From Sofia to ...

I wake up, pack my stuff and go to the center with my host Zdravko who needs to sort out some administrative stuff. Meanwhile i check out the hot water springs on a central square of Sofia, the oldest market hall and a couple surrounding streets, it is a very short stay in Sofia and i wish i did not have to get to Istanbul and had time to visit a little more, check out how things look at night, have a couple beers and meet some young Sofiots.
But we head back of and i have to make it further. Zdravko drops me at a petrol station and i ask very car that doesn't have Sofia plates if they go to Plovdiv or to the boarder. Finally a young kind Bulgarian smiles and says yes. He has a funny voice, a little belly and looks a little like Winnie the Pue to me, cute, smiling and round (not fat). We talk about economic situation, fishing huge over sized old fishes, electrical plants and jobs.

His old golf takes us to destination but first we need to make a pertrol stop. In these regions, people never tank up a full tank, they always go little by little as they need it Money is always low... we need to make a stop on a building sit, my driver rents cherry picker. I have long though these were machines to pick cherries but after a couple confusions, i am explained they are used on construction sites to reach high places, fix electrical lines etc... So we need to go and see one of his machine that is not working anymore on a building sit. he is stressed, hoping it is nothing bad. The business is already difficult to run like this. Fortunately nothing bad, just small electronic issue. We go home and as night is falling he proposes i can sleep at his guest house for 5 euros and be ready tomorrow early. Good idea, we go for some nice qofte, delicious meet balls served with a salad for a very modest price. Before going to sleep i write, he has to sort out some administrative work, fill out his accountability... ahh Europe's bureaucratic obligations... it was not always like this in Bulgaria. Now he even needs a certificate for his cherry pickers... of course they are old and even passing the examination would be to expensive so he needs to make a fake...