Meditating with the Llamas

Ok, I lied, they are actually alpacas, llamas has a better ring to it though for the obvious reason!

Continuing our adventure in Romania, me and my son made our way from Transylvania and the land of vampires to a plot of land east of Bucharest and home to eight alpacas with long necks and which I’m sure would be quite appealing to the odd vampire or two.

On arrival we were introduced to them all by their names, personalities and their stories. I’m sorry, I really can’t remember a single thing about any of them but I do remember that they all had their hair cut the day before and I think their new hair styles gave them a certain edge of confidence and maybe even a bit of an attitude as they roamed around the place like they owned it and meant it. I guess they did to an extent.

However, this retreat is owned and managed by Ruxi with help from her parents. Only set up last year, they provide rooms to stay in, a restaurant, a place to relax and also a garden specifically for meditation or yoga and as many photo opportunities with the alpacas as you have space on your phone.

After enjoying my meditation and my yoga in India, I have to say that I jumped at the chance to do it surrounded by these animals. In fact alpacas are used quite a lot as therapy animals because of their very calm disposition, their social and friendly nature, lifting people’s spirit and helping with depression and anxiety. ‘They are also known to be very intuitive and responsive to people’s emotional needs providing almost sixth sense that allows them to adjust their behaviour and provide comfort in a way that feels tailored to each individual.’ (not my words but I couldn’t have put it any better!) My son in particular loved the experience of spending time with the alpacas and I found it a bit hard when it was time to move onto our next destination, over the border and into Bulgaria.

We had ear marked three coastal towns to check out which had all been recommended to us by people we had met in Romania. I did feel that arriving in Bulgaria was like stepping back in time and as the weather was amazing it was understandable that the beaches would be busy, rammed in fact.

We also came across some very interesting characters.

We kept moving along the coast determined to find the perfect beach and the perfect sea. I think this is where we got the idea to travel and go from the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria right over to the west to Albania and swim in the Adriatic and the Ionian Sea. To do this we needed to not only cross Bulgaria but also North Macedonia and a bit of Kosovo before reaching Albania’s southern coast where we then planned to get the ferry over to Corfu and a flight back to the UK.

Quite a trek, it meant that my son was invested in the trip and was happy to spend more quality time with his mother, that’s me. One week had turned into two now potentially three, but that was as far as I dared to push him. Our own ‘Race Around the Balkans’ had started and we were well and truly up against time.

The good thing was that we had a plan, which up to that point, I had no plan. So, there we were on the coast in Varna, when we decided to catch a train all the way across Bulgaria to Sofia.

This was no ordinary train though. The people that worked on the train were brought in from a different era, like the communist one in fact. Their customer service was much to be desired. Their rudeness and ‘couldn’t give a shit’ attitude wouldn’t be out of place, say 30 or 40 years ago, this train was definitely stuck in some time warp, funnily enough I quite liked it, it was very nostalgic for me and brought back a lot of memories from my time travelling in Poland when I was younger.

This was also the first time since my son arrived that I really wanted to write. I left him listening to his headphones and his music and moved to the carriage next door, the restaurant carriage. Tables, a light, internet, moving scenery, I found it all to be quite inspirational not sure whether that was brought on by nostalgia or because it wasn’t a bus.

From the minute I entered the carriage though, I felt eyes burrowing on me. The women positioned at one end must have known I was a foreigner. The carriage was empty but for me and the four of them. They looked, sneered and obviously bitched about me. I can’t speak Bulgarian but I know what a dirty look looks like. There was no way I was going to let this group of women take this inspirational moment away from me.

I presumed it was because I had sat down in the carriage, at a table and hadn’t ordered anything to eat or drink so I went to the counter and ordered a tea and made a real song and dance of it. They didn’t have any, there was only water, coffee or beer. I hate beer and coffee, water it was then, I happily paid for the bottle, said a loud thank you, smiled and held it in front of me as I walked past the others making sure they saw that I had indeed purchased something and was now legitimately allowed to sit in the restaurant carriage.

I sat back down and started to write and the atmosphere in the carriage changed instantly. The women started smiling, not only that, they put on music on their speaker and started singing and even dancing in the aisle. Now, I don’t know whether they had been drinking and were now pissed or whether they were trying to put me off whatever it was that I was doing or maybe they just wanted to show the ‘foreigner’ that Bulgarians are actually really fun and it was all a massive wind up. I was dreading being pulled up to dance, or maybe I would have liked to have been asked. Feel as if I kind of missed out.

