Monday, 19th of October, 2020.
So I walk. The view is nice and soon enough I face this nice Monastery at the mountain. Later on I would figure that back in the Ottoman Empire, when they wanted to destroy any source of Christianity, the churches were built in the top of the mountains or craved on it, so it would be more difficult to find and destroy them. It does not look that old, though. But it is quite beautiful. I take some photos and keep walking. I am so tired, my shoulders hurt a lot and The Hulk seems heavier than ever.
A few minutes later a man stops. I am walking but still holding my sign, you see. So he is an old man and at first that is all I see. Fool girl! He does not speak English but I was fine with a lift even just until the border. But once I get in the car I realize he is dressed in on of those sweatpants set, with the difference that it is full of gold and shiny stones. What? I think. It is a black sweatpants set, all covered in goldish shiny stamps. But the problem is not just his clothes. OK, sorry, his clothes would not be normally a problem, but, I’ve seen those kind of clothes, quite a few times, in a selected group of people: drug users. I believe they might think it is amusing or something. Anyway, this old man looks at me every one third of a second, up and down starring at me. He could simply be just surprised, yeah he could, but that was not the feeling he was given to me, you know? There was something going on in his mind, like as he was planning something, I do not know. But as you already know, I do not ever ignore my instincts again.
So even that I told myself that I could be mistaken, that maybe he was just a peculiar man, I could not carry on with him. I even try to speak with him in sign languages, as I did with all the other lifts before (and had worked!), but he could not totally understand or make an effort to. He could not tell me his name or where he was going, nothing. It was like he was in another dimension or something. As soon as I see the next town, I ask him to stop. And luckily he does. Little boys around the road seems to know him in somehow. And I do not know if that made me relief or sure that I made the right decision. So I get some water from a small shop and walk own the road to hitchhike again. Who knows, maybe I will manage to get to Seca Reka even today.
It is a cute little town. The “one road in the middle” type. Mountains in both sides of the road, beginning and end (if you can say like that) gives a beautiful look to it.
I do not remain too long in the road. A car stops ahead and I just see that hand shaking in a “come in” sign. I get to them, Emin and Angelina, and they seem super nice. She is in a Medical School in Germany and it is a beautiful girl. They are super young even though they are together for 5 years already. Some more chocolate (Yay!) and soft drinks. Plus even a cold coffee. This new type of Nescafe in cans. I keep it, of course. And later it save me too. I think it is safe to call this part of my journey of All those chocolates and coffees. They are going to Macedonia and will drop me at some point on the road.
That point is called Nova Varos. It is super cold and quite late afternoon already. Not a very good combination for me. I am freezing and not much sure about carry on with my journey. Maybe it is better just make my camp for the night and get myself warm.
I know I probably would be welcome if I had asked around for shelter. People know how cold could be outside at night and I am quite sure they would be friendly with me. But I just decide to ask for a better spot for my tent. Not out at open place but in between some buildings, where I would at least be protected from the wind. Nobody speaks English but we get into an agreement and they let me stay. One of the buildings it is actually a company which will be open early in the morning. Which is fine since I plan to leave very early. The other building is actually a house and they are fine with me staying outside for the night. I confess that deep inside I was hoping they would come later with a blanket or something. Sadly no one came and I almost froze to death that night. Plus I have no good food. Just those three biscuits I got from Albert earlier, the pomegranates from Linda and the chocolate.
I have a terrible night of sleeping. If I even manage to sleep at all. I wake up so many times. And people are all over the place so early morning. Crazy. Besides, I am worry about leaving before the people from the company come over. When I am just finishing my packing to leave, a man walk in. Not bad timing at all!
On the road, I am again almost freezing. For over an hour nobody stops. And what a huge amount of old and poor and damaged cars.
When I finally make my breakfast (the Cappuccino white by Nescafe with oats) and start to eat, an Ambulance car stops. It is not an actual Ambulance car but a SUV made it in an Ambulance. Scr— is going to Belgrade but he can drop me in Pozega, which is in his way, and just a few kilometers from Kosjeric, which is even less kilometers from Seca Reka.
Scr— does not speak English at all but we have a good time together. And it is so nice and warm inside the car. They way to Pozega it is beautiful! Mountains and flat landscape make this area an amazing place to see. Just before Pozega, we have some delicious Burek with yogurt. I could barely finish but it was an amazing moment! A perfect hitchhiking spot it is where Scr— leaves me. This day which started not so good turned out to be great! A full belly person sees the world with much better eyes…
A few minutes later a young man stops. My sign says Kosjeric and he says he is going there. He does understands English quite well even though does not speak much well. We talk and I tell him about the people I am staying, that I need to call them and that they live in Seca Reka. He is also from Seca Reka! And he is going over there just after doing some things in Kosjeric. So we call Angie and arrange everything. In less than one hour I would be arriving in Seca Reca, at the house I will spend my next three weeks.