My Triumphant Return

Though the trip to the monasteries was inspiring, interesting, and long awaited, I have to say it pales in comparison to my triumphant return to Lunca. I was so happy to find nothing had changed and people welcomed me warmly, asking how often I would come back and then inviting me to stay with them whenever I did come.
Autumn in the Carpathians is really beautiful as the leaves turn orange and red while the tall stately pines maintain their deep green hues. I was invited to stay with a family that I knew from last year- the husband and wife had both worked at Julian’s with me, and they were extremely hospitable. As soon as I arrived, I was served coffee, beer, wine, beer, a delicious dinner of fried potatoes and fried eggs (mmm, hearty!!) and was urged to come and go as I pleased. I spent some of the evening there, then left to visit the other family I knew from last year, then returned for a while until I left to go to a bar and the DISCO. The disco is phenomenal, lots of people (way younger than me, I am just entirely too old for this stuff) and ridiculous Egyptian themed décor.
I spent the next day with my host family and the other family and had to insist that I had to leave that night and not the next day (somehow, I won that argument, but lost over and over every time I fought to refuse another glass of tuica).
Many of the sheep are back in the village after a summer in the mountains. I pose with CRISTI in front of the forest in which I used to ride. At least someone was drunker than me Saturday night. We stop at the spring for a quick sip, but I'd forgotten how salty and strong the mineral water is.