I sat there for four hours drinking my bottle of water very slowly, only because I didn’t actually want to use the toilet on the train. I think I had already decided that it would be best to hold everything in till we arrived in Sofia. This was quite a mean feat, (I think that’s the right phrase to use in this case.) Normally I need to go every hour so for me not to go and use the toilet for four hours can only indicate that I was most probably well and truly dehydrated, too engrossed in my writing or really petrified of using the toilet.

I wrote and wrote and occasionally looked up at the changing Bulgarian landscape passing by or at the sun setting, the dancing ladies, the interesting and odd characters coming into the carriage. I loved every moment of my journey and I have to admit I found it really easy, if not easier, sitting there and focusing on writing in this busy setting than in a quiet room. I do think that I write better in cafes, pubs, waiting rooms, somewhere where there are people or things going on. It does actually help me to concentrate more. I think it’s because sitting there alone, I have to look like I’m doing something rather than nothing and not coming across a bit weird.

We arrived in Sofia late and I had booked a hotel close to the train station which just happened to be above a casino and which my son was rather delighted about. So, carrying on with the ‘cool mum’ theme, of course we had to try it out. My son dressed up in a new shirt and was expecting a scene from a Bond movie, instead it turned out that he was the best dressed person in the entire casino including the bouncers. There was also a lot of smoking and drinking going on. I absolutely hated it, found the whole place and all the men rather sleazy (yes, mainly men!) I stuck to my son like glue and have never felt so relieved having him by my side. He had one go on the roulette table and won. We left eight euros up but I think even my son was disappointed with the attire of the clientele and the sleaziness of it all. Still it was an experience that we will remember forever and the main thing is we got out alive so that was a pretty good result!

We explored Sofia in a day which was great. Then caught a bus to Skopje, North Macedonia and also explored it in a day and we booked to stay on a ship that was a hotel and on the river, right in the centre which was also a great experience.

However, that evening in the distance there seemed to be some kind of a fire coming in quite close to the capital. Our hotel was wooden, which could have been a problem, but it is a ship and it was sitting in water so I felt quite safe in the knowledge that we should be OK in the middle of the night and would probably make it through to the morning.

Luckily we did and were able to carry on making our way to Albania by bus but had to change buses in Ferizaj in Kosovo as apparently they have a great motorway and it was the fastest way to travel. The only problem was that it might have had a great motorway in that part of the country but it wasn’t quite geared up for tourists. They didn’t have any cash points in the bus station, didn’t take credit cards they also didn’t speak English and had non existent Wi-fi. I honestly didn’t know how we were going to get out of Kosovo. I felt a bit stuck, but not stressed funnily enough. Didn’t even have a single Euro on me to use the toilet or feed my starving son!!!. I wondered what a contestant in our position would have done on ‘Race Around the World?’

As luck would have it, I found a coin on the ground so was able to use the toilet and I found some old pastries at the bottom of my bag so could feed my son. Some kind person took us to a minibus that was destined for our final destination more or less and the driver didn’t care what notes he was given as long as they were notes. He got a mixture of dollars and pounds and was rather pleased and so were we. Result. We had an escape route out of Kosovo, but as the bus set off, there was an ever so slight feeling inside of me that wondered whether we were even heading in the right direction, or even to the right country.

Many hours later we did in fact arrive in Albania and I have to say it was stunning. The scenery driving through Albania was beautiful as were the beaches and once again we made three different stops along the coast. Each town was different from the other but it is definitely a country I would love to return to and explore some more.

We spent our last day together lazing about in the sea and by the hotel pool, soaking up the sun and taking in the last of our breath-taking views. I did actually shed a tear or two and was sad about having to go back home as this time with my son had been both amazing and priceless. What started off for my son as a one week holiday in Bucharest in fact turned into three weeks travelling through five countries using every mode of transport we came across apart from a donkey.

These three weeks spent with my son have for me and I hope for him been a time for us to reconnect to learn more about each other and to share an experience that will stay with us both for a very long time, or at least till our next adventure wherever that may take us…

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