Pellumbas Cave, 4/15/11

Today we visited a town about 45 minutes away from Tirana where there is a cave - Pellumbas Cave.  We took a bus to the turn off for the town, then talked to some people & someone who was headed the way of that town (about 2 miles away) gave us a ride.  Once we got to the town, we had a bite to eat at a local restaurant/cafe, then started the hike up to the cave.  This town seemed more like authentic Albania than most of what I have seen so far in my travels, even though we weren't that far from the city.  It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.  Everyone had chickens roaming about their yards.  The fences were made of sticks threaded together.  There were haystacks, roosters crowing, donkeys tied here & there, smoke coming out of chimneys, old grandmothers dressed like widows knitting while watching their grandchildren (or perhaps great granchildren) playing.  The air was fresh and fragrant.  We walked near some houses for a while, then up through some mountain paths with beautiful views.  We had to be careful as we walked, because the mountain was steep on the side of the path, but it was worth it.  The walk/hike was actually a lot longer than we had realized, which made us worry when we saw storm clouds come in upon our formerly perfectly sunny day.  But it only sprinkled a bit & the thunder didn't bring lightning with it.

Once we got to the cave, Luke ended up being terrified of going inside, so Genci stayed outside with him & I went in with Nathan.  He had a light that attached to his head, which served as our only light source.  The cave was only 360 meters long, so it didn't take that long to explore.  We went slow, because the ground was slippery and we never knew what we might encounter.  There were a couple of deep craters in the ground.  We saw a few stalagtites & stalagmites, but not as many as I expected.  We also did not see any bats, which was both a relief & a disappointment.  We did see some very slippery, gooey, disgusting looking things, which I think were stalagmites in the making.  I definitely did not want to touch them.  It was fun exploring.  It was a little bit scary, but not really.  I think that touch of fear added to the fun of it.

This is Genci telling Luke that he has to write more than 2 sentences in his journal.  It has been very hard getting him to write in it.  Nathan doesn't mind writing.  Luke seems to have continual writer's block, even when we give him suggestions.  If you look at that glass next to the beer, that is my red wine.  Quite a big glass they gave me, especially right before a hike.  It wasn't a problem though.  We had a mixed salad, french fries, qofte (sausage/meatball type thing) and Luke had a hotdog.

really cool signs showed us the way

Luke felt really bad for this donkey that was tied up all by itself up on the mountain.  He was sad for at least 5 minutes after passing this donkey.  Poor little guy.  He can't solve all the problems of all the critters ofthe world.

We finally made it to the cave.  The cave was the destination, but the views were worth the trip, even without the cave.

This is a Luke who has decided that he does NOT want to go inside the dark cave.

Slippery, gooey looking stuff, illuminated by Nathan's miner light.

I love the fences made of sticks.

After we made it back to town from the cave (about 1hr & 20 min hike back - 3 hours roundtrip), we were pretty tired.  But there were no buses or cars leaving from that point for another 2 hours, so we started the walk to the next town, which is on the major bus route.  35 minutes later a truck passing by stopped & we got into the cab.  He took us to the main road where we caught a mini-bus.  The kids & I fell asleep on the ride home.

It was a lot more of a hike/physical effort than I had expected for the day, but the kids did pretty well.  They hardly complained.  I was pretty proud of them.  They rose to the occasion.