Jeremiah Watt Cycling around God's Creation

Blog 7-Life behind Bars part 7

By Jeremiah Watt-saddlemaker on July 19, 2017

Our galavanting traveler has been running with his wife for the last 7 days, and he is elated that she came to join him……..but that is ending all too soon. Our solo cyclist will be SOLO once again as of Thursday morning.

So what all happened while you were not here to watch? Quite a bit if you want to know. We enjoyed such luxuries as $24.00 a night DELUX accomodations. FOLKS – I wrote the book on spoiling women while we travel, ever need advise on such matters just drop me an email. We took in 12,794 religious sites, cathedrals, convents, seminaries, a gas station and a funeral home.

During 7 days of travel, we hit 4 different countries, spent a total of 6 hours plus passing  various border crossings, with the longest and slowest being that crossing from Ukraine into Slovakia……that was a real cat herding scenario that we survived. Fell in love with Romania all over again, I was worried that I would not like it as much the second time around but that was not the case. Mom loved it too which made it all the more fun. Rural Romania requires a visit, much more interesting than city life for me.

Ukraine, have to say that I feel sorry for the country. It was not long ago that a lengthy discussion broke out about poverty and how poor Poland was. Let me just say that Poland is approx. 3 times as wealthy in GDP per capita. I always thought Bulgaria was the poorest, but it is actually 2.35 times as wealthy as Ukraine which comes in at the very bottom of pooerest countries west of Russia. An amazing 2015 statistic of $2,145.00 euros per person per year. And as SOON as you cross that border you know you have just driven off the end of poverty street into the empty lot known as destitution. The crossing from Romania into Ukraine, then the crossing out of Ukraine into Slovakia was susch a dicotomy of poverty/wealth that it left you agast at the differences. It raises questions to no end, for instance the opportunity to attain democracy happened fo4 all these countries with the fall of the wall…..how can there journey towards democracy look so different at this stage.

 

Is the Ukraine under such poor political leadership, was the educational standards of Ukraine that vastly different before the wall fell? Understand that Ukraine is a huge country as european countries go, with a fairly sparse population per sq/km as averaged. It is like driving off Hawaii onto the surface of the moon different though, which is hard to fathom. I wont bother with a lengthy diatribe on how bad tjjis and that were, suffice it to say that if you take a rental car…….BUY THE EXTRA DAILY INSURANCE RIGHT THERE WHEN YOU RENT THE CAR AND NOT ONLINE. And take every piece of paperwork with you that pertains to the car, make sure you have it ALL.

twice now, I have had the chance to sit and dine with Monks as I traveled. Once with my son Pine on a mountaintop Monestary called Rarauliuli. I never actually thought that would happen again……..maybe because I didn’t include God in my doubts? Mom and I were walking the Budestci Monestary, nobody else was up there since it is quite literraly at the end of a rough and lonesome road. All the structures are wood, with a huge new building jsut being built at this time, by a crew of just 2 men for the whole structure. Further down the mountain we met the man who is hand making all the bajillion cedar shingles to be used.

A lone voice calls out in Romanian, so I walk over and introduce myself to Priest Clavanic. He spoke quite good english I found after I introduced myself and Colleen. His first question was about my faith, was I of any faith? My reply was I am Christian which seemed to please him but he still wantrd to know more. We talked for maybe half an hour out on the front porch of the expansive a monestary where he has studied for half his life now. You must have lunch with me he said, and led us indoors to a very simple kitchen room. We had cabbage soup, and fried golden bream fish, along with many questions, and much time with a dictionary translator not google translator. Please ask me questions was his most common statement to us.

The more questions you ask, the more I know about both you and your understanding of the faith we proclaim. His english was very good which caught me off guard?. So I asked him, how did you learn english so well sitting up here on a mountainside for so many years……………… MOVIES……was his reply. Say what.(high squeaky voice required here).

Yup, movies. His favorite movie is…….wait for it……wait……War Room. What a fantastic movie he proclaims, he recommends this movie all the time when he speaks to groups of any denomination. Next is Perfect Stranger. We were told the history of the Orthodox Church, the ramifications of change and politics within the church hierarchy. The afternoon flew by, almost 3 hours later we knew we had to get going but hated to leave.

Rolled out of there and bumped our way down the road into the local town and a huge wooden church built in 1634 and still standing strong today with regular services every Saturday. Along came a cycling group from Poland so we stopped to visit with them for an hour……we had no idea how badly the roads of Ukraine would slow us down next.

We passed thru Ukraine just praying the caar would not be swallowed in any one of the potholes that could as easily have been the excavation for a swimming pool. Holly cow folks, the roads are amazing………….LY BAD. We had a big plate full of perogies, with sour cream and suarkraut. Think of folded dough and inside is a bland of potatoes and bacon or finely chopped ham and onions. Its good stuff if you are raised eating them at farm fall suppers such as we had in Manitoba, Canada.

Headed for Slovakia next morning and the Tatra’s Mountains that are shared with Poland to the north. Drop dead gorgeous scenery, roads that make you embarresed to say your from California. Such a noticeable change in economy, it look much more like Germany or Switzerland when it comes to houses, farm yards etc. Really liked Slovakia when we got off on the small back roads, really liked the character of the region.

Dropped into Hungary once again due north of Budapest. We made several efforts to stop and visit a saddle maker from Krupina Slovakia, our friend Radovan Krkos. But no such luck, coukd not find him anywhere on FB or around the town of Krupina. Sorry Rado, maybe next time. We celebrated our 35th anniversary while in Satu Mare, Romania. Went out for a nice supper at Kios Restaurant. I had a fanastic steak, and mom ordered fish. Great meal, great couple that own the restaurant.