Mogoso

Yesterday, we went with the choir on a journey into Transylvania, Romania. It was really nice of them to invite us, as I'd basically only been to one or two practice sessions, but they were more than happy to have us come along. It's strange that even though I can communicate only a few words to a number of them, and not at all to the rest, they are really very nice people.

So anyway, we woke ourselves up at 6am on Saturday morning, dragged ourselves into the car, threw Iago a bone to keep him happy for the day, then got arrived at Nyirbator by 7am. We were expecting to have to wait around for a bit while everyone got organised, but Amanda was pleasantly surprised to see us leave basically on the dot. So by 7:07am we were well on our way out of Nyirbator and heading off at great speeds towards the border.

We've discovered that when you travel with Hungarians, you must be aware of a few factors. The first is that they don't travel lightly. Every man, woman and child brought a number of coats, bags and of course food and drink. So by the time we'd left Nyirbator, there were already bags of pogácsa, biscuits and homemade cakes being passed around. We'd brought a sandwich each for the journey, but we found that we were seriously under prepared as most people had eaten their first sandwich before we hit Máteszalka. The other thing we were unprepared for was the drinking. Choir tradition dictated that everyone down a cup of pálinka to start off the journey. Amanda didn't want hers, so by the time we hit the border at 8am, I'd had two shots of pálinka and a glass of wine. Nothing like starting the day early.

We had a bit of an extra delay at the border, as the guards had to check out my passport (read: take it off me, then disappear off the bus without explaining what they were doing). Everyone with a Hungarian passport was okay, so we were basically just sitting around waiting for me. Soon enough though, the passport was being passed back down the aisle (inspected by the curious along the way) and we celebrated our crossing the of border with a few more pogácsa and more home-made pálinka.

By the third stop of the day (a toilet stop in Satu Mare) my head was starting to reel but I was in good spirits. Soon enough we were off again and by 11:15am we'd made it all the way to Mogosa. Mogosa is a ski resort high in the Carpathians which must be absolutely amazing in Winter, because it was pretty bloody beautiful when we arrived.

The lake was crystal clear and after a quick song, a photo and a snack, we jumped onto the chairlifts to head up the mountain. It went up, and up, and up, and up. The whole ride took about 20 minutes or so, up across a mountain trail, a few running streams and endless forestry. It ran the length of three ski fields, each of varying difficulty and length. It was a wonderful experience. After around 15 minutes of being on the chair, we started to ascend into the clouds, to the point where you could see the chairs in front of you disappear. Once on the mountain, there was an awesome view, albeit a little cold, so a number of us had another sandwich and I shared the last of a bottle of vodka with a new friend. Here's a video of going up the chairlift, and Amanda attempting to remount the thing for the trip down. Please also note the most awesome dog in the world (sorry Iago), this little puli cross met us at the bottom of the chairlift, then ran up the mountain and met us up the top, then raced back down with us. Each time, beating us significantly.

From here, a few of us were feeling hungry, so a few of the others had some more sandwiches and pálinka (this is where Amanda and I had our first sandwich of the day). The bus lead us back into Baia Mare, where we went to visit a 200 year old church, had a quick tour, then the choir sang a few songs in front of the chapel. I really needed to pee at this stage, but even in my pain I was able to enjoy what was a truly beautiful performance. They asked me to come to the front and join them but I didn't really know the songs yet and besides, I wanted to keep my legs crossed. Concert finished, we made a quick pee stop, then back on the bus.

From here, we made a longish trip to the house of Sándor Petőfi esteemed poet, novelist and revolutionary of the 19th century. The choir sang a few songs, laid a wreath, visited the museum and I assume that a few people snuck away to have a bit more to eat and drink. The interesting thing that we noticed through this entire trip is how much Hungarian pride there is in Transylvania. Our troupe had no issues finding anyone that spoke Hungarian. There were a number of Hungarian flags, road signs and icons to be seen throughout the trip. Methinks that Transylvania is not a happy Romanian county.

After leaving Petőfi, we went to get dinner, which was a modest meal of steak, schnitzel, rice and gerkins. And of course, wine, beer etc etc. It was only a quick 30 minute hop back over the border to arrive back in Nyirbator at almost exactly the ETA. Amanda was pleased. I leave you with a picture of a happy Amanda on a chairlift.

- Daniel