Road trip, Balkan Style

One of the great perks about my job is that I am tasked with traveling to the neighboring 5 countries to learn as much as I can out their consumer markets and to coordinate with other international donor assisted agriculture and livestock efforts. So our Thanksgiving holiday had me toasting a shot of rakea with my American co-worker and feasting on an assortment of mixed meats and pickled vegetables in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Our adventure began the day before when he and I rented a Land Rover with international plates (easiest way to get through the 6 border checkpoints) to drive the 9 hours over a half dozen mountain ranges through 3 countries to arrive at one of my favorite cities in the Balkans. The drive was incredible. Normally at this time of year several of the mountain passes would have been snowed in (thus the SUV) but we had sunny skies and a fair wind at our back to speed us right along. Much of the drive was through the breathtakingly beautiful gorges where each turn would reveal another ice blue damned lake or stunning rock mountain face that typically locks in a 6 month winter.

Our first conference had us staying a the Holiday Hotel at the end of the runway where we spent 2 days with about 60 development and regional food processors and producers. My partner and I broke away several times to drive into the city and hit some of the local bars and restaurants and after the conference we actually opted for a boutique hotel in the old part of the city so we might just walk out to explore, shop and experience the entertainment that Kosovo lacks.

Not only did we have some proper meals but we saw the new James Bond and I reconnected with a friend I had met a year back and spent an entire night out with them hitting several clubs and dancing the night away Bosnia style. Since I had been in the city just a year ago not much had changed but it was still nice to be back. The weather was cold and rainy until last Saturday when the skies parted and allowed us a 60 degree day to drive down the center of Bosnia and spend the day near Mostar visiting several farms as well and the historic tourist part of the city.

Mostar was just incredible. One of the most heavily damaged cities during the war since neighbors fought neighbors. Even 11 years later many of the main buildings still lie in disrepair as they argue over ownership rights and try to raise enough money to complete the restoration.

Fortunately, UNESCO came in and helped to rebuild the Mostar bridge and label it a World Heritage site. Since is was off season we were not able to enjoy the performances of the professional dive association that jump the 80 foot distance to the clapping, cheering, and euros from the audience. None the less the local artists peddled their wares and we enjoyed a nice stroll through the historic cobble-stone streets.

After 4 days in Bosnia we drove a foggy 4 hours to a mountain resort town in Serbia to meet up with another conference of mostly Serbia agriculture assistance programs where we spent two days meeting and visiting local cooperatives to see how they are introducing new technologies and producing products to compete on the international markets. Since I arrived a day early to stay in the old communist renovated hotel, I was the only guest for the first night having to order heat specific to my room to stay warm in the cold mountain air. The ironic thing about this ski town is that there in no skiing. The mountain lifts were bombed during the war and haven't ever been rebuilt. But the elite locals still head here in droves from Belgrade to enjoy the fresh air, stroll the little resort village, ice skate, shop from the little kiosks and party like rock stars each night at the dozens of clubs and cafes where they can smoke themselves to death wearing the latest in European fashion.

After three more days of meetings and hotel accommodations, I was ready to return home to lovely Pristina. Since several more of my co-workers had driven up to meet me they carted me back the last 6 hours through a make-shift border crossing (Serbia does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state so it technically won't have a border with it except for the fact that all the KFOR UN troops are stationed there forcing a border with the Serbs). Welcome to the Balkans, baby!!!

Dazzling Dragesh

I had prepared a very detailed account of another weekend adventure which was deleted before I could upload my adventure so this posting will be a modified account of another day trip. And now I realized I also deleted the very cool photos I was about to upload. I guess this entry was never supposed to happen...

