when Fecula and Rodrigo arrived here in Belgrade
Photos of the last week, when Fecula and Rodrigo arrived here in Belgrade
Nossa primeira caminhada pela cidade com a Fecula e o Rodrigo, assim que eles chegaram. Ao fundo voces (quase) podem ver a cupula de St. Sava, coberta de neve
Our first walk around town with Fecula and Rodrigo, when they arrived. On the background you can (almost) see the dome of St. Sava, covered in snow
Karadjordjev Park, que fica logo ao lado da St. Sava
Karadjordjev Park, right beside St. Sava
Karadjordjev Park, right beside St. Sava
St. Sava, finalmente!St. Sava, finally!
Ok, voces jah conhecem essa, mas como eu gosto muito, lah vai denovo. Estavamos brincando no parquinho, em frente a St. Sava :)
Ok, you've probably already seen this one, but as I like it a lot, here it is again. We were playing in the park, right before St. Sava :)
Lah vamos nos, entrando em St. Sava. Nao sei se a foto faz jus ao tamanho desse templo "ao vivo"... Parece ateh pequeno olhando agora, comparando com a visao dele ao vivo.There we go, getting into St. Sava. I don't know if the photo make justice to the "real" size of this temple... It looks kinda small in the picture, if compared to it's "live" view.
Interior de St. Sava - nao sei se voces sabem, mas St. Sava - que comecou a ser contruida no iniciozinho do seculo XX - nunca chegou nem perto de ser terminada. Devido as guerras mundiais e, mais tarde, ao regime de Tito, sua construcao foi interrompida por decadas e decadas. Visitando o templo durante o dia, a gente pode ver os artesaos trabalhando non-stop nas esculturas de pedra...Inside St. Sava - I don't know if you know it, but St. Sava - that started being built in the early 20th century - was never even close to be finished. Due to the world wars and, later, to Tito's regime, it's construction was interrupted for decades and decades. If you visit the temple during the day, you can see people working non-stop on the stone sculptures...
Essa eh a capela que fica ao lado de St. Sava. Eh pequenininha, mas estah completamente terminada ha tempos jah. E as iluminuras em estilo bizantino foram feitas por artesaos russos - nao tem 1 pedacinho de parede ou teto que nao seja pintado :)
Mais pinturas no interior da capela...
Fequinho encoxando o monumento da Praca da Republika, hahahaha
Ps.: esse monumento, essa praca em geral, eh o ponto de encontro mor de Belgrado.
Fequinho "humping" the monument at the Republik Square, hahahaha
Ps.: this monument, the whole square, is the_meeting_point in Belgrade.
Ps.: esse monumento, essa praca em geral, eh o ponto de encontro mor de Belgrado.
Fequinho "humping" the monument at the Republik Square, hahahaha
Ps.: this monument, the whole square, is the_meeting_point in Belgrade.
A ciganada tocando na rua. Depois vou dar upload no video que fizemos disso e postar aqui - foram os piores metais que jah vi ciganos tocando por aqui, hahahaha
A bunch of gypsies playing on the street. Later I'll upload a video I recorded on that day and post it here - those were the worse played metals I've ever heard around here, hahahaha
A bunch of gypsies playing on the street. Later I'll upload a video I recorded on that day and post it here - those were the worse played metals I've ever heard around here, hahahaha
Knez Mihailova, uma das ruas mais famosas de Belgrado :)Knez Mihailova, one of the most famous streets in Belgrade :)
Chegando em KalemegdanGetting to Kalemegdan
Kalemegdan
Peculinho :)
Voces nao tem ideia de como eu sempre quis ver esse lugar, e especialmente assim, forrado de neve. Exatamente como na foto do topo desse blog :)))))You have no idea of how much I always wanted to see this place, and specially like this, covered in snow. Just like in the picture on the header of this blog :)))))
Ahh, eu e o meu fraco por cidades com rios...Ohh, me and my weekness for cities with rivers...
No parquinho
In the kid's park
In the kid's park
Encoxando em KalemegdanHumping in Kalemegdan
"Te porro!"
Haha, estamos parecendo criancinhas nessa fotoHaha, we look like such kids in this photo
Papai Noel marrentao na sessao de bebidas do mercado. Soh em Belgrado...
