It had been a propitious day, well worthy of note, for on this day, Benito not only went from Loznica to Belgrade, but also from Belgrade to Sofia, Bulgaria. It started out early enough with a 6 AM wake-up call (if Benito can get up at 6 AM on days like this, why can't he seem to do the same here in Sofia? it surely is a mystery, but in any case, the adventure continues...) from Ljubitsa to prepare himself for the journey. No time for breakfast, or at least, it was breakfast standing up, with a few sips of coffee or so, then it was time to depart the premisese in search of fertile ground. Where the heck is Namania? In Narnia, most likely. Oh, well, there he is, OK, let's get this show on the road! "Idemo!" So onward they went without pause until they got to the bus stop in Loznica. This came as a surprise to Benito, for he had thought that they were somehow going all the way to Belgrade by car. But no, rush, rush to buy a ticket and this was handed to Benito by his friend Ljubica, then he was off on another freight train, so to speak. And so he was, and so he went back to Belgrade.
When he left the bus in the central station, no less than three people asked Benito if he needed a cab to the airport. Propitious? I think not. Portentious? Probably. Outrageous? Probably not. Could it be a sign that Benito should think about going home?? nah. OK, well the next person that should come along to apprehend Benito and his numerous baggage was what you might call a ROM. Supposedly, these guys are everywhere, and he seemed friendly enough, taking all of Benito's bags for him. No doubt, he would have to be paid, but that could wait. For now, he was assisting Benito and that was no mistake. Benito just took this all in as another part of his mission, which was to reach Sofia, Bulgaria. "Bulgarski?" the man asked several times. and another taxi driver, who was probably in on the deal, spoke English and directed him in another direction. Then the second man, another ROM, showed up and started speaking Serbian to his compatriot. This was a comedy of errors, for Benito had bought another ticket without needing to and was headed in the wrong direction, until the second ROM showed up and directed them in a different direction. "Yes, Mr. Cabby-Man," it is the other way, for he want go Sofia! So that was how the Serbian cookie began to crumble. Then they took him to this cafe, and he received a call from Sajna who was like, "Where the f$** are you?" And Benito was like, "I dunno, some cafe". And Sagna was like, "Come outside so I can see you!" So Benito was like "Ok". So out he went with one of the dudes and paid him off along the way, speaking in Serbian to Sagna who was starting to have a panic attack. But no matter, for Benito was in Serbia. The dude told Benito that Sagna would be coming to the cafe and offered him a cigarette which Benito took readily, thinking that this was the most expensive cigarette he would ever have. When they got back to the cafe, the dude motioned to the other dude to follow him and then, they were gone. Benito was left to read his 'Dracula' book and contemplate the cigarette, which smoked like incense over his table as others looked on. Benito received another call from Sagna, who still couldn't find the place, so Benito came out and put another lady on the phone to speak with her, and finally they found each other. And Sagna was like, "I'm gonna kill you!" But they had found each other finally at the bus stop, so they went back to the dingy cafe and talked for about half-hour until Sagna had to leave. They hugged goodbye, and Sagna went on her way. Benito was then apprehended by several 'Gypsy' children wanting a free hand-out, and Benito gave it them, buying one of their little icons for no less than 600 dinars (!). That was something indeed, but then they came back for me. Luckily, the older gypsies seating next to Benito were like, "Get the hell outta here!" And Benito was like "Thank you very much". But then they were like "Eh, children." And Benito was like "yeah, kids". Then Benito was about to leave when the soldier sitting nearby was like " You need some help with your baggages?" And Benito was like "Sure!" and so he sat down next the Serbian soldier and had a round on him. It was like he had already paid six hundred dinars for one beer, but in any case, he was glad for it. They had a nice chat, talking about how the Serbs never get out much, but in any case, he had relatives in north Germany which he had never visited. His name was Ivan and he had to leave the same time as Benito, so off they went but Benito had need to use the bathroom facilities. Unfortunately, this was not possible right away. But in any case, it happened that Benito had learned a few words in Serbian, at least enough to ask where the bathroom was. Of course, there was no bathroom on the bus, so Benito asked a few times and finally, after a discussion with a Texan (fellow American) on the bus who was sitting in the second row and suggested that Benito shrug and point to his watch, saying that usually does the trick, but then Benito finally got the phrase right saying, "Gde je toiletta" and the next thing he knew, the bus was stopping for a pit break. Fantastic!
They switched up the buses in Nis and from there, Benito and the Texan took a mini-bus, which departed soon after they had shown their passports. The funny thing was, as they passed some quaint little towns near the eastern Serbian border, the number of times they would have to show their passports on the Bulgarian border. First, there was the Serbian border, then the Bulgarian, and finally the check point. By the time they were done, a Serb had been yelled at by both the border patrol and the bus driver, for he had not had the proper VISA or something. Us Americanski's were let off the hook no problem. It had been an eventful ride, going through the mountain passes with multiple policemen on board, no doubt patrolling the towns near the border. In fact, Benito felt safer with their presence on board.
