Making It To Krushevo

Jane and Ellen strike a pose in Krushevo

In Macedonia, the journey tends to be half the adventure.  For instance, take last Friday when Ellen, Jane, and I decided it was about time we visited the town of Krushevo.  I called the bus station the day before to confirm the time but when we showed up then, it turns out the van really leaves an hour later.  Oh well, it gave us time to grab tost, the Macedonian version of a panini.  Once on our way, our van gets flagged by the police, forcing everyone to get out for about 5 minutes and then get back in to continue on.  Why did we get stopped?  Who knows.  Then, 15 minutes later, our van broke down.  Luckily this happened on the edge of a town, so when I driver wandered away and didn't return for awhile, we started walking around town asking about taxis.  The third person we asked called a taxi for us and once again, we were on our way and arrived at our final destination. 

Our first stop was a museum devoted to Tose Proeski, a Macedonian singer who died in 2007 at age 26 in a car crash.  Tose's following was huge, something I might liken to Elvis except in addition to his music he was also known for his humanitarian work.  As an outsider, I cannot truly appreciate how beloved Tose was but I have seen people brought to tears by the memory of him.  For a clip of him performing a traditional folk song, click here.  At the museum they have many artifacts from his life, from costumes and musical instruments to the more unusual like his dental floss, nunchucks, and murse (that's man-purse for the uninitiated, something that is totally acceptable here but still makes me shudder to see men carrying).  At any rate, it was fascinating to see how tribute was paid to this recent icon who is remembered practically as a saint.

Next came some of what we call "glamour shots" (fun photos) in front of a memorial to the Illinden Uprising of 1903, a short-lived independence from the Ottoman Empire.  The memorial's strange and large visage brought to mind the Death Star to us and Ellen impressed us with her ability to hum the Star Wars music.

Jumping for joy at having finally made it to Krushevo

Afterwards, we killed time before our next van ride by drinking coffee and watching the Macedonians cheer on their national basketball team.  The national team signed on a player from New Orleans, Bo McCalebb, giving him Macedonian citizenship although I read that he really only knows some cuss words in Macedonian--not that I'm saying that's a bad place to start in terms of learning the language.  McCalebb has received much of the credit for the team's great performance in the European Championships and the team got a heroes welcome when the returned to Skopje on Monday. 

Townspeople watching the Macedonia basketball game against Spain

Lest this post go on and on, I can say the rest of the day went smoothly and was capped off a stop at the country's one and only Thai restaurant.  I am hoping that the next time I eat Thai food will be in Thailand on my trip home but I haven't booked anything there--yet.