Brajchino and Dihovo

This post is woefully out of order and I tried to come up with a valid excuse but I can't. At the same time, I didn't want to skip it altogether, especially lest you miss the pictures. Sans car, it is not the easiest thing to explore the villages of Macedonia although at least it can be done, which I don't think I could say about rural America. And the villages are not to be missed, whether reached by foot or by taxi. In September I did both to see the villages of Brajchino and Dihovo.

Visiting Brajchino was part of a hiking weekend. I joined 4 other volunteers (I was the baby of the group, having only been here a year and they are nearly out the door), first hiking 3.5 hours uphill to the Golemo Ezero (Big Lake) mountain hut in my national park, Pelister. This was slightly easier than in the winter but not much because it's still all uphill. Then for some crazy reason we decided to try and get to the actual peak, which would have been another 4 hours of hiking but turned into 3 after we wandered off trail. It turned out to be a fortunate mistake, though, because we took in the full effect of the sunset over Lake Prespa. Having worked up an appetite, we chowed down back at the mountain hut on some special sausage prepared by our friend and mountain hut proprietor, Pepo.

Setting a new personal record for most hiking in 48 hours, we set off the next day for another 6 hours of walking to the village of Brajchino. The time passed quickly though because the terrain was diverse, the scenery wonderful, and we were kept company by Dum-dum (as we dubbed him), a dog that followed another group up to the mountain hut and we were tasked with escorting back home. Dum-dum didn't always want to stay on the path or partake of the refreshments we offered him, hence his new name, but overall he was a welcome addition to the group. Once in Brajchino, we feasted on Macedonian food served up a wonderful woman named Milka who previously worked with a Peace Corps volunteer. We slept at a monastery called St. Petka and compared to the mountain hut it was like a 5 star hotel but for about $8 apiece. Then, through the magic of Macedonia's van and bus networks, we all made it home without any more walking on our aching legs.

A few days later, I went to the village of Dihovo, only a 15 minute cab ride from Bitola and bordering Pelister National Park. A former Bitola volunteer, Patrice, has been visiting with a group of American tourists and Dihovo was one of the places she focused on during her Peace Corps stint. She helped open two guesthouses in Dihovo, one of which is actually named after her. She also got them listed in Lonely Planet and they've since been shocked by the waves of guests from around the world. I should also mention my former neighbor Heather helped start one of the guesthouses in making microbrews that I look forward to sampling sometime. The day I visited, a local TV crew taped Patrice, the guesthouse owners, and the American guests for a segment on village tourism. Afterwards we were treated to a wonderful dinner of all the local specialties. Like many places around the world, Macedonia's villages are shrinking as more people gravitate towards the cities but I hope they somehow survive, charming and engaging as they are.