Wednesday

The former mayor from Kyustendil came to talk to the group. I'm sure he was very interesting but after listening to him talk through a translator for two hours, I lost interest. I felt bad that so many of the group decided to leave before he was done but I can understand their frustration.

We spent the afternoon and evening in Kyustendil. It's a lovely little town. While waiting for the second group to arrive in the bus, I started talking to Cem, a Turkish representative. We had both lived in Sweden and shared many of the same common complaints about the country. He's a super nice guy and I really enjoyed talking to him.

Most of the group wanted to go check their mail. For those of you who know me, you're aware that me without Internet is like Carrie Bradshaw without shoes. If I don't check my email every five minutes, I start to panic.

I walked right past the Internet Cafe. Only about five or six of us chose to eschew email, so we wandered downtown with our guide. Most of us wanted to be on our own so Nuno and I ditched the group and headed off to the local market. Very different than Timisoara's but still very Eastern. I laughed when I saw the bananas hanging from strings from the tents.

We did a bit of shopping. Correction. He did a bit of shopping. I didn't buy a thing there. Clothing in Bulgaria is very cheap and much nicer than in Romania.

We found the remains of some Roman baths. Kids were playing in the ruins. We also found a mosque and Turkish baths. We spent the afternoon wandering around the in the subhurbs. So much nicer than staying in the shopping district or at a bar.

We decided to try to find some traditional Romanian food. We found a few cafes but most only served alcohol. We finally found a place that served food but the menu was in Cyrillic (of course). We got an English menu but they didn't have the food we wanted. We settled on ice cream and it was quite good.

It was dark when we left and we realised we had no idea where we were. We remembered crossing a street so we tried to backtrack, all the while talking about Eastern European travel. He described Lithuania which only reaffirmed my desire to go there. He's also been to Russia but I think I'll avoid that for a little while longer.

It was a perfect day. Seriously. I'll always have fond memories of Kyustendil and I can say I discovered Bulgaria with a Portuguese. I came here for an intercultural experience and what could be more intercultural than Canada, Portugal and Bulgaria?

Luckily, our direction-sense was right and we arrived at the restaurant only 20 minutes late.

The food wasn't very good. I only picked at my plate. It's pretty bad when you mistake chicken for fish.

Unfortunately, I drank as much as I would had I eaten a big meal. I got...
Well, let's leave it at that.

Everyone was hugging and kissing and taking pictures. Vlad was walking around with a blue feathered tiara on. I love him!

Afterwards, we went to a disco. By then, the alcohol really hit. And just to reiterate, I did *not* drink that much. Only problem was that I had a near empty stomach so it it went right to my head.

I went downstairs, realised I could barely stand up and then came outside. The world starting spinning and Cem let me lean against him. I was there for about 20 minutes until I knew I was going to be sick. They got us a taxi and Nuno and I went home.

Ok, for two people who have obviously consumed way too much alcohol, the winding roads of Bulgaria are not a good idea. We were right in the middle of the mountains and you can't just drive straight up or straight down. It's a miracle we got home in one piece.