Anyway, a crew of 6 of us headed out from Pristina in two typical white NGO SUV's and drove 3 hours to the southern most tip of Kosovo to the mountain region of Dragesh. We had lucked out with a rare (for this time of year) perfectly sunny day and took advantage of the fact that minimal snow has fallen allowing us a final window of opportunity to smell the fresh mountain air and hike into the hills without risk of disappearing in meters of snow. It felt like we were way out there hiking through a very remote village with all the locals staring and waving speaking a language that was closer to Serbian than Albanian. I guess they see a good amount of us internationals and fortunately don't seem to mind our weird outfits, incomprehensible desire to voluntarily walk up a mountain and the need to take photos of them and their houses.

It's amazing how dull the senses can become in a heavily polluted city since I immediately began snorting in the fresh air and the sounds of the babbling brook as if it was the last time. We started up the mountain according to some questionable KFOR maps that quickly proved wrong and left me debating with our self-appointed leader on the best way out of the valley. I volunteered to hike straight out to a ridge that unfolded an incredible valley (with wild horses) and a clear shot up the to the top of a mountain without the need of any trails. The snow had not yet collected on this ridge but left incredible views contrasting snow white with the last remaining green fields of the season.

After an hour up, I parked myself on the side of the 45degree mountainside and had an awesome meditation. Several of my companions insisted to reach the top even though our sunlight was fading while several others had already turned back and one had stopped much earlier for a nice nap. After waiting for an hour and still no sign of the advance crew I grew cold and donned my final layer and began to descend into the valley with enough sunlight to make our way back to the village. The other crew finally descended to a ridge line that left them still 800 meters above the valley floor with almost no light to get down the mountain. Fortunately they came across a convoy of sheep and trudged behind them to emerge from the darkness into the town. Our days adventure was not complete until we stopped off at a mountainside inn to feast on fresh trout and several beers to recap the days adventure. 6 strangers now bonded by another Kosovo experience.

Forward March, About Face, Cut Cake

I guess now I have officially been inducted into the bizarre cross-world where US military meets UN meets civilians. Last weekend I joined several of my American friends (3 ladies) as their escort to the second annual Kosovo Marine Ball. It reminded me a bit of a high school prom in the sense that it was anticipated for awhile since it is one of the rare official social occasions and everyone put on their best dress, uniform, tux (or suit) in my case. Difference being that even with open bar, a majority of the men in uniform could not drink since they are technically on active duty. At least most the firearms were checked at the door at the restaurant which was located out in the countryside with well secured check-points, car bomb inspections and a security detail of about 50 men. Once inside we were still subtly reminded that we were in Kosovo as the power cut off several times momentarily and once seated at the tables we still had to make our way to the bar to get our own drinks instead of relying on the wait staff.

Before the meal could be served we listened to a good half hour of official speeches from various officers and Marines congratulating one another, paying their honor and respects, presenting the flags, singing the National Anthem and most entertaining watching the honor guards carry a huge flag sheet-cake to the end of the room where they officially called out maneuvers to cut the cake with a sword and serve a couple pieces to the highest ranking General and the guest of honor. We did get a good laugh as they introduced the young Marines that were there serving at the American Office of Pristina, all whose birthdays were in the early to mid 80's.

Finally with formalities out of the way we dove into a fairly nice dinner with plenty of gossip going around commenting on some of the outrageous make-up and dress selections from a number of the local women. Eventually, I was able to steal away and hang out with about 6 lovely ladies I know from playing ultimate Frisbee out here. Fortunately, they are all a ton of fun and love to dance. Aside from some questionable DJing, one of the Marines finally grabbed control of the mic and rapped the rest of the night away. All and all, a good night at the Prom...

Halloween in Dracula's Homeland

Rather ironic that I spent Oct 31 in Romania, the birthplace of the mystical Dracula and Transylvania, yet did not see anyone dressed in costume. It also might have to do with the fact that I was in Bucharest at the Intercontinental ordering roomservice and coming off the 'high' I had from popping several 'Dayquils' trying to fight off a cold.

