Then it started drizzling and I figured it was probably time to leave. When I finally had all my things together, it was raining properly, but there was no point in waiting for it to stop, so I just hoped for the bonus I people feeling bad for seeing me standing in the rain with my ladybug poncho.
After less than 10 minutes a tiny car packed with cartons of fresh fruit stopped, and father and son both got out into the rain to make some space on the backseat. We arrived in Ohrid so quickly that I didn't even get to ask for their names, but the driver insisted on giving me some apples for the way - they were picked in St. Naum, a village just at the border, the day before.
They dropped me in the city center, so I had to walk for 2 kilometers until I reached the beginning of the highway. The rain had stopped completely for the whole time of walking, so I even found myself some cardboard and painted a "SK" on it.
I waited on the highway for around 10 minutes, until Mičko stopped. He had a license plate from Skopje but was only going to visit the orchard he inherited from his parents and see how far the apples had grown. A few kilometers were better than nothing and I was hoping for a gas station on the way, so I hopped in.
Milčo happened to have two daughters in my age, who both study in Skopje. When we reached the beautiful orchard and took shelter under a small hut in the middle of all the trees (rain had started again), he told me that he doesn't make any profit with his apples, but continues the work for his parents' sake. He comes and visits almost every day from Ohrid, just to see and enjoy the atmosphere. His daughters though, he told me, don't even want to see it, let alone help and pick the apples. I said that they're still young and will sure learn to appreciate this amazing refuge close to the city - just as I learned to miss the tranquility of my parents' garden.
The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and Milčo, imagining one of his daughters in this situation, wouldn't let me standing in the rain. No matter how many times I said that I would be totally fine, that I had my poncho, and that I probably wouldn't be standing in the rain for a long time, he insisted on driving me to the next gas station. That was after I got enough apples, plums and grapes to eat for the next three days :)
After I had placed my bags and the three kilos of fruit under the shelter of the gas station, I put my poncho back on and walked into the rain towards the highway. I could've waited for cars that were fueling up, but there was no cars when I arrived, so I thought I'd rather try and catch one from the street.
My right arm got soaking wet of course, but after not more than 20 minutes a car slowed down, and Slatki offered to take me to Gostivar, half way to Skopje. It turned out that he spoke Swiss German, which is funny enough on its own, but imagine a Macedonian speaking it :D Slatki had been working as a construction worker in Zurich long enough to buy a house in Gostivar. I was surprised to hear that he was still working in construction though, because he looked like over 70 to me, and hardly could hide my disbelief when he told me he was only 54.
He convinced me to have a coffee break - I had "Boza", an Albanian drink that tasted like fermented fruit and bread. Definitely something you would call "interesting". Afterwards he, like Milčo, insisted on driving me to the next gas station after Gostivar instead of just dropping me wherever it was most suitable for him.
This huge detour for him definitely saved me from waiting a long time - I caught the very first car that entered the gas station. Mone was driving to the Western part of Skopje, while I had to go to the Eastern part, but called his wife and son several times to make sure that I would find the place. In the end he even dropped me at the bus station even though it wasn't raining anymore.
And this is how I got to Skopje :)
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