Rrugë të Mbarë

I travelled down south (“jug” in Shqip) to Saranda, Ksamil, and Butrint! The warm Mediterranean climate was a nice break from my northern site. 

The foremost highlight was the beach. Unlike Shëngjin - an Adriatic beach city - there were no shells. Maybe it’s an Ionian thing, but both the Saranda and Ksamil beaches were pebbly. There was also little wind to churn the water, so the sea was clear and bright blue. As soon as I submerged myself, dopamine went off like fireworks on the Fourth of July. I delighted in dunking my head and then licking the salt water off my lips. The water was so saturated that salt crystalized on my eyebrows and in my hair. It’s the simple joys in life. 

We took a furgon from Ksamil to Butrint. It was both the most crowded and the most entertaining furgon of my life. The driver started driving before the door had shut, so one of my friends came perilously close to falling out. We were incredibly smushed already, but the driver stopped two more times to board about 6-7 more people! At that point, my weight was supported more by surrounding bodies than by my feet. My friend took videos during the ride (how she had enough room to maneuver is beyond me), and we looked sweaty, cramped, maybe a little uncomfortable, and happy. I would do it again, hands down. That furgon was a true Albanian experience. 

One night while preparing for bed, my peripheral vision caught sight of a large black blob above my door. It was my longtime foe, the infamous cockroach. Because I maintain a certain degree of poise and composure, I panic messaged my friends and the apartment owner. It was to no avail. I was on my own. After a frenzied yet thorough search of the apartment, no killer spray could be found. The best hope now laid in the bathroom’s water wiper tile mop, a sorry weapon but a weapon nonetheless. (Fun fact: these are common in Albania since many shower drains are in the center of the bathroom floor.) Standing on my bed, I commenced the attack, but the roach escaped and remained at large. The next night, the roach appeared above my bed! Thankfully, my friends were in the apartment. As I again fetched the water wiper, my friend marched into my room, stood on my bed, and smashed that roach with her sandal. The pure valor, the fortitude, the extraordinary precision…it was the stuff of legends. Look out Skenderbeu, a new hero has entered the land. 

I took a bus between Tirana and Saranda. The first and second buses were two different experiences. Despite arriving at the terminal an hour early, I purchased the last ticket for the midday Saranda bus. There was no ventilation, no open-able windows, and little air conditioning. Assigned to the middle seat in the back row, I got creative with seating positions just to manage my body temperature. The bus on the way back was luxurious. I bought my ticket days early. I scored a window seat under a vent and the seat next to me was unoccupied! Overall, I learned three lessons. First, you have to buy your tickets in person. Supposedly you can call and reserve a seat, but I cannot confirm. Second, tickets to tourist spots sell like hot cakes, so buy them early. You don’t want one of the last 5 tickets because those seat assignments suck. Third, you never know what kind of bus you’re going to get, so be prepared for some serious heat. Bring a fan and H2O.

On our last day, my friend ordered toast and jam at a cafe for 250 ALL. They delivered her food with 6 small packets of butter. Assuming the butter was complimentary, she ate one. A bill for 550 ALL arrived and in her confusion, I read the bill. The extra 300 ALL (~$3.58) was for the butter. She was not pleased. In light of this, I told her that she should take the butters since she’d paid for them, so she put them in her massive bag. Hours later, my friend noticed that the outside of her bag felt odd. Exposed to the heat and pressures within the bag, the butter packets had exploded. My friend paid 300 ALL for a headache, but at least our trip went out with a bang.