2nd and 3rd of November, 2021.
Just after the border, I start to hitchhike. My sign it says “Old Orhei”. A truck driver, who cannot speak English, explains to me that from here nobody will go to Old Orhei, so I should actually try to go to Chisinau and from there many people would be leaving in the direction of Old Orhei. I don’t really want to do that, because I know I will have to get out of town, but it seems like the best plan anyway.
While I am writing Chisinau in my sign, the same truck driver, Dinis, calls me from his truck. Without any English, he explains to me he is going to the next town, so he could drop me outside of town, in direction to Chisinau. Great!
In the place where he drops me, I take the time and the sun to dry out my tent. After that I start to hitchhike again. But first, I ask in the house right in front where I am hitchhiking, for some water. The lady is very friendly when she accepts to help me.
Then a lovely couple picks me up. They have a cool and funny company, which make 3D models for advertising. With them, we cross a police barrier and they ask for my passport. I think it is weird so I also check my passport. Surprise! I have entered Moldova from the Odessa border, which leads you to Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic, which is not recognized by Moldovan government. I have a piece of paper, showing that I am only in transit through this area, but to make my entrance in Moldova official, I need to go to a office in Chisinau and do that. What? Yeah! Thank you everybody for telling me that before I came here. NAME searched in his phone and find out the building where I should go. And they drive me there! It takes only a few minutes to arrange everything. After that, I ask for directions to a Mcdonald’s in a Orange Phone Shop, so I could their wi-fi, but the nice attendant tells me I can use theirs! I get directions to out of town and where to camp. I get there when it is already dark, which is good because it is right beside the highway, but this time in a nice place.
I wake up with the sunrise but I allow myself to go back to sleep for one more hour. I still have remains of migraine. And the place where I am it happens to be quite hidden and undesired by anyone apart of me. I think.
I do feel better indeed when I finally get up. But then I notice how wet my sleeping bag is. Shit! And for the first time I notice there is water inside my tent. Merd! I take a deep breath and arrange everything. I go back to a better hitchhiking spot. Is not so good anyway, but I decide to carry on. In a few minutes, a fancy BMW stops.
Sergios say that he will help me. He is going to Orhei, not far from where I am going, Old Orhei. And he drives out of his way for a while just so he could drop me exactly at the entrance of the Monastery I am visiting. He say that, if he can help someone and show them a better country, why not?
I get water from a bathroom beside the hotel which is closed. I leave my backpack with two ladies at the entrance and go to visit the monastery. The view is wonderful and the sun is nice. The church is quite cute and small. Very beautiful too. I walk a little bit ahead and on the way a Spanish guy with a Argentinian girl ask me if I know about the monastery being open now. It happens that under the church, there are the remains of the old monastery, caves in the rocks. I had no idea! I knew Tipova Monastery is like that but I did not know about this one. But when I come back to check, it is still closed anyway. What a shame!
Only when I am coming back, I realize that I could have opened my tent and sleeping bag to dry while I was walking. Stupid! So at least I make a plan to put both of them in each side of my backpack, so they can dry on my way back to the road. According to my plans, I would have to walk something like one hour and a half until a good location for hitchhiking. After about 10 minutes, my sleeping bag is already dry so I put back inside. After I do that and walk one minute, a taxi driver in a fancy car stop. Aurei tells me he is going to Chisinau but I say he can drop me in the intersection. I mean, I don’t say because he does not speak English, but I show him. And he accepts. On the way we speak a bit of Spanish. And boy he saved me a lot of walking. But he has to drop me in the highway, no other way.
So I walk! The backpack is super heavy! I walk for quite a while and I hold my sign anyway, in case someone decides to stop. I am not sure where should I turn next, so I am hoping someone stops soon! It is cool to walk, though. The weather is nice, there is a nice sun, and the way is beautiful. But I am tired. I think that after 45 minutes I see a blue car coming backwards. Alexandru is going to Orhei, the next town, but he decides to drive me to Curchi Monastery. It is about 12 Km out of his way. Again, he drops me at the entrance of the monastery.
