Despite Albania’s (very) rough edges, the people exude a feeling of genuine and almost exuberant friendliness. This was abundantly clear this morning as we prepared to leave our lovely little Art Deco hotel before 6:00 AM and were treated to four cups (two each) of delicious strong espresso by the tough looking (scar under left eye, tight shirt emphasizing biceps) but very kind and inquisitive young man on the night shift. And shortly thereafter, as we were riding out of Tirana, a minibus came towards us, horn beeping repeatedly, on the otherwise empty road. Unsure what was happening, we moved way over and then saw the driver smiling and madly blowing kisses in our direction with a big grin on his face. It must have helped because the first big climb of the day (virtually free of traffic since a new highway bypass tunnel was built) seemed to fly by in an instant, offering great views of mountains, valleys and graffiti.   
One of the symptoms of Albania’s poverty that we saw repeatedly today was tragically low human productivity. We saw a man with a cow on a leash, watching as it grazed. We saw dozens of people selling small piles of figs, one after the other on the roadway. Later were the honey, lake fish and then the onion sellers, similarly bunched together and selling exactly the same product. 

But perhaps most ubiquitous were the “lavazh” car washers, who were everywhere. Never, ever, anywhere, have we seen even a fraction of the number of car wash businesses as in Albania. In one very small town we counted 17, all small scale informal businesses, most announcing themselves with a hose spraying water straight up or in an arch into the street.  

Cars, and apparently clean cars, preferably black Mercedes of any vintage, are clearly a very important status symbol here. Another status symbol is loud and gaudy architecture, of which we saw plenty of examples today.  
Despite the feast of visual interest, today was another really challenging day of riding, almost 100 miles with very exposed roads, temperatures in the mid 90s, and big hills. All day we worked to stay cool, including a stop at a spring with refreshingly cold water. 

It made us wonder why all of those lavazh car wash guys don’t offer a second line of business cooling down overheated cyclists. Eventually we made it to the shores of beautiful and vast Lake Orhid, which separates Albania and Macedonia and is surrounded by sheer mountains. 

By the time we crossed into Macedonia, we were beat and the steep hill to our otherwise ideal hotel almost did us in. Fortunately, a shower and a cold beer to welcome us, along with a beautiful sunset over the lake, brought us back. 

Sadly, the relief was temporary, as the Halal pizza we had ravenously eaten before crossing into Macedonia didn’t sit well at all in our stomachs, making for a less than restful night.