A Tale of Two Roads

This past weekend Tiff and I decided to travel to Kukes for our first non-capital excursion as volunteers. We chose Kukes for a few reasons; first the volunteers there were hosting a training event for Outdoor Ambassadors ( a group that promotes enviromental awareness through activities like hiking and camping), secondly we wanted to go to Puke (pronounced with the e like an A), thirdly we just needed to get out of Shkoder. Our list of sites to visit also included Fushe Arrez (fush arrez) but due to bus schedules and furgon routes we couldn't make it there, but we have a bus that makes a trip to the Fushe everyday so we will make it there soon. As you know Shkoder is in the north-west part of Albania. We are surronded on three sides by water (1 lake, 2 rivers) and prone to flooding, we are also about a 45 minute drive to Ulcin, Montenegro, so we have heard, we are still not allowed to leave the country. Kukes on the other hand is almost directly across the country traveling due east. They are surronded on 3 sides by water (1 lake that used to be a river) and was completely rebuilt after the old Kukes was submerged under the lake when the government dammed the river in the 1970's. They are also about a 45 minute drive from Prizen, Kosovo.

We left Shkoder on Friday and traveled to Puke on a bus. About 2 hours later we arrived on the outskirts of the city, our bus was bound for a different location and they took the road that runs along the outskirts of Puke instead of the one that runs through the city. We spent the day with the volunteers relaxing and joking, we were also joined by 4 other volunteers that were working with GPS software mapping trails around the country. The next morning we caught a furgon at 7:25 a.m. bound for Kukes. We went up and down mountains through valleys and over rivers, luckily this driver goes very slowly but the ride still felt like a roller coaster. He even bought us a coffee at our rest stop because we were Americans and we knew James (one of the Kukes volunteers), who I think he might have a little of a man crush on. We finally arrived at about 11 a.m.

Traveling time from Shkoder to Kukes- 2 hours to Puke + 3.5 hours from Puke = 5.5 hours

We enjoyed a great weekend with the volunteers in Kukes and a volunteer that joined us from our group. We learned about the Outdoor Ambassadors, had good food, and went on an incredible hike up a canyon called "the bad staicase." (Hopefully I will get pictures up soon). This afternoon after our hike we decided to take the "new" road home. The new road is the Albanian superhighway that includes numerous bridges, and a tunnel that I estimated to be over 3 miles long. Most of it is 4 lanes and it is designed to allow freight to be brought from Eastern Europe to the port in Durres more efficiently than was possible before. If anything went out from Durres it either went around Albania and then south from Montenegro through Shkoder, or through the old road that we took on our way here. The road is not totally finished yet and they still have to let one direction of cars travel through the tunnel at a time, 3 mile tunnel, but traveling on this road we left at 2 p.m. from Kukes and arrived in Shkoder in time to here the bells chime at 5! This included a transfer of furgons in Milot but I didn't check to see exactly what time this transfer happened.  The road was very nice and reminded me of freeways in the US other than the random people on the side of the road trying to catch a bus or furgon.  I made a quick map of our trip just to help anyone not associated with Albanian geography what the trip looked like.  You can't even see the new road on maps yet, but it cuts in that general direction and meets up with the Shkoder- Tirana road near Milot and that meets with the Tirana- Durres Road near Tirana. 

So we are back in Shkoder safe and sound albeit tired, and ready to start a new week.  I have seen other volunteers do this and thought it would be a good idea to have people who read the blog, or get it forwarded to them by people who read it to ask questions about what life is like in Albania, and we will try to answer them as best as we can.  So shoot us an E-mail, or comment in the blog and we will answer all your questions and everything you ever needed to know about Shqiperia!  Hope all is well in the US!

Hot, hot and hot!!

This week has been interesting, it started off with threats of 40 C days (104 F) later in the week and it didn't fail to disappoint. We had no choice but to turn on our air conditioning the past 3 nights just trying to get to sleep. We also got to head out to a couple of summer camps this week. Tiff went to a summer camp on Tuesday and Friday at two organizations close to Shkoder and I got to head up to Hot i ri (Hot pronounced with a long o like oh)and the Catholic Church's summer camp put on by the Hot sisters, not to be confused with the hot sisters, which as one of my coworkers described must be a strip-club somewhere in Albania. Then on Saturday night we got to go to the Miss Earth Albania beauty pageant where about 27 girls competed for a chance to represent Albania in the Miss Earth competition. We not only got to go but had seats in the official Bashkia box seated right next to the mayor and vice-mayor, and Tiffany's counterparts daughter. Here is one of the many pictures I took, they are all a bit dark but I think you can get the idea.

Other than that not much has been going on just trying to beat the heat as best as we can. Hopefully heading east this weekend will provide some relief.

Happy 9th err 4th of Korriku umm I mean July

This is my best attempt to keep the blog updated, the posts might be shorter but I will keep everyone hopefully a little more updated on our lives.
On Friday we got to go to the 4th of July party sponsored by some Americans, to be honest I don't know who they were but it sounds something like AMCHAM. We were just excited to be able to go, as we originally did not get peace corps tickets. 30 tix for 90 volunteers, and the math didn't add up, but thanks to US Aid (actually David Smith a contractor for the organization) coming to the rescue, who knew they were into this type of aid, we got tickets. The party was a lot of fun even though no one can figure out why it was on the 9th, a full 5 days after the 4th, which was a Sunday and either the Friday or Saturday would have seemed to be better dates to have the festival. The location was at the Wilson School, an international school named after Woodrow Wilson, and managed to have pretty good hot dogs, although the hamburgers left a lot to be desired. A few of the Albanian beers companies also showed up as well as a winery/brandy(ery) to keep the party lively. They even had a very decent fireworks display at dusk. After we went to the Block (short-north of Columbus, or warehouse district in Cleveland). Well I don't know how much partying is going on in Cleveland right now, but when there was partying in Cleveland I guess the Warehouse district was where it was done at. So we found a bar and hung out with a few Navy sailors. All in all a blast, and we even felt our first Albanian earthquake. We hear they are quite common here but not as much in Tirana and not this big, although it was a modest 4.8. The deck we were sitting on just wobbled a bit, many people around didn't even seem to notice. Yesterday we made it back from Tirana, and met up with some friends to (not) watch the soccer match. All in all a very exciting weekend and we are taking today off to catch up on the latest news of LeBron and the rest of the more exciting news of the world. Still hoping the all but sports is good in the US and everyone is doing well.