Dracula....and Hitchhiking...

I've got a fun and adventurous story today...yesturday I was planning to go to Sigisoara with a team to sightsee. There ended up being no room in the van for me but I was determined to go so I decided I'd take a maxi taxi (large van). About 9am Brian, my team leader, offered to take me to the maxi taxi stop and I said sure, to save some money. So we left, granted I didn't really know where the stop was, so after driving a bit we ended up asking some taxi drivers that were eating breakfast where it was and then Brian came to the car and asked if it was ok if I took a taxi from there. So I go get in a taxi (the drivers were done with breakfast at this point) and he took me to a maxi taxi stop, not the one I expected to go to, but it was a stop and said it would come at 10am. So now I'm waiting, for about 30 minutes and then it was about 10:10am and no maxi-taxi. So this guy comes to the stop and is asking people were they are going, I said Sigisoara and so did some others and he pointed to his car. I asked how much and they said 8 Lei so I said ok. So we all go pile into this guys car, a hatchback, and we are off. At this point I was just hoping to start going in the right direction and was praying for safety. We stopped and picked up one more person at a different stop, so now there was 5 adults and 1 child in this little car. Off we went and an hour later we arrived in Sigisoara without any problems.

I'd never been there and had no idea where we were dropped off, so I asked where the Cetate was and people pointed me in the right direction. About this time I called the Livada staff I was meeting up with and told her I was there and a little of the story. This is when she claimed I'd hitchhiked and said she was proud but a little scared too. It was an exciting story to say the least!! So I went and made our lunch reservations and waited for the team. About 20 minutes later they arrived and we went into the museum. We hiked up the stairs (Oh and I forgot to say that the Cetate and old part of town is UP on a plateau, those stairs about killed me) and at the top we were able to look out over the town and take pictures. It was worth the walk. Then we went and had some lunch at Dracula's house and it was really good. The team then started walking back to their van and I stayed to sightsee and shop. I walked around and looked at paintings and souviners and just wandered. I ended up getting some paintings that are just amazing done by a local artist. At that point I decided it was time to walk down to the "new town" but I found most shops were closed. I walked back to a local farmers market I'd seen earlier to shop a bit. I walked in and I was "the" American trying to use my Romanian to buy fruits and veggies. It was funny, at one point this lady was just laughing histerically at me, I just wonder why.... I was looking at the watermelons and decided I'd like one, especially cause I found some for .80 Lei per Kilo! (Thats really cheap, Brian was charged 4 Lei per kilo just last week!). So I bought my 3 kilo watermelon and I'd already bought some other things when I realized I needed a bag. I went back to a shop I'd seen some bags at and happily bought one. I then asked where to find the Maxi Taxi to Targu Mures. The lady told me it was back through the market and by the store. I found a sign listing the times and realized I'd probably just missed one and a lady said one was not coming till 5pm, TWO hours away. Now remember, I have a 3 Kilo watermelon I'm now carrying around. I decided (why?) to walk to see what else I could find and about 15 minutes later I found another bus stop so I sat there for a while. Nothing came so I called my mom in the US (at 7am) to see if she thought taking a taxi ($40) would be ok. She said yes but I just was not satisfied yet that I would not find a Maxi Taxi. So I decided to walk to the train station and find out what I could. I found a train that left at 4:30pm and took 4 hours to get to TM, that wasn't ok. Then she told me where the bus station was so I walked there and found a MAXI TAXI!!!! It left 30 minutes later and I ended up SQUISHED in the back corner for the majority of the drive, welcome to Romania :). But I got back....and I did not have to take a ride with a random guy....so this WHOLE time I carried a 3 Kilo watermelon! It was crazy....but it is a good story. It was an adventure but one I will not soon forget. On top of all that, I didn't sleep last night because we had two interns leave this morning at 5am so we stayed awake with them. So I'm exhausted....but those are the joys of traveling and living with 17 other people! I'll give you all an update from the baby hospital later tonight...now, its dinner time!