OHRID, MACEDONIA

2016-01-25, 12:58, JASON

STAY: SUNNY LAKE HOSTEL

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By the time we'd arrived in Ohrid, it was a relief. For those that have read our Berat page, you would know that we waited for a bus (that never showed), got on an alternate route, met an interesting old man, and took a small van up to the Albanian-Macedonia border. The journey was exhausting, but the experience was completely eye opening. There was so much gratitude from Albanians on our journey up, from the old man to the guy who offered us snacks on the car-ride up. I realize that we have privilege in traveling as foreigners. When we traveled around other parts of ex-Yugoslavia, their opinions on the status of and attitude towards Albanians are .. complicated. I'm glad that as a tourist, the country was safe to travel to and the people were beyond friendly and generous. Like Thorin said in the Berat post, I really can't recommend it enough. There's so much life on the ground.

We get into Ohrid, and cross the border. As soon as you walk across on foot, taxi's are waiting to take you down to the next bus stop, where you can pick up a bus to the city center. Turns out, our taxi driver doesn't speak any English, but our Austrian friend that'd we'd found with us in Berat on the way spoke German to him and they had a full blown conversation. The backstory was that the driver had spent some time in Germany growing up. Friends, a word of advice, always keep an open mind!

Dropped off at the bus stop, we catch the bus to the center and begin looking for our hostel. Along the way, some old woman approaches us and 'scouts' us to go stay at her house for the night. Apparently, this is quite popular since they don't have the means to advertise on the web. We go into her house (I swear, not as shady as it sounds) and then, decide that the hostel already has confirmation, so that we'll stay with them. Just thought I'd mention it.

After settling down, we go walk around the city. The city of Ohrid surrounds Ohrid Lake, and reminds me of Lake Tahoe in the wintertime (as it was a bit cold, then). You're able to walk along the rocky beach and climb up to the church on the hill and get a good vantage point. The best part about the city was how relaxed it was: people laid back, friendly, and what you expect out of a lake town. There wasn't much activity on the lake and so led to very peaceful, calm waters. That said, there isn't much to do or see on a bit scale, but hike and shop around old town, and go look at some smaller-scale Orthodox churches, monasteries, and buildings. Apparently -- and, I'll mention this here just for the story, not to confirm facts -- some of the churches housed the original founders of the Cyrillic alphabet used in the Slavic language. BUT, you will get varieites of stories as to the origin. It's the claim of origin that these countries dispute over, perhaps since the Cyrillic script unifies most of the ex-Yugo countries, and is a great source of pride. Aside from churches, there is the King Samuil Fortress as well.

Places like these are good 'restover' areas to refresh after burnout traveling. The hiking areas along the side are interesting, as they start off on the beach, but head up and are embedded a bit in the woods, giving a natural vibe. As an aside, we love Macedonian money. I think it's some of the most beautiful money I've seen. As soon as we pulled out from the ATM we wanted to keep one of the five hunneds, but realized we're not rich, and that not all dreams come true. The pictures here really speak for themselves in terms of capturing the calmness of the city. ENJOIIII BITCHESS: 

I have to take a moment to tell you about the people we met in Ohrid.

The first is a bit of a rant. In our time at Ohrid, we came across a group of 7 Americans working with the Peace Corps in Albania. They sailed over the lake to party one night in Ohrid, and we had the misfortune of running into them. They were loud, abrasive, rude, and colonialist with their "We really just want to come to Albania and instill our American ideals on them, you know?" Unfortunately, if these are the 'ambassadors' that the United States sends out to developing countries, we have a better job to do. Not all aid workers are like this, yeah, but just the fact that they were the loud tourists with entitlement, disturbing the peace in Ohrid and being obnoxious was such a turn off. The worse part was Macedonians locally had to heed to them because they were willing to spend money on their alcohol. What a wreck. .

The next guy was an Australian who recently discovered gendered dynamics in Australia, got high everyday, and was on a journey to try Ayahuasca in South America. I've never met someone more wacky and embracing of the human condition. Advice like "you know, when you gotta do your poos and pees, you just gotta let go" and "I love to jack off you know? Twice, sometimes three times a day, it relieves me and I feel unstressed" were so honest that there was some universality in his truth. He also talked to us about the machisimo complex in Australian bro culture and how he's come his own way into feminism -- all without having formally learned it from your classic textbooks. Shoutouts to you, Mr. Australia, and I hope your Ayahuasca trip was as enlightening as you described it.

Our lovely Austrian friend, who left us a day in back to Albania, and is now continuing her Ph.D. She was nice enough to send me gummy bears from Graz (after our trip) that she claimed was the best she ever had,

and,

indeed, she was preaching truth. I'm glad education has an advocate like her out in the world. To protect against identity, let's just call her Mrs. Frizzle, because let's be real, that homie made science the bomb in elementary school and was the best teacher you wish you'd had but never did.

For the tail end of our trip, we headed into the capital of Macedonia, Skopje to spend for one day, before catching a flight back into London.