Adventures from Bulgaria: Belasitsa and the 3 Dogs

Detail from 12th photo

By Valeria Idakieva

Stuck at home in the middle of coronavirus lockdown, I am following the current social debate about going out of your home. While reading comments like “So, you can take your dog for a walk, but you can’t take your child for a walk!,” a memory of three dogs that followed me on one of my hiking adventures occupied my mind and made me go back two years and look through the pictures I made during that adventure. I am not going to take a side in the debate whether it is right to take your dog but not your child out; I think there should be a way to take both of them for a walk, even in quarantine time.

It was the end of June 2018. After a cold spring, the weather was showing some signs of warming up. I decided to head for one of the southmost Bulgarian mountains, Belasitsa, most of which is situated on the Bulgaria/Greece border. I reached the skirts of the mountain in the late afternoon and eagerly started walking on the path through the green canopy of surrounding trees.

    From time to time the trees opened their hug and let me see some little treasures, just to make me smile and take out the camera.
    The path was not that steep, and climbing gradually through the forest took me before dark to the lodge where I was going to stay that night. I had planned a long distance of walking for the next day, so I didn’t spend a lot of time over dinner or chat with the people who ran the lodge, but soon went to bed.
    I got up early the next morning only to find that clouds covered the sky and fog filled the air. I told myself that I had only three days off and I would not waste them sitting in the lodge, watching my feet. I started walking and soon realized that three dogs were following me. Usually, in such cases, they would go back after some time, especially if you didn’t give them any food. But not this time. I picked some stones and tried to scare them away, but they would go in front of me, or behind me, following me or leading the way. One or two of them would disappear for a while, but one of them was almost always near me.

    Or waiting for me.

    Meanwhile, since there were no views of the mountain peaks because of the fog, I turned my eyes downward and looked at the level of my feet, where I could see great views. Everything was for a reason.

    The higher I climbed, the thicker the fog got and soon I could see only my feet. But I told myself I could watch my feet anywhere – there was no need to watch them in the fog and the cold. Having changed my plans, I started to descend toward another lodge.

    Much to my surprise, when I reached the lodge, I found it locked. But I didn’t want to descend farther, so I decided to stay there. But, thinking the dogs might come and bother me during the night, I climbed onto the balcony of the first floor of the lodge (what is called the second floor in America) and spent the night there.

    When dark set in, I tried to stay awake and listen to the choir of birds that were giving such a performance in the surrounding forest that I was enthralled by the beauty and the harmony of their melody. But my physical exhaustion took over and I soon went to sleep.

The next morning the generous sun greeted me from a clear blue sky. All the clouds and the fog had gone somewhere else. And the three dogs were patiently waiting for me under the balcony! I thought that since I had not given them food, they would go away, but there they were, waiting for me, urging me to start the adventure. So off we went!
    A green carpet was unfolding under my feet and soon took me higher, to places where I could see the mountain revealing its mighty peaks stretching to the horizon.

    And finally, I got to see the three dogs together.

    As time passed we approached the last peak for the day. The wide path covered with lush green grass turned into an enormous pile of stones.

    I was afraid that the dogs might hurt their legs on the stones and wondered what I was going to do if something happened. Fortunately, nothing happened; the dogs moved gracefully over the stones and reached the peak before I did.

    Going down was faster and we were soon enjoying the coolness and the soothing hug of the forest.

    The dogs were running joyfully ahead of me. And if I was late, one of them would come back to see if I was still following them, as if telling me, “Come on! Everybody else is ahead of you.” I felt that I belonged to a group. It was the group of three dogs offering me unconditional care and loyalty. Sadly, I had to leave them when we reached the village where I was going to take the bus, but I still have the beautiful memory of the three dogs that didn’t leave me all the way through Belasitsa.

Copyright © 2020 by Valeria Idakieva