Tough Santa Klaus in the drink section of the market. Only in Belgrade...
...
Tough Santa Klaus in the drink section of the market. Only in Belgrade...
...
Neve!
Snow!
Snow!
Eu e Fecu, de madrugada, abobadas na neve. Chorar de rir abaixo de zero nao eh legal nao. O rosto fica congelado, hahaha
Me and Fecu, laaaate at night, being silly in the snow. Laughing til you cry when it's below zero it's not cool. Your face gets freezing, hahaha
Me and Fecu, laaaate at night, being silly in the snow. Laughing til you cry when it's below zero it's not cool. Your face gets freezing, hahaha
E o boneco de neve mais hediondo de todos os tempos: "Coco Noel"
And the most hideous snow man of all times: "Coco Noel" (something like "Crappy Klaus", in portuguese)
Конец!
And the most hideous snow man of all times: "Coco Noel" (something like "Crappy Klaus", in portuguese)
Конец!
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Balkan Expedition - part II
There were so, but sooooo many guiches in the bus station, that I got a bit confused. I decided then to go to the "Information" desk (yes, "information" in english, written exactly like this), and ask for some help. "Speak english?", I asked. The woman on the information desk made me a sick face and said a dry "Ne". Bastard. I gave up asking for help and started roaming around the bus station, passing guiche by guiche, trying to find "Varna" written in cyrillic. After several minutes I finally came across "Варна" written in one of the guiches and bought two tickets, for 26 Leva (something around US$ 20 dollars), departuring at 9 am. We had something like and hour and 20 minutes til then.
With the tickets in hands and some spare time, Nara and I decided that it was time to call Kostovinski e tell him at what time we would be arriving in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station when we arrive. From Sofia to Varna it's a 7 hours trip, which meant we would be arriving there around 4 in the afternoon. We went to a public telephone and tried to call, but somehow it wasn't working, at all! We tried all the possible codes to make the phone call, exactly like Kosta told us to do, but it simply wasn't working! When I was on my 10th try, Nara suddenly held my arm strongly, with a scared look on her face and said "Teta... Bad news..."
I was breathless for a second. "What is it Nara??", I asked. She said "It's 2 minutes to 9 o clock".
I said "So what?!" but then, immediately I realised: fuck!!! Bulgaria is one hour ahead of Serbia, and I completely forgot to set my mobile clock to the right time!!! That meant we had exactly 2 minutes to get to our platform and get into our bus! We got all our things and bags as fast as we could, coats and everything, and ran as fast as possible to the platform number 8. But alas: even though we were officially a minute before the departure time, our bus to Varna wasn't there. Get the picture: Nara and I, standing on the empty platform, disappointed faces on, with our coats wrongly buttoned up and scarfs badly tied, holding our baggage in the clumsiest way possible, with heavy snow falling over our heads. I wish somebody would have taken a photo of that moment. Even my gloves were not correctly on, I was probably looking like Monty Python's Dr. Gumby or something similar.
With the tickets in hands and some spare time, Nara and I decided that it was time to call Kostovinski e tell him at what time we would be arriving in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station when we arrive. From Sofia to Varna it's a 7 hours trip, which meant we would be arriving there around 4 in the afternoon. We went to a public telephone and tried to call, but somehow it wasn't working, at all! We tried all the possible codes to make the phone call, exactly like Kosta told us to do, but it simply wasn't working! When I was on my 10th try, Nara suddenly held my arm strongly, with a scared look on her face and said "Teta... Bad news..."
I was breathless for a second. "What is it Nara??", I asked. She said "It's 2 minutes to 9 o clock".
I said "So what?!" but then, immediately I realised: fuck!!! Bulgaria is one hour ahead of Serbia, and I completely forgot to set my mobile clock to the right time!!! That meant we had exactly 2 minutes to get to our platform and get into our bus! We got all our things and bags as fast as we could, coats and everything, and ran as fast as possible to the platform number 8. But alas: even though we were officially a minute before the departure time, our bus to Varna wasn't there. Get the picture: Nara and I, standing on the empty platform, disappointed faces on, with our coats wrongly buttoned up and scarfs badly tied, holding our baggage in the clumsiest way possible, with heavy snow falling over our heads. I wish somebody would have taken a photo of that moment. Even my gloves were not correctly on, I was probably looking like Monty Python's Dr. Gumby or something similar.
