Stranded after Ohrid

Well, this happens to all travelers now and then: you get somewhere and you can't get out. It's happened to Mickey (my ex-boss) and me here in Macedonia. Our flight out was scheduled at 6:30am, we showed up at the airport and immediately noticed that our flight was not scheduled on the departure board. Hmmm. After many frantic attempts to communicate, we learned that the airline has folded -- as of last night! Nobody at the desk, windows shuttered, no way to find out what to do next. We called our local organizers (they're sitting a table away with Mickey while I blog) and think that another airline will take us four hours later to Zurich. Of course, this means we will miss our connections, but if we can just get to a place that has a United Airlines ticket counter, we can get home. So now we wait.

But yesterday was another completely different story. Ohrid lived up to all expectations, it's so absolutely lovely. The tectonic lake is as big as a sea, very beautiful and absolutely stunning. The lake and old town are protected UNESCO sites, and now I see why. Take a look at this beautiful old church overlooking the lake:
And the sky was clear, the gentle breeze off the lake just perfect. We had a great day, I went home and packed, and now here I am in the airport, the not-so-great Alexander the Great International Airport. It's 7:00am in the morning and I've been up for three hours, looking at a long slog home but I'm feeling better now that I have a friend who speaks the language AND English. It's so unnerving to feel so vulnerable, unable to communicate or find out what is going on.

All I need to do to feel better is to remember that lovely lake, the fields of flowers, the wonders of Macedonia to forget that I'm stranded here. More later.