Adventures from Bulgaria: Summer in the Mountains – Days 8 & 9

[Click to enlarge]

Backwards to Pamporovo

By Valeria Idakieva

[Sequel to “Days 6 & 7,” published on April 7.]

I woke up early in the morning on the back seat of the jeep where I had spent the night and started getting ready quietly so as not to wake up the kind people who shared their food, good spirits, and time with me. Later, when they did wake up, we had some coffee and then it was time for me to continue through lush meadows and pine forests.
    It was a steep walk so I had to stop often to rest until I could see the cloudy sky over the trees. I was grateful for the cool shadow they offered me, but still, I was longing to savor the views awaiting me at Orpheus Peak.

And Orpheus did not disappoint me. When I made it to the top, a sea of green, gently rounded peaks sprawled before my eyes and expanded endlessly to the horizon. I sat there for some time soaking up the green tranquility.
    Then the path took me over the rounded hills, and the easy walking and green, soothing scenery lifted my spirits.

    However, when I lifted my eyes to the sky I could see dark clouds crawling all over it.

   In no time I could hear deep rumbling noises coming from the sky, which had grown formidably darker. I had to move faster and pray to the rain not to fall down, at least until I came to the nearest lodge.
    The god of rain heard my prayers, I reached the lodge and sat down to rest. Maybe the wind would carry the clouds somewhere else, so I decided to wait for half an hour and continue if the weather permitted. In half an hour the strong wind had carried the clouds not elsewhere, but all over the sky, which was ripped by lightning and mighty thunders, though it was not raining yet. I decided that three o’clock was too early for me to stop walking, so, hoping to escape the rain, I started walking. I had not walked more than two hundred metres when large drops started falling, prompting me to hide in a nearby shed. Soon the rain became a deluge, and lightning was still rumbling, but I thought it was going to be over in an hour or so, like any other summer storm.
    Not this time. The heavy rain lightened for a while only to gain momentum and pour down harder. I spent the next two hours in the shed waiting for a miracle that was apparently not going to happen, and all I could do was go back to the lodge, where no tourists remained, because everyone had left before the storm. Even the man who took care of it was preparing to leave for the nearest town. “You are very lucky,” he said. “I will drive you to any nearby village or town you wish to go to.”
    For a moment everything got dark as if we were in the eye of the storm. I certainly didn’t want to continue like this. But I said, “That’s very kind of you, but I’m doing the E-8 and I should walk to Pamporovo.”
    “Oh, you’re doing the E-8. Where were you before coming here?”
    “I started from Borovets. Yesterday I was near Lednitsata Lodge and before that in Trigrad.”
    “And do you know that you are doing it the wrong way?” he said. “You should have come from Pamporovo to Lednitsata and Trigrad.”
    It was hard not to laugh, but I made sufficient effort not contradict him. I have been doing things the wrong way all my life, so this time can’t have been an exception, I said to myself. When I asked him whether he could leave me a key and let me stay for the night, he looked at me as if I was crazy, but agreed and left. I stayed in the empty lodge and thought that I was actually lucky because if I had waited a little longer in the shed, I would have found the lodged locked and no one to give me a key. It finally stopped raining at about 10:00 p.m.

The next morning opened with a sun-drenched, velvet-blue sky that had no memory of yesterday’s storm. Only the muddy road reminded of yesterday’s furious sky’s efforts to drown the earth.

    So I went on splashing in puddles and mud, but happily enjoying the brisk air and the forest, still glittering with yesterday’s drops of rain.

    Soon Pamporovo appeared on a hill among the lush greenery. 

    I knew I was going to spend the night there and since I had plenty of time, I did not rush, but took my time to savor the soothing views all around me. 

    When I reached Pamporovo I had to find a place to stay and it turned out to be a difficult task, because, since it’s a famous ski resort, most of its hotels were closed for the summer. So I spent quite some time walking around, sweating under the hot sun and smiling at signs like ”Beware of the falling snow!” until I finally found a suitable place.
    The rest of the day was devoted to laziness.

Copyright © 2018 by Valeria Idakieva