Then we thought that perhaps the bus was late or something. But no. We waited for 15 minutes and nothing came, at all. So we went inside the station again as outside was far too snowy and muddy for us, and started the expedition to find another guiche selling tickets to Varna - cause that one where we bought our "lost" tickets had only one daily bus to Varna.
After 20 minutes having to put up with people making sick faces at me when I had to switch from my shitty russian speaking to english (after all, my russian is far, faaar away from being enough for such things and even so, bulgarian is quite different), I finally made it to find another guiche selling tickets to Varna - the next one departuring at 10:30 in the morning. We had almost one hour til then, this time with clocks correctly set to the right time, hehe.
We went to the second floor of the station to try and find a functioning public telephone. We were excited as never when we saw a shop with a huuuge display saying "internet and international phone calls". But as it was too good to be true, of course it was closed and nobody could tell us when it would be opened.
When it was 10:10 we ran to the platform and to our happyness, this time our bus was there: bright and shinny, waiting for us! Now, this bus was waaaaay better and modern, comparing to the one that took us from Belgrade to Nis - and we had plenty of space to place our legs! If there's one thing that drives me crazy is not having space enough for the legs inside buses.
But well, there we were: sitting (almost) comfortable inside the warm, cozy bus, heading from the Bulgarian capital to Varna, on the other side of the country, as you can see in the map below:
After 20 minutes having to put up with people making sick faces at me when I had to switch from my shitty russian speaking to english (after all, my russian is far, faaar away from being enough for such things and even so, bulgarian is quite different), I finally made it to find another guiche selling tickets to Varna - the next one departuring at 10:30 in the morning. We had almost one hour til then, this time with clocks correctly set to the right time, hehe.
We went to the second floor of the station to try and find a functioning public telephone. We were excited as never when we saw a shop with a huuuge display saying "internet and international phone calls". But as it was too good to be true, of course it was closed and nobody could tell us when it would be opened.
When it was 10:10 we ran to the platform and to our happyness, this time our bus was there: bright and shinny, waiting for us! Now, this bus was waaaaay better and modern, comparing to the one that took us from Belgrade to Nis - and we had plenty of space to place our legs! If there's one thing that drives me crazy is not having space enough for the legs inside buses.
But well, there we were: sitting (almost) comfortable inside the warm, cozy bus, heading from the Bulgarian capital to Varna, on the other side of the country, as you can see in the map below:
(Click on the map to enlarge)
During the trip - between the several stops the bus made, admiring the beautiful and white balkan landscape and taking some short naps - I was trying to call Kosta from my serbian mobile phone. After trying tones of times, I realised I wasn't managing to call him because I had run out of credits - damnit! Now our only chance to talk to him was to wait for him to call us. Hoping that he would realise that I didn't have credits (and then, call me) made me aprehensive all the rest of the trip.
When it was around half past four in the afternoon, my mobile finally ringed and yes, it was Kosta himself calling us!!
K - Tchetche!
M - Kostinho!
K - Heeeeeeeeeeeey!
M - Heeeeeeeeeey!
K - Bonitchinhas!
M - Saudades, "Julinho"!
K - How are you doing? How's the trip?
M - Just great!
K - I'm so glad you're coming! My whole family is already waiting for you two!
M - And we just can't wait to meet all your people! The view from the bus is so amazing!
K - And at what time are you arriving, after all? Where exactly are you now?
When it was around half past four in the afternoon, my mobile finally ringed and yes, it was Kosta himself calling us!!
K - Tchetche!
M - Kostinho!
K - Heeeeeeeeeeeey!
M - Heeeeeeeeeey!
K - Bonitchinhas!
M - Saudades, "Julinho"!
K - How are you doing? How's the trip?
M - Just great!
K - I'm so glad you're coming! My whole family is already waiting for you two!
M - And we just can't wait to meet all your people! The view from the bus is so amazing!
K - And at what time are you arriving, after all? Where exactly are you now?
When I was about to answer, the phonecall was suddenly interrupted.
