The Tullmann Travels: Romania 2014: Cabana Lui Gheorghe (part 4)

June 30, 2014

On Monday, June 30th, Alina’s uncle, Gheorghe, wanted to take us to see his cabin he built by himself in the mountains. So, Gheorghe, aunt Coca, aunt Cornelia, Alina, and myself, loaded up in a small, 4-person jeep, went to the store for food and headed to the hills. Gheorghe grew up in the mountains with a very large family, living on very little. We drove through the town where he went to school, a mountain walk that took he and his brother over 2 hours to walk … one way. We drove into the large hills on paved roads, then dirt roads, then up steep rocky and muddy trenches, and finally to an unmarked road, overgrown with tall weeds.

We parked on the side of a mountain overlooking a valley. It was very pretty, but very wild. Gheorghe had built a small one room cabin on his own. He wanted to build on that particular hillside, because his families home used to stand there. He grew up in a small 2 room home with his parents and 11 brothers and sisters. Yes, 11. His fondness for the wild and small living spaces was hard for us to understand, but so were the circumstances of his upbringing. Here he could work and rest in peace and quiet.

We set up a simple picnic and ate tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, meat, and bread. Afterwards, Gheorghe got out his scythe (long handled manual grass cutting blade), sharpened it, and started cutting grass. It was pretty amazing to see, but then I thought is give it a shot.

After, cutting grass, moving rocks, chopping down some small trees, and hauling some lumber, I was about ready to head down the hill. However, instead of riding in the jeep, Gheorghe insisted Alina, aunt Coca, and I take the “trail” down to the road we had drove up. He said it wasn’t that bad, but to just walk by the creek. I assumed it was the same trail he took when he was a boy, but since I can’t understand Romanian, I really had no idea.

So we went over the side of the hill next to the cabin down a steep grassy slope. There was no trail to be seen. The last time I was on a steep mountain steep following a non-trail, it was in Switzerland and I got lost. I had the same feeling as we careful treaded down the mountain side, grabbing onto the long grass to keep us from sliding down to a nasty tumble.

We made it down to the valley and found the stream, which we followed. However, there was no trail, other than the one we carved through tall grass, muddy bogs, stinging nettles, and shoe-soaking streams. I won’t go into the 45 minute descent or the mood we were in, but it didn’t help to find Gheorghe laughing next to the jeep and telling us he knew it was going to be difficult.

Our journey back to Codlea, the city where Alina’s aunt and uncle live, was uneventful. Alina and I wanted to thank her relatives, so they dropped us off in town, where we went to a restaurant and ordered pizza to go. While waiting, we enjoyed a cold beverage and observed a begging child at the entrance. The Roma people or gypsies are very common in Romania. Many gypsy families will live in the outskirts of cities and send their children to the streets to beg for money. We stopped by a bakery and picked up some desserts for the family.