Lunch with the whole family
Go-cart race with Nasko and son
Rock-climbing in the Tamrosh gorge reserve
Sneaky visit of a Bulgarian air force base
Pushing a broken Subaru
Dinner with family and friends
Hot mineral water bath in the middle of nowhere

This was our first day and I know Nasko since 9 hours only!

Nasko (Anastas) was a jet fighter pilot for 20 years. He was a captain when he quit the Bulgarian air force a month ago to take care of his family, and to develop his project “Extremebulgaria” (www.extremebulgaria.com ) Needless to say what this means, the name speaks for himself.

Naska, his wife is a middle school physics teacher, but she decided to be a full time mother.

When I met Nasko at the entrance of Plovdiv, I liked this guy straight away. He took me to his family in law, where we had lunch together. I met Naska, his wife, his kids and sister in law.

From there we went to a nearby go-cart track, and raced a few laps.

Back into the car, and off for the Tanrosh gorge reserve, for some great rock climbing in the Brianovishtitsa Rocks. Nasko’s Subaru wasn’t too happy climbing the mountain road, and there was a suspect smell of dying clutch.

Back to Plovdiv to pick up the whole family again, and off to the military airbase in Graf Ignatievo. Nasko still knows everybody of course, and had no  problem to smuggle me in. I was quite lucky, as  three Mig 29 were just taking off for a night flight.

Back in the Subaru, direction Ivan Vasovo, his home village, but the clutch from the Subaru decided to die and go straight to clutch heaven today.. Not much of a  problem: We pushed the car to the side of the road, and waited for 2 friends to come to our rescue and tow us home.

We eat potatoes (again) , discussed  how to make a better world and what will await us in the next one..

To finish, we drove 8km to the middle of nowhere for a stunning bath in a hot mineral water spring .

This was day one

Next day, up to the “old mountain” for some paragliding, but unfavourable winds forced us to cancel the flight.

Never mind! Back to Plovdiv, where a Bulgarian TV team wanted to meet me for an interview. On the way there, I expected Nasko to drive to his cousin, where I stored my bike yesterday, but he drove straight to a bicycle shop, where the interview should take place. This seemed a good idea, because I needed to fix the brakes of my bike, which I actually mentioned to Nasko yesterday. So, imagine my surprise, when I saw my bike already in place with the brakes fixed! Everything had been arranged, and I did not even know about it!

The  interview was quite funny; the reporter asked me questions in Bulgarian,  I answered in English to Nasko, who translated.

Tomorrow I will leave this great family. They gave me so much, not only by entertaining, hosting and feeding me, but mainly by the great and interesting discussions we had till late in the night.

To qualify their generosity, I can only think of a song from the musical “Notre-Dame de Paris”

“Donner, sans rien attendre en retour”

To give without expecting anything in return…

Rock climbing in the Tamrosh Gorge Reserve

Mig 29 at Graf Ignatievo Airbase

Late night hot mineral water bath