I was swearing all the dirty words I could remember (in portuguese, of course), and so mad I felt like destroying my mobile. Again we were hoping he would call back at anytime soon. But he didn't: instead he sent me a message, asking me to call him as soon as we were in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station. Fuck again!!!
I was swearing all the dirty words I could remember (in portuguese, of course), and so mad I felt like destroying my mobile. Again we were hoping he would call back at anytime soon. But he didn't: instead he sent me a message, asking me to call him as soon as we were in Varna, so he could pick us up at the station. Fuck again!!!
At this time of the trip, the sky was already getting pretty dark - winter days are soooo short... The bus' lights soon were very low, almost off, and then Nara and I, tired and exhausted, fell asleep. That was when the real adventure started.
I woke up all of a sudden, like if somebody had called my name or something like that, but no. Nara was asleep in the seat next to mine and, to my surprise (and later, to my despair) the bus - that was pretty full when we left Sofia - was now almost completely empty: beside us two, only a young bulgarian couple were still there with us. One of the two bus drivers (obviously the one that wasn't driving at that moment) came to us and started asking a lot of things in Bulgarian. I had to concentrante and pay huuuge attention to what he was asking, and I understood that he wanted to know where were we going to. "Varna", I replied.
The guy turned completely white, opened his eyes wide, asking me back "Varna? Varna??? Oj Boze, Boze!!". He started walking from side to side and talking to himself, very nervously. I was so, but so in shock I couldn't say a word. I looked at Nara, and for the look on her face I could see that, like me, she had just realised what had happened: we missed our stop in Varna and we were now heading to some other city.
I turned to Nara and asked "What are we gonna do now?!" and she replyed "I don't know, I have no idea...". At this moment, the guy was talking to that couple that was still in the bus with us, and the girl stood up from her seat and came to us, followed by him. When she got closer, I explained her (in english, of course) that we were going to Varna and before I could finish my sentence, she said "Hey, Varna was 80 kilometers ago. The next and last stop is still 30 kilometers away, in Shabla".
The guy turned completely white, opened his eyes wide, asking me back "Varna? Varna??? Oj Boze, Boze!!". He started walking from side to side and talking to himself, very nervously. I was so, but so in shock I couldn't say a word. I looked at Nara, and for the look on her face I could see that, like me, she had just realised what had happened: we missed our stop in Varna and we were now heading to some other city.
I turned to Nara and asked "What are we gonna do now?!" and she replyed "I don't know, I have no idea...". At this moment, the guy was talking to that couple that was still in the bus with us, and the girl stood up from her seat and came to us, followed by him. When she got closer, I explained her (in english, of course) that we were going to Varna and before I could finish my sentence, she said "Hey, Varna was 80 kilometers ago. The next and last stop is still 30 kilometers away, in Shabla".
Shabla. Sha-bla. S h a b l a . . .
I asked her if she knew of a bus from Shabla to Varna still on that day, she said "Only tomorrow morning, at 5 am".
Fantastic. We were supposed to spend Christmas eve with Kosta and his family and now we were heading to heaven knew where, and without being able to reach Kosta on his phone number. Could it get any worse?
After a while, the bus finally stopped. The couple went out, and Nara and I were even more desperate then before. Nara went to the bus driver and started trying every language she could, haha. When she realised that she would have to speak bulgarian, she freaked out and her eyes were almost crying. The bus driver was SO nervous with the whole situation that he hit her on her shoulder rather strongly, twice, and said something in bulgarian that, in that context, it could be only "Wait, wait and stay calm!".
He went off the bus, and started walking in the icy, melted snow, looking down and smoking heavly. We went off the bus too, and looked around.
Have any of you guys ever watched "Priscilla, the Queen of the Desert"? Do you remember the cities they would have to go to, during the film, that were nothing more than a square, a church, and 24 hour bar? So, that was Shabla. The only difference is that it was covered in mud, snow and dry, leaf-less pine trees. But then, something came out to our view, like a light in the end of the tunel: a big display saying "Internet and international phone calls".
