J41 – 1/27/2006

Here we are in Albania.  Serge started his stop watch 200 meters before the border exit of Montenegro.  He clocked 37 minutes and 48 seconds to go through the two borders.  The team needed 10 minutes more to get the vehicles through.  Between the police and the customs we paid 750 euros.  It’s written down so we didn’t ask for explanations, especially since the customs gave us no trouble.  My obsession is to be stopped for hours while a complete search is made of the vehicles and everything has to be justified.  At 13H30 Serge went through Shkoder or Shkodra, both spellings are used, a polluted, dusty, dirty and noisy city.  Even if Podgorica was a foretaste of what awaits us here, we are faced with a surprising country.  Carts pulled by famished little horses share the road with a battalion of Mercedes, many of which still bear license plates from Italy, France, Germany or England and are brand new!  The police is everywhere on the road between Shkoder and Tirana and we even saw radar.  But that doesn’t keep the policemen from kissing their friends…..

Few women are seen  in the streets but men are everywhere.  It was only in Skhoder that we saw young girls all dressed up: makeup, high heels and wide leg jeans seemed to break with the weight of tradition.

The currency is called Lek (ALL).  For 1 euro you have 120 Leks.

In Albania everything is for sale: used clothing and shoes are in piles on the ground, it’s what is known as the unofficial market.  Gasoline is sold at the roadside by the liter in spite of some rather recent looking filling stations along the highway.

There would be much more to say if we were to describe the reality of everything we see and the feeling of unease we get from such neglect, filth and illicit trading of all types.

Serge was approached twice: first by three oddballs in a Mercedes who screeched to a stop in front of him with the idea of having him drink some whiskey they had in their car and to have a smoke (we didn’t understand their message…), then by ten or twelve drunk kids who wanted to steal his watch.  Serge refused and was shoved around before an adult who saw it from a distance arrived to his rescue.

Starting tomorrow there will be close protection for the runner because normally he is left alone between his feedings.