Fun bus ride on small roads to Ulcinj, Montenegro

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We made it over the Albanian border today into Montenegro and the town of Ulcinj. It is the start of a three-day (at least) campaign to do very little, and just relax and try to get Masayo feeling totally fine. She has had low energy levels for too long.

I woke up in Shkodër, Albania, at 7:30 with a blood sugar of 111. Not bad for Day 112 of the trip! We had our last breakfast in the hotel, the same as yesterday and just as delicious.

We found the bus to Ulcinj; it’s a full-size bus that parks outside of a bank next to our hotel and leaves at 9 am each day. The cost was 700 lek, about $7 each.

It seemed like we were the only customers on the bus — there were four or five older guys, but they all sat right up front and chatted with the driver the whole way like old friends. It seemed like they just had nothing to do and were riding along. Maybe they were paying customers, but even if they were I wondered how this was cost-efficient.

It only took thirty minutes to reach the Montenegro border, and the procedure was very simple: someone took up our passports only once, and we were let out of Albania and into Montenegro with only one stop, in the same building. Again, we got no stamps either way.

We arrived at Ulcinj bus station an hour later, and found a taxi for €5 (he would accept absolutely no less) up to the apartment we’d rented. It cost more than we usually pay, but it was a kind of birthday present from me to Masayo: a nice, quiet place with a high sea view where we could stay several days and she could recover.

We checked in, and it was a family-run place. They were really nice, and the room was nice too. It was cold because the heater hadn’t been on, but other than that it was nicely decorated and even had a big jacuzzi in the bathroom. The only drawback was that it was high on a hill and the roads to get back from town would be arduous.

I had been carrying around some Serbian dinars that I had been unable to convert to anything else, and I took them down the hill to town while Masayo rested. I went into a bank, and they were able to convert my dinars into euros (which Montenegro uses) at a rate that I was happy with. Success!

Then I found a supermarket and bought a bunch of random food for a snacky lunch — instant broccoli soup, pretzels, and marshmallow chocolate candy. This is what happens if you leave me in charge of the shopping.

The walk back up the hill was hard because I went too fast — I wanted to get the food back to Masayo before she got too hungry. I was out of breath when I got back, although I must confess it felt kind of healthy to get a cardiovascular workout like that.

My BG, unfortunately, did not remain good after the morning — I was now 260 at 1 pm. I made the soup, and took a Humalog shot for the tasty, informal lunch I’d planned.

It didn’t work well at all — I was 287 four hours later. I had a big bowl of muesli cereal and milk, and took another Humalog shot.

For dinner, Masayo wanted to go down to town and have a birthday meal. The apartment guy recommended a place that served seafood, which sounded good to us, and we walked down the hill to it.

My BG when we sat down was 197, still not perfect but getting better. I ordered a fresh sea bass, and Masayo got some calamari. We split a bottle of Knjaz sparkling water and a mixed salad that came with some delicious thin crunchy bread.

We walked through town, on a road that slopes gently down towards the water (but not all the way), and then Masayo said she didn’t need a taxi to get back to the room, that she could walk.

And she did. We went slowly but she made it without any problem, and we spend the evening relaxing in the room. It was still cold; there were two heaters, and both had been on full blast all day, but hadn’t really warmed the room up. It was all made of stone and concrete, and the windows and large sliding glass doors may not have been insulated well. A fierce, cold wind blew off the Adriatic Sea, and Masayo stayed under the covers wearing her coat all evening.

She took a shower later, and the water was merely lukewarm. She washed her long hair, and when she got into bed afterwards she was shivering. I felt bad for her, and felt very angry at the apartment people who didn’t have good heaters or hot water. Of course, summer is the tourist season, but still I didn’t like seeing Masayo so cold.

My BG was good, though: 167 at midnight. I hoped the stress of the cold apartment wouldn’t complicate my diabetes. At any rate, tomorrow we have no plans except for staying in and watching the sea, and/or working some online.

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