Nara quickly took her purse and went to the bus driver, asking him to wait a bit that she was going to make a phone call. Heaven knows how, he got the "phone call" part of her speech, and asked her to wait. He took his mobile phone on his hand, and gave it to Nara, so we could call from it! I ran inside the bus and took my notebook with the phone numbers, and the bus driver dialled for us. We waited several seconds, and it didn't work. He dialled again, and again no answer. When we were about to start freaking out again, his mobile phone ringed - it could only be Kostov calling back - and this time, it really was!!! The bus driver passed me his mobile and hearing Kostovinski again was a relief:
He went off the bus, and started walking in the icy, melted snow, looking down and smoking heavly. We went off the bus too, and looked around.
Have any of you guys ever watched "Priscilla, the Queen of the Desert"? Do you remember the cities they would have to go to, during the film, that were nothing more than a square, a church, and 24 hour bar? So, that was Shabla. The only difference is that it was covered in mud, snow and dry, leaf-less pine trees. But then, something came out to our view, like a light in the end of the tunel: a big display saying "Internet and international phone calls".
Nara quickly took her purse and went to the bus driver, asking him to wait a bit that she was going to make a phone call. Heaven knows how, he got the "phone call" part of her speech, and asked her to wait. He took his mobile phone on his hand, and gave it to Nara, so we could call from it! I ran inside the bus and took my notebook with the phone numbers, and the bus driver dialled for us. We waited several seconds, and it didn't work. He dialled again, and again no answer. When we were about to start freaking out again, his mobile phone ringed - it could only be Kostov calling back - and this time, it really was!!! The bus driver passed me his mobile and hearing Kostovinski again was a relief:
K - Tete!
M - Kosta!!!
K - What happened? Why you didn't call me back, or messaged me?
M - My serbian mobile phone went out of credits and the german one wasn't working here in Bulgaria...
K - Yeah, I thought so. I tried to call you, but it didn't work. Where are you now, after all?? It's 7 pm, are you close to Varna or?
M - Well, it happens that, hmm, we missed the stop in Varna...
K - You missed Varna?? How come?! It's probably the biggest stop after Sofia! Where are you now???
M - We're at... Ahm... Shabla.
K - You're in fucking Shabla?!?!
M - Yeah...
K - Fuck!
M - Yes, yes, fuck!
K - I can't believe it, oh god
M - I can't believe it either, believe me.
K - Do you know where Shabla is?
M - No?
K - Good for you, then. You're 15 kilometers from the romanian border, Tete...
M - Fu - cking - hell . . .
K - Yes, you get it... Where exactly in Shabla are you now?
I passed the phone to the bus driver, as he would most certainly know where we were better than me. After a minute talking to Kosta, he gave me back his mobile, and Kostov just asked us to wait inside one of the (only) two cafes/bar of the city, that in about 1 and a half or two hours, the most, he would be getting there by car to pick us.
M - Kosta!!!
K - What happened? Why you didn't call me back, or messaged me?
M - My serbian mobile phone went out of credits and the german one wasn't working here in Bulgaria...
K - Yeah, I thought so. I tried to call you, but it didn't work. Where are you now, after all?? It's 7 pm, are you close to Varna or?
M - Well, it happens that, hmm, we missed the stop in Varna...
K - You missed Varna?? How come?! It's probably the biggest stop after Sofia! Where are you now???
M - We're at... Ahm... Shabla.
K - You're in fucking Shabla?!?!
M - Yeah...
K - Fuck!
M - Yes, yes, fuck!
K - I can't believe it, oh god
M - I can't believe it either, believe me.
K - Do you know where Shabla is?
M - No?
K - Good for you, then. You're 15 kilometers from the romanian border, Tete...
M - Fu - cking - hell . . .
K - Yes, you get it... Where exactly in Shabla are you now?
I passed the phone to the bus driver, as he would most certainly know where we were better than me. After a minute talking to Kosta, he gave me back his mobile, and Kostov just asked us to wait inside one of the (only) two cafes/bar of the city, that in about 1 and a half or two hours, the most, he would be getting there by car to pick us.
R e l i e f. I was so relieved to have talked to him and to know that he would be there to rescue us anytime soon!
