Except that time I hitchhiked in Chile, or got stranded in Turkey, or a couple of weeks ago in Macedonia After goodbyes in Sofia , I loaded myself onto a minibus to Skopje, Macedonia.
In about two hours, we reached the Bulgaria-Macedonia border, driver ushering us out of the vehicle and rushing to find the immigration attendant on staff.
I hid in the shade, making small talk with fellow passengers. Have you been safe traveling all alone for so long? Yes , I said. As we queue to step into a new bus on the other side, the Macedonian man walks back over to me. Your hostel is on the way to my house , he says. His wife walked me to the door of my hostel, leaving her phone number.
In case you need anything , she said. The history of Macedonia which I learned while hiding from summer heat in the Museum of Macedonian Struggle paralleled the history of societies I have long admired, including my own.
For five centuries, Macedonia sat under the Ottoman Empire; for 80 years after that, it sat within Yugoslavia. After the Balkan States broke off from the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, self-determination for Macedonia became only more complicated. In the Balkan Wars , Macedonia was divided between Serbia, Greece, and Bulgaria โ a split that ignored the ethnic makeup of the region. Throughout these wars, Macedonians continued to fight suppression of their language and culture, as well as rule from a communist dictatorship.
