Humanity in Albania’s Accursed Mountains

“STOP!” A small voice calls from deep within Albania’s wild Alps. I slow my pedaling.

“PLEASE stop,” it begs. I hit my brakes. A young boy runs into view from a long dirt path tripping over his flip flops. Two younger boys follow shortly behind. They can’t stop grinning as they stare at Justin and me.

“Hello,” I smile back. “How are you?”

“Very good, thank you, and you?” the older boy inquires.

“I’m great, thanks!”

The little blonde one winks and gives me a thumbs up.

20140910-DSC_2181 The older boy sees my camera and asks for a solo picture of himself. I nod yes, and he shoos the young ones aside, suavely runs his hands through his hair, puffs out his chest and crosses his arms in front of him. Just as I bring the camera to my face, he runs towards me and points to my sunglasses. Of course, I nod. 20140910-DSC_2184 He asks to see the photo. “Very nice!” he approves.

By the time we wave good-bye, a handful of kids from unseen houses have joined us. 20140910-DSC_2185 My sunglasses are passed from kid to kid, but eventually make their way back to me.

2 Comments

  1. The Lazy Biker says:

    May i borrow your shades

  2. b_puliti says:

    I should have just given them away to the kids. I ended up dropping them and running them over with my own bike on our last day in Albania.

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