That was Random...

7/26/2009

Day three in Bulgaria was action packed.  After waking up to rain, the aftermath of what was apparently a very large thunder storm around 5am, and having breakfast, I went down to the pier to meet for the “Jeep Safari and Picnic” that I had signed up for through SAS.  Upon walking out onto the pier, I saw a line up of about 15 jeeps and vans, all of which had soft tops on them, and looked very old.  The drivers were also standing in a group, all wearing camo shirts with “Jeep Safari” written in large white letters on them.  We were split in to groups of about 6 and brought to our jeeps.  Because of the rain, the tops were on, but it appeared that they were put on after the rain started, because the cloth seats were pretty damp.    Our driver introduced himself as something that sounded like Andre, and after waiting for all the jeeps to load away we went.  It was funny driving through town in a procession of very old, rugged looking green jeeps, but also a lot of fun.  We were informed that the jeep we were in was 45 years old, and you could tell!  There were rust spots on the door, and one of the doors had to be held shut with a latch like you would find in a public restroom.  There were also no seat belts in the jeeps.  After tearing down the roads with the drivers all honking their horns playfully at each other and playing leap frog, we pulled on to a side road where we drove up a little ways and then stopped.  It had stopped raining, and all of the jeeps took off the covers.  They also did something to the tires of all of them, fiddling with the bolts.  I seemed like they were preparing them for off roading.  We took of driving again, this time on a narrow road through the trees where we drove up to an overlook through the trees.  Bulgaria reminds me a little of Oregon in that it has a lot of lush, green forests.  At the overlook, all of the jeeps stopped, and we all unloaded to walk along a muddy and slippery path to the viewpoint.  It was a short walk, but I still managed to slip in the much.  I caught myself before I fell all the way and only my hand ended up muddy.  The overlook was of the Golden Sands Resort, like I said, they are very proud of that here.  After a little talk about the resort, the leader told us that we should prepare ourselves for some surprises, and we made our way back to the jeeps and reloaded.  The jeeps went flying back down to the main road, and continued along. 
Eventually, we pulled off the road, went through a little dirt area where we stopped to reconvene and replace the tops as it was raining again, and then went tearing through the mud and puddles in true four wheeling fashion.  It was so much fun, and the jeeps were sliding everywhere, but the drivers seemed to know what they were doing.  Three of the jeeps got stuck in the mud and we had to stop and wait for them to get out, and as we were waiting we took the top back off.  It stayed off for the rest of the day, the rain was done.  With the top off, we were able to stand up while the jeep was going, and had much better views of the forests.  After a lot of bouncing along, we ended up back on a windy little road that took us to our next stop.  It was a tiny little building that they presented to us as a “local distillery” but it looked more like the set up you would find in someone’s basement.  A vat was draining through a cloth into a large bucket, and we were told that the brandy distilled there was not only for drinking at meals, but also had medicinal uses.  I’m not sure I believed all of it.  After learning about the distilling process, we got to try the brandy.  They poured it out of plastic water bottles and soda bottles that had been refilled, and it had tiny bits of what looked like dirt floating in it.  Just the smell of it almost made me gag, but I took a tiny sip anyway.  It was NOT good.  One sip was more than enough, and I handed my cup off to someone else who wanted more.
We reloaded the jeeps, and took off tearing through the mud and dirt once more until we made it to our next stop and second surprise.  It was a honey tasting, and it was much better than the brandy tasting.  It was very sweet honey, and was still a little grainy, but overall very good.  Our third stop brought us to the most random part of the day.  After our guide asked if anyone had military experience, and no one had, he told us we would be shooting guns.  In truth, they were pellet guns, and we all got a chance to try to his plastic bottles lined up along the fence.  None of us quite understood why we were in the middle of nowhere in Bulgaria shooting pellet guns, but it was fun, so we didn’t argue.  A little more off roading brought us to our final stop, and our bbq picnic!
We unloaded and sat down to a very good lunch, as well as more brandy, beer and wine.  While we were eating, all of the drivers came out with instruments and sang to us.  First they played traditional Bulgarian music, and then they played songs from the countries of all of the passengers.  My driver was the singer, and he also played a little drum.  After they sang to us, they started playing Bulgarian music again, and we all got up and learned traditional Bulgarian dance.  It was the perfect end to the trip.  After lunch, we headed back and one of the girls in my jeep played the drum and we drove through sunflower fields and more country side.  We made it back to the ship around 4:30, my jeep was the first one to make it back.  After thanking the driver, I ran back to the ship because I was supposed to meet friends at 4, when my trip was supposed to return, for the next activity of the day I had planned.  The jeep safari was a great time, and very random, but it was fun to see the country side of Bulgaria and get out of Varna