Day 1 – December 22, 2009
It all started in Elbasan the night we were scheduled to leave on a 9 PM bus to Skopje, Macedonia. We were getting everything together to leave, when the power went out in my house. Usually this is something I can just fix by flicking the switch outside, but not this time. The finishing touches of packing, getting the dogs fed and out, collecting the garbage and making sure nothing was forgotten was done in the dark. We walked to the bus station; you have to realize that transportation here in Albania is not as easy as going to a transportation hub with boarding announcements every 5 minutes. There are no posted schedules. There are no central stations and buses going to the north, south, east and west can all leave from different locations. And buses going to other countries? Well you have to catch the guy at the travel agency to then telephone the driver to tell him to come pick you up. Then you are given the phone number of the driver in case they forget. The bus station was empty except for a few guys having coffee at the station café. No information counter, no office for the travel company. Just the hopes that the bus wouldn’t forget us.
After drinking a coffee, it was time for a last bathroom break. The toilets were down stairs, and the women’s side was locked. (Plus you could see right into the toilet area of the women’s – not sure how that works during the day). So I went into the men’s, which was a big open room with urinals and toilets, with no light. Well equipped with my pocketknife, I was prepared for any peeping Toms since there was a wide-open window in the bathroom making for great views. Upon returning to the café and being saved by anti-bacterial spray, the bus still hadn’t arrived and it was after 9:00. Luckily one of my neighbors showed up in the café and gave the other guys a heads up that we were waiting for the bus. No more than 2 minutes later the bus was outside. And we were off.
About 30 minutes out of Elbasan, we stopped for a break. The motion sickness had already kicked in, and as I came out of the bathroom (which was more than unpleasant), I looked into the mirror and there was a creepy old man standing behind me. It was right out of a horror movie, you know the scene. Victim looks into the mirror, opens the mirror/medicine cabinet, closes it, sees killer. Done.
I rushed outside to the bus, and went to run up the stairs, but was abruptly stopped by a black cat running DOWN the stairs. Was I riding Garfield’s party bus? Or was that a sign for things to come?
Back on the road, as soon as we crossed over into Macedonia, the heat on the bus either ceased to work, or the bus converted into a meat locker. We sat in tundra for the next 4-5 hours. You know it’s cold when even the men are bundled up and pacing up and down the aisle looking for some sort of relief. The word ‘miserable’ doesn’t do it justice. At the next rest stop, anyone who wanted to get out had to leap over the legs of the guy who decided it would be a good idea to lay down across the aisle, then pass out in a comatose state. After waiting 10 minutes, Sofie decided she had to use the bathroom, so she took the plunge over sleeping beauty. Unfortunately, after about 5 minutes the bus driver started the engine and we were moving – sans Sofie. I yelled out “Pritë” (wait) but it continued to glide along, grabbing Sofie on the way. Close call.
Towards the end of the ride, the guy working on the bus asked us where we were headed. We showed him the map and our information from our Hostel booking. He took it and then 3 other guys proceeded to analyze it for the next 15 minutes. One of them kept pointing to it saying “Shtëpinë time” (my house). I’m not sure if they had ever seen a map before, or maybe the guy finally remembered where he lives.
When we entered Skopje, Sofie said, “Imagine if they just drop us off on the side of the road?” Well, that is exactly what happened. 4 AM, bitter from the icebox ride, and on a random road in Skopje. We managed to hail a taxi (which happened to be very warm inside), and asked him to take us to City Hostel (remember this name). He spoke Albanian so that was a plus. It didn’t strike us as weird when he stopped down the road to talk to some cabbie friends to ask for directions. We continued along, and the driver stopped a few random civilians asking for directions to “City Hotels”, then drove us along a sidewalk and stopped in front of a motel that wasn’t even close to “City Hostel”. The next 2 people he stopped to ask he yelled out for “Stims hotel”. Stims????? What is that? Where did that come from? How is that even remotely close to “City Hostel”??? At that point it was a given – this guy was taking us for a ride to get some extra cash. And he had no clue where our hostel was. His ploy wasn’t going to work. We told him to take us to the bus/train station, and when we got out we gave him 1 Euro. He laughed and said, “No, 4 Euro”. We then proceeded to have an argument in Albanian, persisting he was getting no more than 2 Euro. Not only did he not take us to where we needed to be, but also the Hostel had specifically told us that a taxi ride should not cost more than 2 Euro. The argument got pretty heated, as he asked, “Do kesh problemi?” (“Do you want a problem?”) At that point Sofie dropped the 2 Euro piece in his hand, and we walked away. Lesson learned: do NOT take the cabs that don’t have writing on the side or don’t have meters in Skopje. It seems that anyone can just throw a sign on the top of their car and pretend to be legit. It seems to be common sense now; perhaps the brain was still thawing at the time. It was however good to see that our Albanian is up to par to have a good heated argument.
So at this point we still needed to get to the hostel, and it was about 5:30 AM. We started walking, trying to follow a map that resembled the hedge maze in the Shining. There was snow on the ground; in between trying to navigate and avoiding falling and cracking my skull open, I saw a green sign in the distance. Could it be? It was a Holiday Inn! Who would of thought I’d be so happy to see it. We went inside and they hooked us up with an honest taxi driver who took us right to City Hostel. After all that, it turned out I had booked the wrong night. After the owner proclaimed, “that was your fault”, he paused for a second than followed it by “but we have another room”. At 6 AM on December 23, it was time to sleep for a few hours.
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