Sarandë

We arrived in Sarandë and hung out on the balcony for a bit to settle in, charge our phones and figure out our plan of action. I decided to use the time to book my return ticket, only to run into issues with my bank again that could not be solved until Monday. Fuck. Yes. I was done with this shit. Since I would not be able to book anything before figuring out the issue with my bank and would never make it back to Tiranë in time for the bus on Monday morning, John suggested I should just stay with them until he himself drives back to Tiranë to catch his flight, which meant some more days than I had initially planned. I didn't have much of a choice and honestly, even if I had, the idea sounded way too appealing to put down. I was indeed stranded in Albania, at least for now, but we were going to figure something out one way or another. We decided to go to the beach to swim for a bit and then headed on to walk around the promenade. I was starting to realize that I was getting the real Albania experience since I was just with John and his family instead of what a tourist would see, and I was all in for it. We sat down on a bench for some deep and a lot of not at all deep conversations while getting slightly tipsy off of different Albanian beers until we decided to continue walking along the beach front. We encountered some Jehovah's witnesses and had a religious discussion in half Albanian, half English for a while before walking along the beach some more and go for another swim. John's aunt called in the meantime to ask if we wanted to go on a boat tour the next morning. We decided to head back to get changed into some fancier clothes to eat at the seafood restaurant that's owned by a friend of John's dad. We got a seafood platter and grilled seabass while the people at the beach were partying and bombarding us with their music, so we had something to vibe to at the table and also in the middle of the restaurant when the right song came on. We learned that the boat tour would start at 10am and go on all the way till 5pm. John's aunt and uncle would go for the sightseeing deck while they booked tickets for the party deck for John and me. Well, I wasn't planning on staying sober during this trip, but this determined by sure that I wouldn't. After dinner, we were too stuffed to keep doing anything for the rest of the night, so we decided to climb back up the mountain to our place to call it a day. After already almost having two cars crashing into us on the way here, I was aware that traffic rules in Albania aren't considered to be more than a vague guideline, however the absolute chaos we discovered on the streets walking back, the lack of any order despite police presence and the fact that I seemed to be the only person slightly thrown off by this made it very clear that guidelines are meant to not be followed here. After the third shower of the day, which was as needed as the first two, I was ready to pass out on my bed. Or at least, so I thought. We managed to get lost multiple times within the chaos, no one really sure where to go, least of all me, and an awful amount of climbing uphill with a full stomach caused enough tension for angry yelling throughout the streets. Though I did not understand the words, the message was clear. After miraculously finding our way back, I fell into bed and decided not to get up again until someone would drag me onto that boat tomorrow.Read more