Hiking in Bulgaria

In people's lives there are great decades, great years, and great months. These however are all made up of great days. Today was a great day. I had one of the best days of my life today hiking through the mountains at 7500 feet among pristine lakes and patches of snow on Pirin mountain in south west Bulgaria.

The weather was a perfect fall day: crisp air, clear sky, and plenty of sunshine. Pirin mountain is a group of sharp peaks, granite rocks, green valleys, and many beautiful lakes. I was with my Bulgarian friend Miro and a friend of his. I arrived in Bulgaria a few days ago and was staying at Miro's house in a college town in the mountains. Today he was going to show me his backyard: Pirin mountain. I feel most at home and most at peace when I am walking the mountains with no one talking to me except for the rivers whispering their song in the distance and the wind blowing through the trees. The mountains are my church.

We followed the trail for an hour or so and saw some beautiful lakes nestled in among the peaks. The path was getting steeper but I still wanted more physical exhaustion. I could see the peak we were headed to in the distance and I left the trail to hike straight up the face of the mountain hand over foot leaping among the granite rocks. I reached the peak 2 hours later and could see the Bulgarian mountain chain stretch on in all directions. The valleys below were scattered with lakes of a color I had never seen before. It must have been a combination of my physical exhaustion and the beauty of the mountains but I felt a peace come over me that I have rarely felt. It made me feel totally at ease and happy with my life. Standing on that peak I began to think about all the everyday things that people worry about and how we spend so much time worrying about the things we cannot control.

As I stood on that peak the economy of my country and many other countries was collapsing. People's lives savings are disappearing, students are losing their student loans (something that has caused me some consternation). Standing on that peak it made me realize that things are going to happen the way things are going to happen. Things will either get worse or they will get better but all the worrying in the world cannot change things. It is like the mountains I was looking at: they were there before and they will be there long to come. It does us no good worrying about the things we cannot control. Life is short and we need to make the most out of every minute we have on this planet. Today I had a great day. When I am on my deathbed I want to be able to say that I lived a great life. In order for me to do that I know I need to pack in as many great days as possible.

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Miro and Boris joined me shortly after on the peak and we all looked at each other with the knowledge that we were experiencing something amazing. On the opposite side of the peak from where we came from there were two small lakes surrounded by soft green fields. We decided to hike down to them and eat our lunch. At this point I had been in Bulgaria about 4 days and all the food I had eaten was grown within a 10 mile radius of my friends house. Our lunch was one of the best meals I have ever had. After 3.5 hours of hiking anything would have been great but this lunch was amazing indeed. We had fresh feta cheese, homemade bread, delicious tomatoes and cucumbers, Bulgarian sausage, and letanica (best described as Bulgarian bruceta). We washed it all down with spring water from a nearby stream. After we ate I lied down on the grass and dozed off under the afternoon sun.

When I awoke it was time to head down the mountain. On the walk down I had more time to take in the views surrounding me. Today was a day I will not soon forget