trekking through a foreign land

(I wrote this so long ago!  Yikes… I have stories to tell of our journey, but right now we’re in Budapest.  Looks like they’ll have to wait. sorry)

7-31-08

I know, I know… its been a long time since I have written here.  Why is that some may ask?  I don’t exactly have a clear answer… where exactly has the time gone?  The past few weeks have been… relaxing- nothing like the whirlwind trips around the country before, and nothing like our planed travels then next month- more on that later.  

The I’ve been to Skopje twice for the day.  The first time was with Valarie- she took me to the important sights, the Cale (fortress) on a hill overlooking the whole city, the old turkish quarter, and the “Mexican” restaurant Amigos.  The fortress was quite impressive.  Huge thick walls rising more than fifty feet up, dark locked doors barring entrance to what must be underground passage ways throughout the bowels of the former stronghold.  There was, just past a sign saying do not cross, a entryway to these mysterious innards that was unbarred.  Unfortunately, without a flashlight, they would have been impossible to navigate, and so we were forced to turn around.

The turkish quarter, with its windy, narrow streets was intriguing.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many jewelry shops.  Its no exaggeration to guess that 50% of all the shops there were selling gold.  We visited an art gallery in the renovated old turkish bath building.  Tall domed ceilings, and narrow doorways, it was actually a very nice spot for a gallery.  Unfortunately, like the other gallery we saw of Macedonian ceramic in Resin, it was in need of a little renovation.  Clearly the very small donation required for entry was paying for the bored caretaker and not for the material repairs that would have brought the gallery up to par.  But never mind all that, the art work for the most part was good spanning genres from surreal to impressionist,  to abstract and mosaic.

Amigo’s restaurant was what I suppose is to be expected in a country very distant from Mexico.  About half as good as a Mexican dish in Vermont, the enchiladas were without sauce, and the black bean side dish were reconstituted from a dehydrated mush.

I went to Skopje again just the other day by myself to buy train tickets (again more later) and wandered about the center for a while, sitting at cafes reading taking in the sights.  My impression of that city has changed dramatically since I first arrived in the country.  The center is much like the center of many modern european cities.  It doesn’t have the old world charm of most, but considering most of the city (something like 70%) was destroyed in the 1970s by a massive earthquake, you obviously can’t fault anyone.  Outside the center its a depressing site with block style apartment high rises and trash strewn streets, but many cities all over the world are similar (money in the center, less and less as you get farther away).

Last week we shot a movie with 7 kids at the school Valarie works at in Drugovo.  They’d been meeting 3 days a week working on a script (in english) and learning about the different aspects of production.  From what I observed, I think the kids learn a lot from Valarie and in an area that likely would not have been available to them otherwise.  We shot three days last week and now we’re editing the whole thing together.  It will likely be that this is the only result of my taking my professional camera here, but I have long come to terms with that myself.

The days have been peaceful, relaxed and enjoyable.  I was thinking the other day as I read a book in which a character decided to spend the winter in some place and the fall in another.  My immediate reaction was ‘I want to do that, I want to say, this year I’m spending the fall in ____’-  seconds later I realized that I have indeed done just that.  I decided to spend the summer in Macedonia, and I’m damn pleased I did.  

We’re actually gearing up to leave the country for a little balkan trek.  We’re taking a quick trip to Krushevo (where I spent the 5th of July) to celebrate the 2nd of August: a day that marks the Ilinden Uprising against the ottoman empire.  Then on Sunday we’re taking at 18 hour long train ride to Montenegro to the coast.  From there we’ll head to Croatia and then north through Bosnia and loop back.  A few days later we’re going to head north again to Budapest for a few days, come back and then my time here will be up.  

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