Through out our trip through Romania we stayed in many small towns and cities often times for one or two nights depending on how interesting the town was. Baia Mare was the second city we traveled too. For the sake of catching you guys up on everything that has occurred Im going to be cutting stuff short and just leaving the most relevant information in. In the picture is Pigio. He drove us through most of Hungary and to the Hungarian Romanian border. He did not speak english and neither I nor Sylvia spoke Hungarian so most of our communication took place with sign language. It was really cool. Pigio would have the radio on and when artist like the Beatles and stuff would come on he would say, "Ahhhh,,, Rock & Roll". This guy was really nice. He gave us some home made cake. Warned us not too go to Romania and when he dropped us off at the border he gave us both huge waters. He also went out of his way to take us to the border, which was no where along his route.

Ok Im ready to begin writing again.... this time even briefer and quicker.

Baia Mare was the second stop on our trip through Romania. After hitchhiking to the city and getting dropped off at the bus station Sylvia and I were a little lost. We planned on camping at some lake outside of the city and we needed a bus to take us to this lake. We tried getting directions from the lady selling tickets but she spoke no english. Luckily enough we were approached by a Romanian woman in her early 40's and this lady asked if we needed help. With the use of body language (after this trip Pictionary is childs play) and the map she understood where we wanted to go. She grabbed Sylvias wrist and led us into one of the buses, bought our tickets and gestured that this was the bus we needed. As the bus drove along, more and more people entered. Many of the new entries began talking to our guide and she was telling them our story. The people on the bus were very interested in us. Not too many backpackers in this city. Finally at one stop our guide had to go, before she left the bus she handed us a package she had been carrying the whole time. Inside was a cake, we tried to decline but she would have none of it. She also made sure one of her many friends would tell us what stop to get off at. At our stop about 5 people told us to exit, the next bus to take and wished us luck.

These incidents of people going out of thier way to show us kindness happened throughout our trip in Romania. There were a few bad things that happened but nothing too serious. Below is a brief breakdown of some of these events:

Sighisouara: After a very long hitch hike we arrived in the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler at 11pm. We were dropped off at a gas station. I went inside and asked about buses running to a nearby campground. The employee told me the busses stopped running and the campground was 5 kms away...not good. The guy saw the pained look on my face and he motioned for me to follow him outside. Once out side he gestured for Syliva and I to throw our bags in the back of his car. Really good. 

The hitchhike we got from Sighisoara to Brasov was one of the longest and most entertaining for me at least. We got picked up by two Romanian men, brothers I think. The car was a hunk of junk but the tunes were bumpin. Not really. Romanian music has been heavily influenced by Turkey. Whistles, Bells and yells. By the time we got out of the car I was thanking god, my ears had suffered enough pain for the whole trip. During that ride though Sylvia was nearly dying because the car was leaking oil or something and the stench was pervasive throughout the automobile. It was bad, but It didnt bother me too much. WOMEN! Sylvia just tried to sleep through it, I on the other hand was alive and awake and this was when my imagination began to run wild.

During the drive I thought of a potential Hollywood blockbuster movie:

TITLE: Spades are Wild

Main Character: Billy Spades

Plot: The movie begins in the mideast on the battlefields of Iraq/Afghanistan/Iran during a heavy battle between US forces and the Osamas. As US forces are being pushed back and surrounded one soldier steps out of the smoke and haze... Billy Spades, the baddest mofo since the Drill instructor in Full Metal Jacket and Major Payne. Single handedly Billy Spades starts to cap Osamas left and right. On his right hand side is his best bud Norris Lee... kung fu master extradinaire no guns just the drunken monkey fighting stance. As Billy Spades and Norris Lee make thier way to the enemy strong hold they are both using catchphrases when ever they kill a guy.

Norris Lee Catchphrase: Kiiii!!!!    

Billy Spades Catchphrase: When Spades are wild your going to lose every time! 

In the final confrontation between the main boss and Billy Spades the following ensues:

Billy Spades:  Looks like its game over, we called your bluff and your folding unless of course you have a wild card up your sleeve...

Main Boss: Durka Durka!!! Translation-->Ha ha ha , I have gun in my sleeve. 

At that the main boss pulls out the gun and shoots straight fot Billy Spades heart... Norris Lee using his "lightining speed/slo motion sacrifice self to save main star ability" jumps in the bullets path and takes the hit for Billy Spades.

Billy Spades sees his friend go down, ducks down to avoid the bullets that are flying, cracks open his lucky deck of playing cards without looking grabs the first card and flings it straight for the Main Boss... The card lodges in the gun barrel and as the main boss pulls the trigger he blows his whole body up.... Billy Spades plays with razor sharp cards that are also explosive when need be forgot to add that in earlier.

Skip forward 10 years: Billy Spades is a broken man. After seeing his best bud Norris Lee go down he quit the army and began to wander around the world. His cards are useless. He drinks heavily. He lays in parks and sleeps with dogs. One day he finds himself in Poland and befriended by a foxy lady. She wants to help him find himself again and suggest a hitchhiking trip through Romania. Billy agrees. As they hitchhike through out the country a funny thing begins to happen. Billy Spades begins to get close to the Polish girl... despite his oath to never get close to another person since the pain of losing Norris Lee was so great. Billy blames himself for his death and shuts himself off to the rest of the world. Slowly he begins to play cards again.... uno at first, then speed. In a short while he is playing spades, 21 and holdem.

Just as things are looking good his world comes crashing down. During a hitchhike with two shady Romanian guys that play crappy music Billy Spades is drugged. As he is left for dead in some quicksand on the side of the road the Romanian guys take the foxy lady away to work in a brothel somewhere in Europe. Billy Spades wakes up just in time to take one last breath before he sinks into the quick sand. The only chance for him to make it is to reach out with his arm and grab hold of a tree branch...he does this realizes what happens and embarks on his journey to find the woman that he loves...

This carries him across the whole of Europe busting into brothels, capping people, throwing cards threw peoples bodies and saying stuff like "Im all in....INSANE!!!"

All the killings and cardthrowing finally pay off when the level 10 boss in Germany with his dying breath tells Billy Where the Main Boss Man is located... PARIS, FRANCE! Billy Spades flys to England rents a fishing boat, rows across the English Channel and invades France through Omaha Beach. No one is there to fight him though so he then takes a train to Paris. Once in Paris he discovers that the main master mind of the prostitution ring is also responsible for world hunger, aids, cancer, drugs, crime, Republicans, Bush, the breakup of Kobe/Shaq and every other bad thing in the world. After rescuing his babe Billy Spades plants an A-bomb in Paris and leaves with his woman on the first train out of the city.... with the destruction of Paris the world sees a new age of peace and prosperity. Everyone in the world is happy. Wars end. Things are good.

Thats my movie. Good stuff huh?