A visit to Lake Matka

It is really nice to get here with a day off before I have to start working. The jet lag sucks but I am making the best of it. I was sooooo tired by the end of the night it wasn't hard getting to sleep. My hosts here offered to take me out sightseeing on Sunday so I gladly accepted their offer. I took it nice and easy in the morning and they picked me up around 11:30. There was 5 of us, Sasha, his girlfriend Janna, Misho, Marko and myself. We all piled into the van started heading for the hills. For me it is just interesting travelling through the streets here looking at the people and the normal things. I am sure that is lost on the people who live here everyday but it was interesting just to look out the window as we travelled through town. We were headed to a place called Lake Matka which is a popular place for people in Skopje to visit on the weekends. It is about a 30 minute drive out of town. Once we left the edge of town they mentioned that we were going to be travelling through some Albanian neighborhoods. I got the impression that the Albanians must be conidered to be 'simpler' people. Honestly, it didn't seem to be radically different to me. I did see a few tractors and such so I suspect the Albanians might keep to themselves and be a bit poorer than the average Macdonian.

We travelled up a narrow winding road for a while and came to a place that was packed with parked cars next to a river. This is where we parked and the rest of the trip was on foot. We passed a few street vendors with large sacks of what looked like nuts or beans or something that you could buy to eat while you walked. We started to trip up the hill to the lake and you could tell it was a popular spot because there were lots of other people. We passed a little family of bulls wandering freely on the trail. I was wearing a bright red shirt so everyone joked that I better be careful. I was more worried about stepping in a pile of cow poop. I seem to be drawn to that stuff.

Part way up the trail we came upon a big dam. The dam created sort of a lake on the other side. It was a bit smaller than what I might usually consider a lake. I could probably throw a rock across Lake Matka with no problem but I guess it probably qualified. The trail and the lake were in a big canyon between to mountains. The mountains were very steep and a popular place for rock climbers. At the end of the trail was a big restaurant with lots of outdoor seating. The restaurant was built into cave so it went back into the mountain. There was also a Monastary from the 1400's. We took a look in the small church and it was like stepping back in time. The walls were covered with paintings that told stories from the bible. It was a quiet and solemn place. Sorry no pictures are allowed in church. We were a little hot and tired from the hike so we found a nice spot on the big patio and enjoyed the scenery with a coke. The patio was packed. These are the places where I really notice that I am in another country. My hosts are very polite and usually speak english around me but in a crowded place like this you hear the buzz of other people talking in a language that I can't understand. It is fun just checking out the people. People look and dress differently.

After we finished our drinks we decided to rent a boat with a guide that would take us up Lake Matka. Near the end of Lake Matka there is a cave that you can go into. So we did a little cave exploring and then returned to the boat. As luck would have it, started to rain on the trip back. The boat had a sun shade but it wasn't a proper roof so the trip back was a little wet.

We hiked back down the trail and returned to town to eat. We went to a part of town that was a really old Turkish bazaar. Unfortunately all of the shops were closed because it was Sunday. We had a nice lunch with traditional Macedonian food. After eating and a couple of glasses of wine it was time to head back to the hotel for a little nap. Jet lag sucks.