Only at this point I could stop and analise the whole trip we were taking (since we left Belgrade til then) and damit, I could help but laughing. I was laughing so loud and hard, I started crying, hahahaha. The whole situation was SO completely surreal: when in my entire life I would imagine that I'd be lost in Bulgaria, almost at the romanian border, with Nara, on a Christmas eve?!
Only at this point I could stop and analise the whole trip we were taking (since we left Belgrade til then) and damit, I could help but laughing. I was laughing so loud and hard, I started crying, hahahaha. The whole situation was SO completely surreal: when in my entire life I would imagine that I'd be lost in Bulgaria, almost at the romanian border, with Nara, on a Christmas eve?!
After crossing the large square from side to side, we finally reached the cafe. When we got in, again I felt like in the movie "Priscilla, the Queen of the Desert": there were only men in the cafe, miner looking ones, with deep drunk look on their faces. Faces those now completely turned to the door, where me and Nara were standing, over-thinking if we should really get in there. I remember myself saying a long "puta que pariu", and Nara confirming and repeating what I had just said "Ehhh, puta que pariu mesmo".
Anyways, we got in and took a table.
(3rd and last part at anytime soon)
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Balkan Expedition - part I
So, on december 24th, half past midnight, Nara and I headed to the Central Bus Station here in Belgrade, to start our loooooong journey to Varna - in the Bulgarian Black Sea coast - to spend christmas with our beloved friend, Kostov, and his family.
We waited the Niš Ekspres bus for about half an hour in the station, side by side with an amazingly beautiful gypsy woman, her small kid, and her husband.
Nara and I got into the bus, took our seats and right away a chubby guy, a Serb, came to us asking (in serbian) if we were bulgarian. I said that no, and his second guess was "Russia". I said "ne" again and then, in english, Nara and I told him we were from Brazil. The reaction was as it always is: everybody gets so excited when we tell we're from Brazil, hahaha. That is, when they believe us, of course. Cause most times people think we're joking.
Anyways, this guy was showing us the gps system of his super modern mobile phone for the first 20 minutes of the bus trip (mobile phones are pretty, pretty important here in Serbia). Thank god after those 20 minutes the guy decided to rest a bit, allowing us rest too. That was when I started sleeping like a stone, and Nara too.
Nara told me that in the middle of the trip she woke up once, and could see the gps guy talking to another one, looking and pointing at her. She was scared, of course: imagine yourselves waking up with too guys looking and pointing at you while speaking in serbian! As soon as the gps guy saw that Nara had just awaken, he said loudly "go back to sleep! go back to sleep! Everything's ok, back to sleep!!" - almost like if he was ordering her to do so, hahaha. She was so sleep, she couldn't help but really getting back to sleep, haha. Thank god I was sleeping far too heavily at that time.
I was suddenly awaken by some guy, from the bus company, speaking very loudly and walking from side to side in the bus, asking the passangers some questions. The gps/mobile guy came to us asking "Sofia? You going to Sofia? You need to change bus, this is Niš! Change the bus to Sofia, this is Niš. Now, now move!!!". Nara and I grabbed our coats and bags and left the bus like if we were being thrown away or something, hahaha. Along with us came a bulgarian girl, and a serbian guy.
So, we were in Niš, the third biggest city in the country (although you could never tell by looking to it's central bus station). It was almost 3 and a half in the morning, snowing, the floor of the trashy, traaaashy station was completely covered in muddly snow and my sleepy self forgot to put the coat on - so yes, I was freezing, hahaha. The guy from the bus company (the one who woke me up with his loud voice in the bus), took us to a room, and asked us to wait a bit. I was so sleepy and confused, I can only remember there was a TV, with the movie "Swordfish" on, with serbian subtitles. Trying to read the subtitles - as the TV volume was far too low to be heard - helped me to feel more and more awaken after a few minutes. So cool, I love trying to read subtitles in cyrillic! After a few minutes in this "rustic" waiting room, the serbian guy came to me and asked me "Speak english?". I said "YES!!!" right away, hahaha - I was so relieved! And the bulgarian girl spoke english too, and quite some serbian as well. He then told us we were waiting for the bus that was gonna take us to Sofia, because that one we were in would go from Niš to another serbian city, which I can't really remember the name now.
