The Turtle Hunter

I have a confession to make.

I have a soft spot for turtles.

This is particularly problematic for me because I used to live in Florida. There it seems turtles are of the opinion that it is perennially safe to cross major highways at Absolute Minimum Tortoise Speed. Of course this is usually not the case. You see, as I’ve already explained, Florida roadways are virtually teeming with 99-year old blind nuns, tourists who firmly believe it’s okay to drive backwards at 75 miles an hour on I-4 because they missed their exit… and... well….me. So the combination of both stupid turtles and nut-job drivers proved troublesome for me because whenever my eyes inadvertently zoomed in on one of my half-shell buddies in peril, I would inevitably feel the immediate need to launch myself like some sort of crazed PETA person from my vehicle in order to rescue them from certain death.

Naturally this sometimes this entailed me slamming on the brakes and veering off onto the side of the road to divert them to a much safer locale. On other occasions it resulted in me making slight errors in judgment like the time I made a U-turn to save my valiant turtle friend and realized it was, instead, an armadillo. As much as I wanted to help that little guy out too, I left him sniffing around on the side of the highway. I had heard that armadillos jump when frightened and quite frankly that would have sent me shrieking into the middle of the road myself, effectively thwarting all future turtle rescues. Plus, can armadillos get rabies? I think so, people, I think so… Truth be told, though, while I definitely practice caution and avoid things like frothing raccoons or ginormous snakes, my heart is big enough for virtually the entire Animal Kingdom (except most members of the arthropod community) and I have paused to offer a free ride (and a sometimes a meal or two) to anything from dogs to frogs to ducks.

Which is why I was so delighted by the Sunday afternoon I spent at the Green Balkans the weekend before last. Ryan’s friend Mindy had come to town on Saturday, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves rocking out to live music courtesy of a cover band at Club Jam that first night.

Despite the musical entertainment, however, I was already fairly preoccupied with our upcoming adventure. You should first know, Зелени Балкани (a.k.a. Green Balkans) focuses on nature conservation and restoration of habitats. And although I wouldn't necessarily qualify myself as a "tree hugger" 'cause I still prefer plastic over paper... I try to do my part and Green Balkans' mission is definitely a cause I can get fully behind. However, I was mostly excited because this organization primarily focuses on rescuing and rehabilitating injured birds of prey. A month or so ago while in Plovdiv, Ryan and I had gone into raptures over a tiny hummingbird no bigger than my thumb that flitted about a bush rather unexpectedly (we actually thought it was a bumble bee at first)… so I was quite thrilled to visit with its much larger brothers and sisters up close.

And I was not disappointed! We saw owls and storks and baby chickens and falcons and some really flippin’ big, hungry, demanding pelicans. We watched Christine feed a friendly but exceedingly noisy honey buzzard that I wanted initially to take home as a pet, but after a few minutes determined it adorable, but decidedly detrimental to both hearing and sanity. (If you watch the YouTube video below, you just might have an idea why.)

I even got to hold a turtle or two. All in all, it was a thrilling day… made more so when Shane (shades of the Crocodile Hunter... that is to say, bravely but gently, kindly and not in a manner that could at all hurt the bird) wrestled a huge golden eagle out of its cage so Christine could give it an injection of antibiotics. (Ryan should eventually post this exciting yet elegant display of Man versus Beast on his blog, found here: Ryan in Bulgaria.)

The past couple of weeks, although not typically of the “Animal Planet” variety, have been fun nonetheless. Last weekend for Easter, Ryan and I visited his friend and fellow PCV Tracy in Zlataritsa, a small town a few hours north of here. On our way to Veliko Turnovo, our transfer point to Tracy’s town, we found ourselves talking to Nicolai, a 14-year old boy who wanted to practice his English with us. Understand that Bulgaria is a relatively safe country and you will often see people leaving their babies and small children alone in their strollers outside on the sidewalk while they shop. (To try and be fair, these magazines are generally small and the children’s mothers are likely able to keep an eye on them as they pick up their milk, eggs or what have you.) It is also a country comprised of many friendly people, so it only surprised us a little when Nicolai offered his phone number to us and asked for Ryan’s e-mail. (I don’t have to tell you, I’m sure, that in the States this probably wouldn’t happen… at least not in the larger cities. No, in DC or Orlando or most urban places an older man exchanging contact information with a young boy would, at the very least, raise a few eyebrows. But we’re in Bulgaria now, so his mom beamed happily and wound up taking a picture of us with her two sons.)

Then Nicolai made my morning. He whispered something to his mom and returned to our side to present us carefully with two bright red Easter eggs. Now I was raised Greek Orthodox which is very similar to Bulgarian Orthodox. Growing up I didn’t know that not everyone ate Easter Bread with a red Easter egg in the center or engaged in the time-honored tradition whereby family members take turns smashing the ends of their eggs together until the person with the un-blemished egg is pronounced as having a year of good luck. Since they do that here too I was elated by the gift and gently held them in my hands for a few minutes, before gingerly placing them in my coat pocket for "safe-keeping".

We won’t talk about the part where I promptly forgot about them upon our arrival at the bus station, gaily flinging my coat on the bench, which I then immediately opted to exuberantly use as a seat cushion. Whoops!

At any rate, Zlataritsa is absolutely beautiful and aside from my first migraine in months that laid me flat for a few hours, I really enjoyed the trip. Although, given the predominant theme of my photos you'd think I'd never seen a damn horse before. My mom will like them, though!

Hi Mom!

I am truly chagrined that due to said headache I missed out on the Midnight Easter Vigil. The ceremony is extraordinarily beautiful and, again, very similar to the Greek Orthodox observance of the holiday. Starting at 11 PM, while Ryan and I napped, Sarah, Tracy, Maggie and Katie stood inside the church with the rest of the village, holding unlit candles. The priest lights the first few candles and as he and the rest of congregation begin sharing their flames with one another, the church slowly grows brighter and brighter. Once the ceremony is over at midnight, tradition states everyone departs the church en masse and sets out for their respective dwellings with the hope that their candles remain lit until they arrive home. While I am sad I missed this, fortunately Sarah took some breathtaking pictures.

This weekend, Ryan and I are taking a bus to Kazanluk and onto Shipka, a small mountain town with a beautiful monastery. And at the end of the month we’re hoping to head out to the Black Sea Coast for some of that proverbial R & R (not that I’m not getting tons of that right now!)

In other traveling news, next month Ryan and two of his friends from the States (Scott and Anna) will be joining us for some “nomad-ing” around Europe. We plan on going to Istanbul and Prague for sure, but are still debating the rest of our destinations. It’s looking like Thessaloniki will be one of them for the purposes of getting my visa... and Ryan is lobbying hard for Amsterdam (Never having been, I'm firmly on board for this one, too.) Perhaps Bucharest? Maybe Budapest? Who knows?

Crap. I just realized I totally forgot to write about our football-fabulous weekend Chirpan three weeks ago. Teach me to be lazy about updating my blog. Oh well. This is getting just a bit too longwinded to go into detail, but I did take some pictures (showcased below) and Ryan has a nice recap on his blog. Pay his site a visit!

'Til next time, folks.