Bulgarian Escapade - Installment #2 Arriving in Plovdiv

Cozied up under my coat, I am spending the first few precious hours before dawn half-dozing, gazing out the window at the Bulgarian scenery, and running through my mind the night's previous events. I am called back to reality by the bus driver, who has stopped the bus. "Plovdiv," he says. The man in front of me asks in Turkish (thank goodness so I can understand) if we are going to the garage. "No, this is where we'll be stopping for Plovdiv," is basically the driver's reply.

I hop down the steps into the grayish morning; it is about 6.45, and cold. I look around me and come to the conclusion that yes, we are on a street somewhere; assuming that the driver knows what he's talking about, I accept that it's a street in Plovdiv. Well, I made it here, so the one thing I set out to do (get across the Bulgarian border with my backpack) I narrowly managed. However, a Bulgarian Aiesecer with LC (local committee) Plovdiv is expecting to meet me at the station at 8.00, and I

1. Don't know where I am in Plovdiv.


2. Don't know how to go about finding out where the bus station is, even if I knew where I was. Hell, I don't even know the name of it.

No problem, I'll just send Svil an SMS (text message). Whoop. My cell phone does not work in Bulgaria, unbeknownst to me. Apparently Turkcell does not play nice with other countries' zones. Strike one.

Okay, I'll go back to the stone age days when folks used pay phones. First I need Bulgarian Leva and it's 7.00. Luckily I've wandered to an area in front of a bank and there's an ATM. Apparently the ATM does not want to play nice either; maybe it's in cahoots with Turkcell. I don't know. Strike two.

That's okay, the bank opens in about an hour or so, I'll just wait for it to open. Wow, it's really cold. I decide to stand just inside this glass door of an office building to avoid becoming a Laura-sicle. Some Bulgarian woman (I still have yet to figure out who exactly she was-a cleaning woman of the building or something?) does not approve of my decision and decides to tell me so. Of course, when she finishes her lecture and looks at me expecting some sort of response, I have no idea what to make of what just came out of her mouth. She motions for me to follow her outside. I do and she goes back inside and closes the door. Well that pretty much made her point now, didn't it? When the bank opens I take my number, and approach the desk to exchange my cash. Thankfully, the teller speaks English. I ask him about a tourist information center, but he has no idea. Also I discover that like most of the phones in Europe, the pay phones in Bulgaria require a special phone card you insert into the phone. That is, you cannot simply use coins. Strike three.

I head over to the ginormous hotel across the street, hoping to make progress in any direction. The reception desk speaks English (+), they have no idea about a tourist info. center (-), but their hotel does sell phone cards (+), and has a pay phone right inside (+). Just a side note, I find out later that a tourist info. center doesn't exist. Anyway, I dial Svil's number to no answer a few times. Strike four. But wait, isn't it three strikes and you're out? It's like when poor Wylie Coyote realizes he's run off the edge of the cliff, and only now just looks down at the deep gorge below causing him to plummet. Yerrrrrrrr outta there!

I feel bad knowing that Svil will be waiting for me at the station, and will probably worry, too, but honestly I am out of ideas at this point. I don't even have a map, and if I did or had asked how to get to the station, I would've only discovered that there are two bus stations and I would've had no idea which one to even make my way to. I decide that it's time to take matters into my own hands. With Wylie's never give up resolve serving as my inspiration, I pack up, zip up, and head out of that revolving glass door.

Stay tuned for Installment #3 - Exploring Plovdiv