First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my family and
friends back home! Don’t forget to pack
on a pound or two on my behalf!
Wow, I cannot believe that the year has passed by so
quickly. Within 24 hours, I will have
been a Peace Corps volunteer for about a year, been at site in Prilep for a
year, and we will have our new set of PCVs coming to town. Additionally, the remaining weekends in 2014
are pretty much filled up with activities and events, so I am booked for the
remainder of this year! However, last weekend was a free one, and I really
wanted to travel somewhere new within Macedonia. It seemed that I would enjoy an occasion-less
weekend at site, until I discovered that a local hiking group was planning a
trip to villages near Makedonski Brod.
These villages were located in a part of Macedonia that is so isolated,
and I knew that I would probably never have a chance again to see these
villages. Thus Ted, Nick, and I decided
to join the group on Sunday for the 5-hour hike.
The kombi took us to Zrkle, where we started the day’s
hike. The ground was covered in morning
frost, and our group passed the village and began ascending the nearby
ridge. At the top of the ridge, we were
treated with a gorgeous view of the local area.
The mountain mist had just finished burning off from the morning sun, but
a pile of valley mist persisted in the land below. From this ridge we were also able to see
Solunska Glava, the peak of the tallest mountain in Central Macedonia. Solunska Glava was covered with snow, and
supposedly from the top one can see Thessaloniki on a clear day. (Actually, one
cannot climb that peak to the top since there is a military post that
partitions the area from tourists.)
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| The start of our hike |
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| Emerging from Zrkle |
We continued our hike to Lupshte, which was in my opinion
the neatest town on our hike. The town
was built high in the mountains, and it was complete with a church, graveyard,
and plenty of homes that straddled the steep face of the mountain. This town also had the most villagers toiling
through their tasks, and some people within our group struck up conversations
with a man riding a donkey and hunters emerging from the woods with Elmer
Fudd-style rifles. As our hike continued
to descend away from Lupshte, it was evident that the town was strategically
situated, with visibility of much of the area and trails leading to the
town. Villagers would be well aware if
invading armies were approaching their hamlet.
Without a doubt, if a zombie apocalypse occurred during my time in
Macedeonia, I would immediately flee to this area.
From Lupshte, we entered the forest and snaked our way to
our final destination, Inche. At certain
points along the path, the environment changed from a sunny, autumn
mountainside to a frigid, winter wonderland (in areas where valleys and trees
shaded the ground from any sun). It was
really cool to suddenly be surrounded by flora covered in white frost. The trail was surrounded by chestnut trees,
and their bounty covered the path along with their brown, broad leaves. Many of the other hikers were prepared and
cleared the wet leaves with their sticks, pried open the prickly shells to
extract the chestnuts, and deposited countless nuts into their bags. We were lucky to get a taste of a harvest
that is probably very typical of the local culture.
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| Entering Lupshte |
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| Chestnut |
After passing through Sushitsa and by Tomino Selo, we hiked
through another forest and ended near Inche.
From there, the kombi picked us up near an old dam and took us to a
church where we enjoyed our lunch. In a
way it was great to see some old villages in a part of Macedonia that most PCVs
never see. However, these villages also
represent a dying lifestyle of Macedonia, as villagers (and mostly young
people) flock to larger towns for more modern opportunities. Located in the area is a munitions factory
that used to employ many of the people in the municipality. Unfortunately, the factory had closed a few
years ago, and now the unemployment rate of the area supposedly hovers around
90%. Despite these poor economics
prospects, the villages that we visited on this hike may offer Macedonians a
great pilgrimage to rediscover their history and cultural past, and if not
that, at least gorgeous views and clean, mountain air.
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| Sushitsa |
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| Abandoned School |
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| Apple orchard outside of Inche |
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| Inche |
