Posts have been rare/non-existent over the past few days because Owen has arrived again in Bulgaria from his excursion into Moldova and the internet service that I currently subscribe to is absolutely terrible. Most of the weekend saw little or no internet. I subscribed to a new service Sunday and hopefully I'll have it running by the end of the week.
Yesterday, we left the horrible frustration of Silistra to escape to the coast. Varna in July is invaluable and worth the price of a bus fare there and back and the two hour trip that we needed to do twice in the same day. The sunflower fields are at their peak and there are miles of gold along the country roads leading out to the coast. The weather started out overcast, but the sun burned the clouds away and left a day that was warm, but not to hot. And Varna's air is much drier than the air on the Danube, so it felt much, much cooler.
After the entire Silistra American corps got off the bus, we allowed ourselves to be ripped off by a Varna cab before we learned that a standard cab fare is the same in Varna as it is in any Bulgarian town (50 stotinki per kilometer. If you're curious). We spent four hours on the beach near the sports arena, which we went to on recommenation and was much cleaner and quieter than the beaches in the center. Then we turned around for the bus station, paid less than half the price for a cab, and went back to Silistra refreshed. Good, solid times.
Since then, it's been all home, most of the time. There was a little administrative work to be done today, but relaxing at home is good, and in Silistra's 90 degree weather, I think it's wholly appropriate. Thunderstorms will come tonight though, and although it's always a gamble, they may cool things down around here. But that's really summer in Bulgaria, hot days and stormy nights and the weekends on the coast that make it all worth it.
Posted by Rob at July 11, 2005 05:53 PM