Red-green travelers in black Albania

Albania was a blank spot on the map for us. 'Don't go to Albania, it's dangerous...'. Surrounded by ex-Yugoslavian countries and Greece, Albania presents itself in a completely different way. It feels a bit like being transported to Southeast Asia: in traffic, there is only one rule: there are no rules. Cars park on the street, dogs stand motionless in the roundabout while cars and bicycles go around them, many people pedal slowly on their rusty bikes, traffic lights and pedestrian crossings are ignored, people walk across the street regardless of traffic, and there are many wrong-way drivers. But you get used to all of this relatively quickly. People have set up small shops everywhere on the sidewalks and sell all sorts of things: shoes, clothes, mirrors, as well as lots of fruits, vegetables, and meat. Carriages loaded with animals pass by, dead chickens are attached with their feet down to bicycles, and there is also street food here and there. To be honest, we experienced a bit of culture shock, but we quickly overcame it and immersed ourselves in and began to enjoy the atmosphere.

We became aware of Florian's Guesthouse in Shkodar, Northern Albania through Hippohelp and asked if we could help him for 6 days and in return get free accommodation and meals. Florian runs a hostel where you can experience Albanian country and family life up close. We are given two beds in the dormitory. We share breakfast and dinner with his family. Jakob helps him with the revision of his website and with job applications to Europe, as Florian wants to work in another country over the winter. Miriam supports his sister Ella during this time, who is a cook in a small restaurant. Miriam's experience from her student job in the Schlappen-Küche in Freiburg is useful, and together, Ella and Miriam prepare finger food delicacies for a catering order for 30 people. We help the family with their Christmas decorations and are allowed to decorate their plastic tree with kitschy ornaments. 90% of the food in Florian's hostel is self-produced, and we enjoy homemade soup, baked eggplant and peppers, homemade bread, cheese, as well as pancakes and eggs for breakfast. Garlic is snacked on alongside every meal, and Florian's record is 36 garlic cloves in one evening. We are slowly getting used to these traditions and consume around 5 garlic cloves per meal. After dinner, we are served different types of homemade wine and have a lot of conversations with Florian about our travel experiences. We even got to witness a chick hatching from its egg in the warm oven, and Miriam got to hold it in her hand. However, we also experience the darker sides of rural life: the family owns several animals, and one morning they slaughter one of their sheep for a barbecue next week. The weeping of the second sheep, who is now alone and calling for its companion, accompanies us for several days. The four pigs will also be slaughtered for the Christmas dinner. The farm dog is chained to its doghouse and during our time here, it is not allowed to run around and has to sit in its own feces. Our attempts to help it are stifled by the family, as it is the father's responsibility to take care of it, which he does not do. All of this is very difficult to bear, especially for Miriam, as well as the countless stray dogs and cats who rummage through the garbage every day in search of food.

In addition, the cold here is very difficult for us to handle: the hostel has several residential complexes, but only a small single room is heated by a stove. Our bedroom is just as cold as in a tent, and especially in the evenings, we can only stay in the heated room. As a result, we sit together with the family (mom, dad, Florian, 2 sisters, and a niece) in the small room every evening. The conversations with the other family members except Florian are monosyllabic because they hardly speak English, the television is on the whole time, and there are a lot of phone calls. Since the family is very religious (Catholic), mom and dad pray the Ave Maria every evening at 9 o'clock, which plays loudly from the music system. We can hardly shower here because it is a solar shower and there is only enough warm water for one person each day. One evening, a couple from France is staying as guests in the hostel, and they are traveling to Vietnam in their van. For us, it is an interesting experience because we can have entertaining conversations with them in English. In our free time in the afternoon, we often wander around the center of Shokdar, but unfortunately, it is already very cold and not light for long, so we often sit in a warm cafe. One day, we finish early and ride old rusty bikes to a bridge from the Ottoman era. The crystal clear and shimmering blue water of the river looks so beautiful that we can't resist jumping in for a short swim. We estimate that it is around 10 degrees Celsius, but at least we get a little shower this way.

The people are very friendly and helpful, and we have already been accompanied by curious teenagers who made fun of our big backpacks. Since our borrowed bicycles don't have a lock, we always have to leave them unlocked on the street. While they would have been taken in Freiburg, they are still in the same place here in Albania. It is also interesting that we are the only people walking around in colorful clothes and not wearing black jackets. We feel a bit like exotic birds.

Now we have arrived in Tirana, where Julia will join us this evening and accompany us for 2 weeks.

Since it is getting colder here all the time and winter can no longer be denied, we have decided to fly to South America. On January 4th, 2019, we will fly from Rome to Argentina!