Finally arriving in Sofia, Benito did a double-take and was like "this is it?" And so it was. Sofia, Bulgaria. He had just written a Facebook update before his phone said "Welcome to Bulgaria!" and then went dead. Well, all's fair in love and war, and none of the above were in question now, so Benito made his way to the point where the people wait for the buses (accidentally forgetting his little suitcase on board. Oh, well, so much for playing any music!) No worries, he would buy some more later ( or so he thought...), but now he needed some way to make contact with his hosts in Sofia, so he borrowed this dude's phone, who was either Bulgarian or Turkish, benito couldn't really tell, but he was on his way to Turkey at the moment. The Texan dude was like "Why don't you borrow a phone from the conductor dude?" and the man was like, "Sofia?" And it took benito a few "Om's" before he came up with the correct response: "Yes!" So he got to use the man's cell phone and the man even spoke in Bulgarian to Kalin & Elena so that they knew where to pick him up. It had been very kind of him. So that was that. And soon enough, Kalin arrived, but not before the Texan's beautiful friend from bulgaria had arrived and given him a proper greeting. The man and Benito just sort of looked at each other's shoes at that point, not knowing what to say after a discussion including how much snow Sofia had gotten recently and which city was best compared to Sofia: between Belgrade, Bucharest, and Istanbul. Sofia was judged to be a fairly nice city overall. And benito appreciated the imput, but was very glad to see Kalin indeed when he got to the bus stop. So that was how the Bulgarian cookie crumbled.
The stopped briefly at a gas station to fill up and then Kalin was pointing out the mountain which Benito couldn't really make out in the dark, but in the morning it greeted him serenely and he received quite a sight of it, away up high in the distance, but very close by. They would climb it on Friday, but for now, Benito was content to look up at it, like a distant Mt. Fuji (another mountain on Benito's list!) or Kilimanjaroo, and he received great inspiration, even though Kalin thinks his cursive script looks like Chinese! haha. Well, that was that and he had a good night's rest on the, you guessed it, leather sofa! Haha. Well, they certainly had the nicest shower Benito had ever seen, so with these plush accomodations, Benito was all set to have the time of his life! They went into the city on Thursday, after having gone running and yoga on Wednesday. Kalin's yoga studio was very close by and he was treated to a special practice session with the "Non-stop Yoga" technique, which involved about one hour of breathing exercises before going on to the different positions. No matter, Benito would master the technique, if it took him all night. The most eventful part of the evening came when Kalin helped Benito to do the head-stand for the very first time. Miraculous! Benito definitely felt transformed after completing that yoga position. He had to kill some time before it got started, which he did by chanting "Shanti, shanti, shanti" and some other Vedic mantra's. It was quite something, and then they went on to do some similar chants in the class. but first, Elena had to clean. Benito walked around the studio three times before going to change himself. It was quite the spiritual experience complete with the different mantra's on the wall, different symbols for them, that is. And Benito did not take any pictures, lest he disturb the spirits at rest in that place on the second floor of this building in 'Studenskigrad'.
The following day, they went downtown with Kalin and Benito meeting up with Elena at the designated meeting place, while first snapping a pic of the National Library with a statue of Cyril & Methodius, the inventors of the Cyrillic alphabet. Then they all went together to the cathedral to pay homage to the gods of Bulgaria, lighting some candles, being careful that they were for the living and not the dead! And then went to pay respects to the icons near the front, Benito snapping pictures of the many lions, etc. And that was all well and good. They had wanted Benito's pocket change at the front of the church, but Benito knew he couldn't help out every homeless person that came across his path, so he said "No, thank you" to them.
Then, Benito went on his way, stopping to take a look at some icons. These were very nice and Benito had his pick of the lot, but buy none he did for he had no 'leva' on hand, so instead they went to catch a glimpse of the Parliament Building and various other sights, such as the Natural History Museum, the Russian Orthodox Church, the National Theater, which Benito would visit later on, as well as the President's Building. 
It was all quite nice and Benito had his fill. They walked down the main street full of shops, stopping nowhere. He even saw a 'Mr. Pizzza', thinking oh, maybe I could work there! But he did not speak bulgarian, so... he'd probably be assigned to washing dishes. But, no matter, for Benito was in Sofia and here, time is money. Or is the NYC? In any event, they came to the Pleasure Palace, but did not go inside. Boy, that sure sounds like a Whorehouse in Thailand, but c'mon, there's so much more to see, for Benito would have another trip into the city on Saturday, and then another following on Monday, in which he would encounter many good looking gals, including one who even gave Benito the time of day to tell him which bus to catch. The 280 bus. but that's another story.
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