The Gorge..."Where Every Step Is An Adventure!"

So this weekend I boarded a bus and headed out for a little weekend get-away.  First stop was my host family in Belsh.  I left Berat about 12pm and arrived in Elbasan, the city where we did our training, at about 2:30.  I met for coffee with two of my teachers and left for Belsh about 6.  Upon arrival in the ol' stompin' grounds, I was greeted by many familiar faces, surprised that I had come back so soon.  I went straight to the family store, where Babi and Artemisa were waiting for me.  Babi was so glad that I had returned.  He had been so worried about me since I left.  Mami met us there, too.  I made the mistake of telling her that I didn't eat lunch that day because I was traveling.  Her worst fear, that I was not eating, was realized!  I had to do a little damage control after that, and show pictures I had of me cooking with stephanie from the weekend before to avoid the inevitable over feeding at dinner.  

The next morning I left Belsh at 6, picked up Stephanie on the side of the road in Shalles, and we headed into Elbasan to catch a furgon to Korce.  From there we would be able to get a furgon to Erseke and meet the group for the gorge hike at 11 am.  Well, even the best laid plans can fail sometimes.  Our furgon from Elbasan to Korce, that should have left at 7 am, didn't actually leave until 8:30, so we got off our schedule by an hour and a half.  The drive was beautiful though.  We pass through a city called Pogradec, with a huge lake in the mountains.  It looks like Lake Tahoe.  Beautiful!!!  We finally arrived in Erseke about 1 pm and met up with the rest of the group.  

Erseke was really beautiful!  We headed down the path into the gorge and got a gorgeous view of the rolling hills and green landscape.  The temperature in Erseke was very different from here in Berat.  They are in the south east part of the country and the altitude is higher, as they are in the mountain region.  It was probably still in the 70's there compared to the 90's here!  

The hike was amazing!!!  You walk into the gorge, which still has water, at the top of the hill, and we hiked all the way down, deep into the gorge. It was quite the adventure.  Most of the water is only ankle to knee deep, but you can not see the bottom at all through most of the hike.  There are parts where  we would come to a waterfall and you just have to jump down, not really knowing what the water is like below.  We all survived the hike, which takes about 3 hours total, with out incident, although I am still really sore, even today.  After the hike, we all made dinner and ate together, and then played a lively round of Catch Phrase.  We went to bed around 12 am, cause we had another long day of traveling to look forward to on Sunday.  Altogether the trip is only about 90 miles from Berat to Erseke, but it takes about 5-6 hours to complete! Welcome to traveling albanian style!  

All in all it was a great first trip to see the countryside of Albania.  I am looking forward to this weekend when we will celebrate the 4th of July at the Embassay with the Ambassador and 100's of his closest friends.