Today is the last day of SIT State Building and Human Rights in the 'South Balkans' summer semester... (whatever the South Balkans means.) To celebrate we went to a village about 30 minutes from Ohrid for a donkey-tour and a traditional meal. The donkey ride was wonderful, it was organized by a village that survives by collecting and selling mainly wild strawberries, thyme, and boletus mushrooms. My donkey was named 'muzika' and was typically stubborn.
We toured a very nice pristine valley where the village goes to collect natural items. There was one small incident, however when a male donkey decided to... express his interest in a nearby female. The villagers needed to wrestle him off her which became further complicated when his hoof got stuck in her saddle.
We continued by eating a traditional meal: complete with fresh strawberry juice and the best yogurt I've ever had.
Of course it wasn't complete without a 12-noon shot of rakija. Speaking of rakija. . . next we went to the local homemade rakija still which of course was funded by the Orthodox Church. Finally we went to a second village where they have a 300 yearold tradition of washing rugs in the nearby natural spring. They have routed the water into a dugout stone vat where they rinse rugs from all around the region.
Today is the last day of SIT State Building and Human Rights in the 'South Balkans' summer semester... (whatever the South Balkans means.) To celebrate we went to a village about 30 minutes from Ohrid for a donkey-tour and a traditional meal. The donkey ride was wonderful, it was organized by a village that survives by collecting and selling mainly wild strawberries, thyme, and boletus mushrooms. My donkey was named 'muzika' and was typically stubborn. 
We toured a very nice pristine valley where the village goes to collect natural items. There was one small incident, however when a male donkey decided to... express his interest in a nearby female. The villagers needed to wrestle him off her which became further complicated when his hoof got stuck in her saddle.
We continued by eating a traditional meal: complete with fresh strawberry juice and the best yogurt I've ever had. 
Of course it wasn't complete without a 12-noon shot of rakija. Speaking of rakija. . . next we went to the local homemade rakija still which of course was funded by the Orthodox Church. Finally we went to a second village where they have a 300 yearold tradition of washing rugs in the nearby natural spring. They have routed the water into a dugout stone vat where they rinse rugs from all around the region.
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