'The Hike' - Chapter Five - Memories
Chapter 5:
Day 5:
At this point in the journey, I was deep into it. Every hut and path was a totally different experience, full of new people and possibilities. I had waited long for this trip and planned for it, and although half of the plans failed or evolved and the other half adapted to the ongoing changes, this adventure, as I remember, delivered on every promise. I was thrilled to experience it the whole time, especially after the last day, which had been raining non-stop. This sunny day was just a blessing. We were on our way to Chavdar hut as soon as dawn came. The less I knew about the duration of the next trip, the happier I was. Having these two guys who knew the path and had the necessary information relieved me from the burden of caring for everything by myself. I know there are people who just push through and cannot handle someone else fixing their mess, but I am open to someone else taking the wheel and just driving for a while. It felt like I finally found the time to just ride and I picked shotgun. The guys suggested that since we were under the Mourgash peak, we should go and climb it. Why not? After all, we had another eleven to twelve hours of walking in the mountain. Sometimes I could sound like a spoiled brat, but walking around the Bulgarian forest was the most beautiful experience of my life. Some would say, and by some, I mean only me, that my life can be separated into before and after this trip. We climbed the peak, and it was once again incredible. We saw Sofia and some goats climbing around us. It sounds like the peak is Everest, but when you wake up early with the pain from the last week creeping around, walking a kilometer to the peak may feel overwhelming. I got hold of myself and the pain. The truth is that you can't get rid of the pain, you can only distract yourself enough to finish the task, and that is what I did. After the peak, we walked to a field with an abandoned house that was used by the shepherds in the valley. There, a powerful rain cried upon us for 30 minutes and we sat in the smelly baraka. That is the thing, the weather in the Bulgarian Balkans can switch so quickly it can get pretty scary very fast. The baraka didn't feel safe, neither from the rain nor from the lightning.
Chavdar Hut is one of the most beautiful places in Bulgaria...
I remember in high school going on a similar five-day adventure hike with the whole school. The path follows the steps of Hristo Botev and his soldiers who traveled with the ship "Radetski" on the Danube River to the shores of my hometown Kozloduy. In order to join the uprising resistance against the Ottoman Empire, they walked to the Bulgarian Balkan near Vratsa. There, on peak Okolchitsa in the Vratsanski Balkan, they fought the Turks and Botev met his physical death, only to be remembered and celebrated by the whole nation for future generations. The path is approximately 120 kilometers, and I've done it a couple of times. Both were life-changing experiences. The first I remember as the adventure where I overcame my shame of my body and the second was marked by the most traumatic storm I have ever encountered in my entire life. This storm came from nowhere, exactly after the ecstasy that a friend of mine gave me on the last day. The ecstasy hit me on the dance floor, right in the open air party on the peak. First, I felt the two wind waves, and after them came chaos. Everyone was running for their life, lightning everywhere. The storm was right on top of us, so it almost felt like we were in the storm. Our teacher, poor him, collected us as quickly as he could, putting us in his car. We got inside and discovered that one of our schoolmates was missing. I gathered the energy from the shock and the ecstasy that was hitting me particularly well this time and I ran as fast as I could in the storm to find him. I found this guy with some girl, kissing like there was no apocalypse around us. Love is blind, ladies and gentlemen. I screamed at him to move his ass. Going back to this memory always shocks me, the chaos around me, and the absolute contrast of one of the groups there, the drunks from the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, who were in the back of their truck, listening to music and just having the best time of their lives. Their laughter at the situation and the happiness around the chaotic storm will always amaze me. Finally, the teacher got us all in the car and we were on our way. My whole summer was traumatized. If I heard a storm or even saw a cloud that looked grayish, I was back home, where I felt safe.
Here, I felt at home...
Here in that shack, I felt everything but safe. Luckily, we survived another storm and soon we were on our way to Vitinia. During the day, one of the guys felt pain in his leg and I got so scared of them leaving me that I suggested we take some of his baggage in our bags. Even though my intentions were absolutely pure, I caught that the guy in pain felt that I might steal something. I know I looked insane, but I got offended. The only thing I could do after this feeling was to prove my good intentions and not steal anything. For all of you who wonder how this proving went, yes, I did not steal anything and he thanked me. But not to rush through the story, we found ourselves unable to continue with his leg, so the other guy decided to call a friend of his with a car who could take us for a couple of miles on the asphalt path where the leg was going to suffer the most. We waited for an hour, and the guy appeared. He took us to Arabakonak, where our journey continued. At this point, I felt like our day had to end soon, right? All that drama, we must be close. We were so far from the hut that if I had known exactly how far, it would have probably jeopardized my upcoming success of getting where I was going. During the day, we listened to some music. I played some Fleetwood Mac, some Bob Dylan, you know, the favorites. All of a sudden, we found ourselves in a forest full of raspberries. I ate like crazy. We probably lost a lot of time even though we never really stopped. But I was moving slowly in order to collect as much as I could and eat it as soon as possible. Actually, one of the reasons I cannot wait to do this adventure again is that forest. The sweetest memories of the taste of raspberries follow me to this day.
We found the iconic sign about the nettle and we continued, knowing that Chavdar Hut was getting closer. The sun was going down and I felt exhausted. After a lot more walking, I heard Rexi. Back then, I didn’t know his name and we are talking about a massive dog, going crazy barking at me. I woke up when he appeared in front of me. This is not a dog that can sneak up on you, so the whole time he stood there and waited for me to get closer. For some reason, this barbaric tradition of putting dogs on a metal leash outdoors still exists. But that day, I was glad that there was something stopping him. Now, whenever I go there, I feel sad. There is something so depressing about seeing a living thing in these conditions.
Night 5:
The hut keeper came out from the hut and we immediately had a connection. The hut was actually the best-looking building so far and I found myself really enjoying his company, even after my companions went to sleep, preparing for their next trip. That night was the last time I’d ever see those two, and if they read this somehow, I would like to thank them, especially for the small firecrackers left behind in case I needed to scare a bear away. Those two were good people, but that leg tripped their plan and they found another guy in the hut with whom they traveled by car to their final destination, Masalat Hut. I'll eventually find myself at that hut, but it will take a lot of time to get there. That night, I had a warm shower, which was incredible compared to the last time I had water on me, which was the day before when the clouds decided to pee on me the whole day. After this warm experience, we talked with Ivo, the hut keeper, and I found out that he was looking for someone to help him. The job was for free; all you got was food and a roof over your head. At this point, I was in love with the mountain, so saying yes to this was a no-brainer. I drank a lot that night because I remember stumbling to my bed in the morning. The next thing I can recall is getting up for a second and seeing from the window my companions climbing the path next to the hut, without waking me up. I felt sad because their company was so precious and assuring; it felt safe. After that, I went back into a coma.
Iliya Badev
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