But I digress. Romania rocks. I was attending a week long regional trade conference with mostly USAID development contractors and officers networking, listening to some interesting speeches and attending different work groups. It was a very interesting, multicultural group (12 countries represented) where we seemed to work and play well together. Each evening involved an open bar reception and plenty of finger-food along with those awesome mini chocolate mouses (I averaged 3). I wish I could say these were relaxing events to personalize with all the conference attendees but I was networking my ass off. I had to come away from this event with some serious leads for my project in Kosovo and I'm proud to say of the 100 attendees, I have about 40 key contacts to hopefully make some trade linkages for my farmers back in Kosovo.

This said, we did break out of the networking mold since our last night involved a very nice outing where we were all bused to a traditional Romanian dinner extravaganza which involved flaming platters of meat, Romanian opera singers and violinists strolling among our tables of food or the absolutely stunning ballroom dancers that floated above the dance floor as we moved from Rakia (plum wine) to salad to vegetable to meat to meat to dessert. Your average 4 hour Romanian meal. But I knew it was time to head back to the hotel when many of the very old timers were trying to dance with the any of the attendees that were single (and half their age).




The highlights actually came after the conference when I ventured out of the hotel to stoll the cold Romanian boulevard (10 lanes wide) with a steady mixture of snow and rain coming down. Eastern Europe was hit by the first winter snow storm of the season and the damp coldness alerted me to the fact that I was not prepared for winter and I now remembered why I moved to California. Anyway I was joined by some very nice attendees of the conference to visit the massive Parliament building (People's Palace) which is the 3rd largest building by volume in the world where Ceausescu was to house his entire Communist regime. This place was truly remarkable with more halls, ballrooms, conference centers, churches, offices, apartments than you can imagine. Ironically he was executed before it was finished and he was never able to rule from the empire.






For my last night in Bucharest I found a Serbian partner (Boris above) in crime that I had befriended during the meetings. After a lovely Italian dinner with my USAID officer counterparts, he and I emerging to experience the nightlife, Romanian style. As it turned out, we had to keep going from one bar to the next as a pre-party before we could go to the real club to dance the rest of the night away (they opened at 1). With beers under a dollar, each of the 'bars' filled up quite quickly where most the Romanian men seemed to act like assholes chasing the ladies into their secure, non smiling circles for protection. Finally we antied up a pricey cover charge to experience 'the office' with fantastic lounge and dance music accompanied with live bongos, stunning tall slender Romanian women wearing the latest European fashion (ok, so allot dressed like they were straight out of a Shakiro video) and men who seemed much more laid back and thankfully ranging from late 20's to grandpa in the corner. Unfortunately, I had to call it an early night since I ran out of steam around 3:30. It was a very nice change of pace from rockin Kosovo.

Although the conference had officially ended, I felt compelled to experience at least some of the Romanian countryside before leaving. So I had taken the initiative to speak with some of the locals I had met that week and had planned to train up to Brachov to see the medieval city in Transylvania and castle-hop for an afternoon (mind you is was now 5 below 0 C with 4-6 inches of snow up in the countryside). But as luck would have it my wing man from the night before was already doing the same trip with his boss and one of the local project Directors (American) who owned a mountain cabin which looked out to Dracula's castle. Perfect. I had two days of driving in the beautiful mountains with 3 great guys from the comfort of a heated SUV. Not to mention our 'guide' filled us in on all the local history and took us to the best castles, restaurants and pubs (see for yourself).










His cabin couldn't have been more perfect. Quite small but with all the comforts of home and free! Plenty of good conversation and some great 'war stories' were exchanged among these men who have been doing international development for decades, all over the Balkans and Africa. Very inspiring I must say. For my last day I was actually going to have to train it back early to catch my flight out of Bucharest but since we got off to an earlier start than expected, I was able to add one more fantastic meal in Brachov before we all returned to the city where they dropped me off directly at the terminal. I couldn't have had planned it to ever have worked out so well. And with Romania joining the EU next year, this country will continue to flourish and prove to be an inviting and hospitable place for all tourists (oh, except for the fact that the Romania has some of the worst bank and Internet fraud and therefore all of my credit cards were blocked for my entire stay) and watch out for those cab drivers...