Two Donkeys and a Moped 1

Two donkeys and a moped

A bus with spare jet engines strapped to the top, another with a living room set of furniture, another with a live goat, mountains spiking skyward from the water’s edge, the boat heading directly into a wall of rock, a wedding party, and a dozen calves. Highlights from our 2-hour ferry ride in northern Albania last week.

We had left Tirana at 5:30 am for a three-hour drive to the ferry launch. The last 500 meters, we crawled through a dark tunnel made by a Looney Tunes character with bare rock, bare light bulbs, and zero braces or supports. Gratefully, we arrived in plenty of time, and at 10:00 the boat appeared on the reservoir just above the dam. While we waited, the morning crew unloaded the sheep and calves. After a small boat filled with hay moved on and the calf dinghy putted away, we were treated to a bird’s eye demonstration of a delightfully cruel way to wash sheep. A man tied a rope around the animal’s neck and proceeded to sloop him back and forth in the water. We wondered if the wool would shrink.

Washing the sheep