We waited for half an hour, until the loud speaking guy from the bus company came in again, asking us to follow him. This time I had my coat and my gloves on, so I didn't mind the wind and the snow at all. As we walked throught the platforms, I couldn't see any bus waiting for us. Perhaps it was yet to arrive?
No, it wasn't. There wasn't any bus. At all. There was a taxi, actually. A red, Yugo (a.k.a. "the worse car ever produced in the world") taxi, probably as old as me, some twenty-some years old. It looked even older, though, believe me. Do you people know what is it like a Yugo??? I believe the picture below to be quite enlighting:
When I saw the so called car, I could only remember the words of Trajan, a romanian guy we met in Cologne, when we told him we were heading to Serbia soon:
"Serbia is an interesting place, you know. Very "rootsy", hehehe". Indeed.
Ok, it's just four of us, I thought. And just til the other bus station. So, Nara, me ad the bulgarian girl took the back seat, and the serbian guy was in the front seat. After some 15 minutes squeezed inside the red Yugo taxi, we started taking the road. On that moment, I realised: there wouldn't be any bus to us - we were actually going to Sofia by car. By Yugo, I mean.
I think Nara and I were just so exhausted that we accepted the whole situation and just relaxed. Or at least we tried to, until everybody in the red Yugo (but us!) started smoking compulsively. Yes, our last drop of confort had just being spilled.
It took us more than 3 hours to get to Sofia. The roads were terrible, we could't barely see anything from the Yugo windows. Passing through the border was pretty fast: it took us some 10 minutes only to show all the documents and get the entrance stamps to Bulgaria (people from Brazil do not need a visa to Bulgaria).
The day was dawning and we were arriving in Sofia, under some pretty heavy snow. I remembered that early on the day we left Serbia, when I spoke to Kostov, he told me he was stucked in the airport in Sofia, on his way back from Thessaloniki to Varna, because the flights were being cancelled one after another due to the bad weather.
When we finally came out from that red Yugo taxi - smelling to cigarette smoke like I've never been before! - we headed to the central bus station, just 50 meters ahead of where the taxi left us.
On the moment we stepped into the bus station, I took a deep, deep breath and smiled: thank god I could read cyrillic script! I mean, thank Marcos and Jelena, my two russian teachers, hahaha. If I had their phone numbers on that noment, I swear I'd have called them both just to thank them for teaching me, hahaha. Everything, literally everything in the central bus station was in cyrillic. Not like in Serbia, where there are lots in latin script too.
Anyways, I told Nara to sit, wait and take care of our bagagge, so I could walk around and look for a guiche selling tickets to Varna. It was december 24, the day of Christmas eve, and we had to be in Varna around late in the afternoon/early in the night. So we had to find a bus leaving from Sofia as soon as possible.
To be continued tomorrow, I desperately need some sleep now.
We waited the Niš Ekspres bus for about half an hour in the station, side by side with an amazingly beautiful gypsy woman, her small kid, and her husband.
Nara and I got into the bus, took our seats and right away a chubby guy, a Serb, came to us asking (in serbian) if we were bulgarian. I said that no, and his second guess was "Russia". I said "ne" again and then, in english, Nara and I told him we were from Brazil. The reaction was as it always is: everybody gets so excited when we tell we're from Brazil, hahaha. That is, when they believe us, of course. Cause most times people think we're joking.
Anyways, this guy was showing us the gps system of his super modern mobile phone for the first 20 minutes of the bus trip (mobile phones are pretty, pretty important here in Serbia). Thank god after those 20 minutes the guy decided to rest a bit, allowing us rest too. That was when I started sleeping like a stone, and Nara too.
Nara told me that in the middle of the trip she woke up once, and could see the gps guy talking to another one, looking and pointing at her. She was scared, of course: imagine yourselves waking up with too guys looking and pointing at you while speaking in serbian! As soon as the gps guy saw that Nara had just awaken, he said loudly "go back to sleep! go back to sleep! Everything's ok, back to sleep!!" - almost like if he was ordering her to do so, hahaha. She was so sleep, she couldn't help but really getting back to sleep, haha. Thank god I was sleeping far too heavily at that time.
