Hey all, this post is a little more upbeat than the previous one since I’m back on the road!

I started out Wednesday morning with the hotel’s free breakfast on the 4th floor of the building. The food was pretty mediocre, but the views from the restaurant out over the town of Pogradec were pretty nice.

After breakfast, I decided that I just couldn’t spend another day laying around in the hotel sulking about the car, so I decided to take a stroll around Pogradec and at least see a little bit of the town and kill some time. It was good to see some of the waterfront and get outside.

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After I got back to the hotel and chilled out a while, I asked the girl working the front desk – who I had noticed spoke really good English – if she’d mind giving the mechanic (who speaks zero English) a call to check on the status of the car. Last I had heard, it was either going to be Thursday, Friday, or Saturday when it would be done and that was based upon when the parts were going to arrive. You can imagine how I felt when the girl translated to me “Saturday”. Off the top of my head, I asked her to ask him if it was driveable yet, as I didn’t know which parts we were still waiting for. I was delighted to hear that, yes, the mechanical issues would be fixed by the end of the day Wednesday and that we were still waiting on the new door and vent glass. I told her to let him know that I would be picking the car up the next morning so that I could get to Skopje and that I would bring it back in 2 weeks, after Anna Maria is gone, to have the rest of the work done on it (since I’d already paid for those parts). I was ecstatic at the thought of finally getting out of there the next morning!

A few minutes later, I got a message from the guy that I hit in the other car saying that the insurance that was on Klaus’ car was not valid in Albania and that he wanted 350-400 euros from me to cover the damages on his car. I knew damn well that the insurance was good in Albania because it said so on the insurance paperwork. But he insisted that he was told no by the local branch in Tirana. To make a long story short, I offered him 300 if he’d come by the hotel just to get him off my ass and progress with moving on from this accident. I set out for the ATM and got his money and the money to give the mechanic the next day, and it was quite a wad of Albanian Lek. It really hurt to spend all this money, but I figured I didn’t have much choice – and my main focus was just getting out of Albania.

In the evening, my new buddy Andi got in touch with me to see if I wanted to hang out. Feeling more upbeat about things, I told him sure. He came to the hotel and picked me up and we wound up taking a ride to his village about 15 minutes away. There we met up with his uncle (who had been my tow truck driver) and helped him load some wood in his truck for the winter. After that, we went over to the village watering hole where Andi introduced to me to everyone. They were mostly all fisherman and dang near everybody was Andi’s cousin! We had a few beers there before Andi took me back to the hotel, and I have to say that going to the village was a pretty neat cultural experience. We even set up plans to have a bonfire, music, and grill some of the local fish endemic to Lake Ohrid called Koran when I come back in 2 weeks for the rest of the car repairs – so I’m actually looking forward to the return trip!

The next morning, Thursday, Andi once again showed his hospitality by stopping work to come pick me up from the hotel and take me out to pick up the car. I was very eager to see what it was going to look like and how it was going to drive (and also if so if all of my stuff was still inside). Andi acted as my translator while we got the bill straightened out and then I finally got on my way to Skopje. While the car still has some cosmetic issues, I was glad to find out that it drives straight as an arrow. What a relief!

After the 1 hour process of leaving Albania and entering Macedonia, I put the hammer down to knock out the 4 hour drive to Skopje so I could finally get linked up with Anna Maria and Mary. There was some decent scenery along the way, but I didn’t slow down for many pictures today.

After the tricky process of finding the girls, all was well for the rest of the day. We did some sight seeing around town and then took a cable car up to the top of a nearby mountain at sunset for a great view out over the city.

Skopje is the hometown of Mother Teresa, and it was interesting learning more about her life.

Just a couple of the many many statues that are in the old town of Skopje.

Heading up the cable car for some incredible views.

Finally, at the end of the evening, we went to the Old School Cafe, where I had been scheduled to perform a show on Tuesday before the accident happened. The guy I worked with setting it up had messaged me that many people had inquired about seeing me and we’re somewhat disappointed that I had to cancel due to being stuck in Albania. Since Mary is leaving very early Sunday morning and has to be in Skopje, I wanted to drop in and talk to him in person about the idea of making up the show Saturday night. They were all for it, so I’m excited to get to make that up to them and also to play a show with the ladies in attendance!

That’s all I have for today. Tomorrow, we are headed right back to the Lake Ohrid- although this time on the Macedonian side of the border – to do some hiking and further exploring. I’ll talk to you all again soon!