So This is Bulgaria!

May 8, 2010, Sunday:

My first shock in Bulgaria came when I stepped off the night train into Plovdiv early this morning. Coffee was my goal and I saw a booth with "Kafe" written above it so I stepped up and asked for one. The woman prepared my coffee then handed me a small plastic cup with about 1 ½ " of dark coffee in it. I started to say, "Could I have a little more, please?" but remembered that I don't speak Bulgarian so I just shrugged my shoulders and sat down. For a year now I've been drinking either Nescafe or surch. Surch is tiny cup of Turkish coffee that resembles cowboy coffee but the grounds are much finer and they never really dissolve or float to the bottom. It's fun in the afternoon with a piece of chocolate on the side but morning coffee needs to be a little more substantial. We all know how unhealthy and bad-tasting Nescafe is, but for the past year it's been my only other choice.
So I poured a packet of sugar in, stirred it up and prepared myself for a mouthful of grounds. But no! This was most excellent espresso! Out of a little wooden booth by the train station. Wow. I could learn to live like this. I drank up, felt revived, parked my bags in a storage box and headed off to find a place to stay.
Let's cut to the chase. Plovdiv is a delightful little town. I actually never saw much more than Old Town, which has been revitalized into a tourist site. The rest of Plovdiv is a sprawling modern city resembling Grand Junction. I did enjoy my stay there. I strolled the new open mall with all the shops and the artisans and crafters lining the sidewalks around the park. I visited the beautiful restored house turned art museum. I stood with others and gawked at a miniature Roman amphitheater and stared into a hole with layers of old cities exposed. They say there has been a city at this site for at least 6,000 years. I strolled up and down hills of cobble-stoned streets lined with giant sycamores and fruit stands and magnificent old restored Ottoman-era houses. But I had dust on my feet and distant horizons on my scope. Ah, how I sometimes rush through life. So much to see, so little time.

Before going on with my story, a quick study of my impressions of Bulgarians. The appearance and character of the people has changed dramatically. Gone is the dark skin, black hair, strong nose, tall lean people. Now the dominant physiques are blocky, square-bodied men and women. The face is rounded, with strongly defining lines around the mouth, nose and forehead. If Bulgarians were dogs I think they would be bulldogs. They have that kind of blockiness to them. Even the ornate architecture of their old churches and monasteries is blocky. The dominant personality seems bulldog-ish too. That's not an insult. It's just that they don't rush up to you like say, a golden retriever would. Rather, they seem to have their own business to attend to, they're somewhat aloof and preoccupied with themselves and too involved with their family or friends to notice others. In Turkey and Armenia I could barely open a map before someone would be at my elbow asking if they could be of assistance. Not so here. I look at my map and look around me in confusion but no one notices.

I woke early the second day and prepared to head out on the bus for Melnik, a small town in the southwestern corner of the country. I already had a ticket for Blagoevgrad in hand. But, as I am wont to do, once on the bus I changed my mind. From Blagoevgrad you can head in two directions: south to Melnik or north to Rila. The weather had turned cold and rainy during the night and it occurred to me that I may end up spending fewer days in Bulgaria than originally planned. If that turned out to be the case, I decided I'd rather spend that time in the Rila Mountains and visiting the Rila Monastery.
So when I stepped off the bus in Blagoevgrad I asked the woman at the desk about the bus to Rila. "No bus," she replied. "Only taxi." "How much?" I asked. She turned to the taxi driver standing by the door. "25 leva," he answered or about $18/one way. No need for me to protest that my Lonely Planet Guide said there were hourly buses to Rila, since I can't speak Bulgarian (see above) and she obviously spoke little English. Okay, I said. "Supermarket?" She pointed across the street to an open door. This turned out to be one of those 8'x10' shops that sells everything from potato chips to coca colas. I looked around it and knew I'd never be able to find enough food in here to sustain me for two days in the mountains so I gestured the clerk, spreading my hands in a big circle, and asked if there was a BIG supermarket nearby. She said yes, 3 blocks down. Well, that's not exactly what she said. She actually pointed along the main thoroughfare and said something more like, "Guvanak distroiyanki ve mistroiyank hetova ashketevotenya." I got the idea. A couple of troiyankis along I noticed another bus station and wondered if possibly this place might have a bus to Rila. Something told me that maybe I'd been led astray at the first station (could it be that the taxi driver was the woman's husband?) Sure enough, here was the bus station for buses to Rila, once every hour, 1.20leva. Tricky, tricky. (By the way, this kind of experience happened to me several times in Bulgaria. I was treated rudely or even out and out lied to at bus stations. A simple question would occasionally elicit a rude, "nay," but no more information would be offered.) Anyway, off to the supermarket to stock up for a couple days in the mountains.
Next came my second shock after arriving in Bulgaria. This was a real supermarket, the kind I'm used to back home. I couldn't read the labels but I know a banana from an apple and a pack of crackers from dried soup so I stocked 'er up and headed back to the bus station to await the next bus to Rila.

9 May 2010, Monday:
By accident or grace – or are they the same? - I stumbled into Heaven and I haven't been able to get to the internet. I had no idea what to expect as I climbed on the bus from Blagoevgrad to Rila Village. I was more than happy when I stepped out into a sweet little mountain village. I had only a hour to wait for the bus which would take me to Rila Monastery so I spent some time orienting myself: found a market and bought my usual "market lunch", visited the local tourist office, all information in Bulgarian but friendly nevertheless, then sat in the sun and fed hotdogs to a couple of small stray dogs while I waited for the bus. I was the only one on the bus to Rila Monastery, apparently the last bus of the day at 3:00pm. I hoped there would be a room available when I got there but if not there were several inexpensive rooms ($10-$12/night) available in Rila Village and I could come back on the 5o'clock bus.

The Rila Mountains are stunning. We wended our way up for half an hour and I stepped out into Paradise. Standing in front of me was one of the most magnificent monasteries I've yet seen. The sign says this is the Jerusalem of Bulgarian Orthodox Christianity. On this particular day there were few visitors. I walked to the reception area to see if there was a bed available in the dorm but the door was locked - "Back at 6pm" the sign said. I decided I would check out the Zodiak Campground 2km up the road and managed to beg a ride for most of the way. Indeed, there was a cabin available. In fact there were several cabins available and for a single it would be $11/night. So now I really was in Heaven. I have been staying in hostels and other people's homes for nearly 6 weeks now and was beginning to think I would soon splash out on a hotel, just for the bliss of having my own space for a night or two. I didn't expect to find it here. And so I stayed not one night but two.

I spent the morning wandering around the monastery and taking photos then headed up the trail nearby for a 3-hour walk in the most pristine forest imaginable. I really can't believe this place. I feel so revitalized and renewed to know that there is such a place on earth, that is clean and healthy and not over-run with people.
I have only one question about the monastery. This is an active monastery, with 300 cells for monks. I saw only two monks there. There were other people around – there are cafes outside the monastery, a couple of maintenance workers, clerks in each of the souvenir shops. They seemed pleasant enough. But those two monks seemed quite unhappy, even angry. How strange. I tried to engage eye contact with them but they refuse to look directly at people or talk to them. Why are they so unhappy? It's clear that the scowls they wear are permanent. How very interesting . . . . . Must one be unhappy and unfriendly in order to be holy and serve God?
At the end of the day I met four people who are volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints: Dorothy and Larry Smith and Bob and Caroline. It was so nice to meet them and hear about the wonderful work they and their church are doing in the world. They work with orphanages and schools in Bulgaria. Human trafficking in a big problem throughout the region.