Photography | 08.07.2010
In the beginning of July, I went for a hiking trip to the Retezat National Park of Romania with my friend Jannis. We wanted to make a short and fun trip, going there hitchhiking and relaxing in the mountains.
Little did we know that we were about to have a difficult and intense experience, in which Romania (and Romanian people) showed once again an amazing side of their culture.
Facing Retezat, Day 01
Early morning faces, we started to hitchhike from Szeged. It was actually way easier than expected. 2 romanian guys stopped after 10 minutes, and took us through the border. We really got lucky as hitchhiking in Hungary is not the easiest thing to do.
[Somewhere close to Deva, Romania, July 2010]
And in the evening we reached the mountains... do we look pissed off?? a bit tired we stopped to camp in a field :)
[Somewhere close to Hateg, Romania, July 2010]
Day 02 ... we started walking to find the beginning of the hiking trails. that picture is after about 10km of walking... with our new stray dog, that we named Swallow. that dog was just too cute...
[Somewhere..., Romania, July 2010]
Finally finding a new ride with Romanian workers !! Yes, the picture is blurry; but this is the most bumpy ride I ever got in my life !!
The guy was saying that he was speaking french! ... which wasn't exactly true as I couldn't understand anything... he kept saying "assieds-toi, chef" , which means "sit down, boss"...
then I showed him the map of where we wanted to go in the mountains, he seemed really happy about it, until I understood a few minutes later that he thought that "I was born there" (in the middle of the trees, apparently that's normal)... "noooo! I wasn't born there! I want to GO there !!!"
[Somewhere inside Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
One and a half day later, we arrive FINALLY on the hiking trail. Bags : ok; food for 3 days : ok, weather forecast : ok, motivation : ok ... what could possibly go wrong?
Answer : EVERYTHING ! The hiking trail was simply impossible, so difficult. and the sunny weather turned into a massive storm at 2000m altitude. :)
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
Homemade raincoat with way-too-small garbage bags... it actually worked... a bit... then the rain got too crazy.
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
2 days after the start, comes a choice : continue climbing in the crazy storm, or give up and go down. For the first time, I resigned to giving up. it was probably wise to stay alive...
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
Day 03. Last night we put the tent in the rain, to make our only shelter. now the closest village is 60km away,we haven't seen any of the mountains and we are desperately considering going home.
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
I took this picture thinking that was the last thing I was seeing of Retezat... until ...
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
Until a miracle that tells a lot about Romania. One man, Robert, who took us hitchhiking the day before found us on the road again. Took us, drove us to a different hiking trail, went all the way up with us.
I am forever grateful. Romanian people rock...
Going up. And nothing will stop us now...
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
Horses everywhere...
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
Finally reaching the top. Unfortunately, the camera didn't survive the storm...
[Retezat, Romania, July 2010]
Facing Retezat, a very worthy adversary :)
[Somewhere close to Hateg, Romania, July 2010]
We'll call it a draw against Retezat for now... such a beautiful but wild place. I will go back and I will see more !!
[Somewhere close to Hateg, Romania, July 2010]
And the story was not over... as Robert was not only driving us back down but also giving us a lift to a better city to hitchhike from, the rain started again. So he drove us to a comfortable hotel, help us to pay the room, and when we asked what we could give in return, he just asked us to help somebody later when we have a chance. Welcome to Romania :)
[Back in Hateg, Romania, July 2010]
