take me out of the city where my thoughts can roam

After spending the summer in various cities of various sizes in various countries, I decided it was time to let my thoughts and my shadow roam free. The original plan was to spend time in turkey while waiting from a friend from Sweden to arrive to Istanbul. Instead, I landed in Istanbul at 10pm, took the metro to the central bus station, hopped an overnight bus to Sofia, Bulgaria, then another 6 hour bus to Bansko, a small mountain village. Situated in a deep valley between the Pirin and Rila mountains, Bansko was the perfect setting for some quiet wandering, a little writing, some hiking, and with a little bit of luck, some work on a local farm.
Upon arrival, I was aimlessly wandering the half empty streets looking for a place to lay my head when I stumbled on a three stall farmers market. There was one lady selling the usual fruits and vegetables, another selling potatoes and onions and a man named Illian selling all sorts of peppers. Hmm interesting, here was a man selling a variety of peppers in a tiny town of no more than 1000 people. I had to find out more. After a short conversation about what on earth an American, an Iraqi American nonetheless was doing in these remote parts of Bulgaria, I convinced him to let me help out on his pepper farm for a couple days for a free place to stay. The next two days were spent either nailing the bottoms of wooden fruit crates or walking the long rows in the pepper fields marking the location of dead plants.
Illian and his family took good care of me and fed me well. However, I was ready to make my way to the mountains that were staring me in the face the past two days. I packed up my things, rented a tent and made my way out. The Pirin Mountain range is in southern Bulgaria and is known for its sapphire blue glacial lakes. The mountain range itself is comprised of tall steep peaks with wide valleys that hold over 130 lakes. The valleys are flush with vegetation while the steep peaks are either blanketed in snow or made up of large slabs of sheet rock. This made for a beautiful contrast of life and lifeless.
The first 3 days of hiking were spent solo. I took every opportunity I could get to take a refreshing dip in the glacier relic lakes. The peacefulness and stillness of the mountains brings a fresh breath of life into the lungs of anything living. It’s no wonder the Dalai Lama finds his wisdom in the vastness of the Himalayas.
On the third day, I met a Bulgarian married couple from Sofia, Todor and Tsveti. We happened to be hiking along the same route so they invited me to tag along and enjoy some company. This was extremely welcomed after 3 days of no human to human contact. Todor is a real estate broker from sofia that lost his job after U.S. Banks ruined everything for everyone and decided to take extended camping trips with his wife throughout the Balkan Mountains.
Being from the West, I was extremely curious about the Eastern Block and about life in Bulgaria under communist rule from 1950 to 1989. They told me of the better, more secure life under communism while I tried to explain the benefits of democracy (that is, if you still consider America the voice of the free). Todor and Tsveti are old enough to remember the communist regime and what it was like. They spoke of how back then, the mountains were full of Bulgarian hikers and campers because everyone could afford it and had the time off. Now, the trails lay abandoned while people slave away in the city trying to make ends meet in a society that has left the majority worse off than before. Sounds like an all too familiar story.
Its 5am, and I’ve spent the night in the Sofia bus terminal waiting for my bus back to Istanbul for the last week of my sojourn. A week in the mountains was just what I needed before returning to a year of grad school, projects and deadlines. It will soon be time to return home. In the end, the rivers return to the mountains, but carry with them the wisdom of the sea – A.R.