a returned bike

after i wrote last i headed back into bukk nemzeti park for two more nights of camping, spending my days riding up and down those hills. i ended up coming across, besides those wild boar (i am told that there are lots), big black and yellow poisonous geckos, one deer critter with big curved horns, and millions of birds. there are almost one thousand species of birds in bukk alone, and day and night i was immersed in unfamiliar songs and chatter. most were little but there were a few hawks and today i saw a stork.

on thursday i met up with a couchsurfer in miskolc, hungary's third largest city. viktor is writing his dissertation on the environmental and political history of the sajo river, which flows through the region and was affected by the heavy industry of the state-socialist era. he also writes articles of political analysis for european newspapers. i aspire to take on similar roles in the near future, and found our meeting to be inspirational. it was great getting to know him.

viktor is a bicyclist and knows the roads in his region, so on friday he led me most of the way up to aggteleki park, through a labyrinth of tiny villages that i could not have found by myself. it was an exhausting day, but just as it was getting too dark i made it to my destination, the town of segliget.

i stayed in segliget (pop. approx 1,000) for two nights with another couchsurfer, a british guy named simon. he runs a guest house in addition to his job editing for a cycling magazine, which he can do from his home. foreigners are rare in rural hungary, but he's made it his home for the last few years, and speaks magyar well by now. with him translating i was better able to experience the local culture, hanging out at the fast food place and bar, playing pool and drinking beer and a crazy slovakian liquor called bekarofka, which tastes like cinnamon and herbs.

saturday i had a lovely lazy day, laying around napping and reading, preparing myself for this last bit. sunday and monday were a long slog, 150 and 105 km respectively, just a sprint back to budapest. it got pretty tedious, the endless hills and windy roads i took to avoid the big highways. i was tired, and losing motivation, sick of being dirty and sore and wet and homeless and worried about flat tires (i got four total - with the weight of my pack strapped to the back it didn't take much of a bump). despite all that, my camp last night made me feel sad to end my trip. i slept in a meadow between two little villages, surrounded by rolling forested hills and the endless birds. once the moon set the stars were brilliant. i am going to miss this.

so, now i am back in budapest at philip's apartment. that old white peugot got me through 650 km of magyar countryside. i was so sad to return it today- i'll be lucky if i can find its equal back in the states. now i am headed to nice, france, to meet my dear friend tristan who arrives in two days. i have a train ticket to vienna austria for tomorrow. from there, my fate is in the hands of the european train network.