I was suddenly awaken by some guy, from the bus company, speaking very loudly and walking from side to side in the bus, asking the passangers some questions. The gps/mobile guy came to us asking "Sofia? You going to Sofia? You need to change bus, this is Niš! Change the bus to Sofia, this is Niš. Now, now move!!!". Nara and I grabbed our coats and bags and left the bus like if we were being thrown away or something, hahaha. Along with us came a bulgarian girl, and a serbian guy.
So, we were in Niš, the third biggest city in the country (although you could never tell by looking to it's central bus station). It was almost 3 and a half in the morning, snowing, the floor of the trashy, traaaashy station was completely covered in muddly snow and my sleepy self forgot to put the coat on - so yes, I was freezing, hahaha. The guy from the bus company (the one who woke me up with his loud voice in the bus), took us to a room, and asked us to wait a bit. I was so sleepy and confused, I can only remember there was a TV, with the movie "Swordfish" on, with serbian subtitles. Trying to read the subtitles - as the TV volume was far too low to be heard - helped me to feel more and more awaken after a few minutes. So cool, I love trying to read subtitles in cyrillic! After a few minutes in this "rustic" waiting room, the serbian guy came to me and asked me "Speak english?". I said "YES!!!" right away, hahaha - I was so relieved! And the bulgarian girl spoke english too, and quite some serbian as well. He then told us we were waiting for the bus that was gonna take us to Sofia, because that one we were in would go from Niš to another serbian city, which I can't really remember the name now.
We waited for half an hour, until the loud speaking guy from the bus company came in again, asking us to follow him. This time I had my coat and my gloves on, so I didn't mind the wind and the snow at all. As we walked throught the platforms, I couldn't see any bus waiting for us. Perhaps it was yet to arrive?
No, it wasn't. There wasn't any bus. At all. There was a taxi, actually. A red, Yugo (a.k.a. "the worse car ever produced in the world") taxi, probably as old as me, some twenty-some years old. It looked even older, though, believe me. Do you people know what is it like a Yugo??? I believe the picture below to be quite enlighting:
When I saw the so called car, I could only remember the words of Trajan, a romanian guy we met in Cologne, when we told him we were heading to Serbia soon:
"Serbia is an interesting place, you know. Very "rootsy", hehehe". Indeed.
Ok, it's just four of us, I thought. And just til the other bus station. So, Nara, me ad the bulgarian girl took the back seat, and the serbian guy was in the front seat. After some 15 minutes squeezed inside the red Yugo taxi, we started taking the road. On that moment, I realised: there wouldn't be any bus to us - we were actually going to Sofia by car. By Yugo, I mean.
I think Nara and I were just so exhausted that we accepted the whole situation and just relaxed. Or at least we tried to, until everybody in the red Yugo (but us!) started smoking compulsively. Yes, our last drop of confort had just being spilled.
It took us more than 3 hours to get to Sofia. The roads were terrible, we could't barely see anything from the Yugo windows. Passing through the border was pretty fast: it took us some 10 minutes only to show all the documents and get the entrance stamps to Bulgaria (people from Brazil do not need a visa to Bulgaria).
The day was dawning and we were arriving in Sofia, under some pretty heavy snow. I remembered that early on the day we left Serbia, when I spoke to Kostov, he told me he was stucked in the airport in Sofia, on his way back from Thessaloniki to Varna, because the flights were being cancelled one after another due to the bad weather.
When we finally came out from that red Yugo taxi - smelling to cigarette smoke like I've never been before! - we headed to the central bus station, just 50 meters ahead of where the taxi left us.
On the moment we stepped into the bus station, I took a deep, deep breath and smiled: thank god I could read cyrillic script! I mean, thank Marcos and Jelena, my two russian teachers, hahaha. If I had their phone numbers on that noment, I swear I'd have called them both just to thank them for teaching me, hahaha. Everything, literally everything in the central bus station was in cyrillic. Not like in Serbia, where there are lots in latin script too.
Anyways, I told Nara to sit, wait and take care of our bagagge, so I could walk around and look for a guiche selling tickets to Varna. It was december 24, the day of Christmas eve, and we had to be in Varna around late in the afternoon/early in the night. So we had to find a bus leaving from Sofia as soon as possible.
To be continued tomorrow, I desperately need some sleep now.
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