Well....it was bound to happen, but we never expected it to be all of us (except 4) who would get food poisoning from pizza......so bad that one of our group - Ben (don't worry Ben's Mom, he's OK now) even had to go to an emergency care center....trust me - Montenegro is NOT a place you want to be if you are unwell. I was only queesy, as were a couple of us, but the rest had been tossing pizza since 4AM. Our poor tour guide! What a way to get to know your group. It took about 4 hours and a lot of negotiating, but Ben finally got re-hydrated and we were on our way to Albania. Now, the real fun.....Montenegro and Albania are emerging nations....their roads are not new and not well maintained. Plus, they are mountainous nations. Add sour stomachs, dehydration, and bouncy bus ride on curvy mountain roads and you have 5 hours of driving that were very difficult for us all to handle. But, we did survive! No sightseeing, just getting to our hotel, though our guide did tell us some Albanian history, which actually helped keep our minds off of the weird feelings in our mid-sections. As a nation only recently (10 years) emerging from a totalitarian dictatorship into the 20th century, Albania is very "behind the times" and struggling to catch up. The country only became a NATO member this year and has only been friendly to Americans for a few years - WE were the enemy that they built 700,000 private bunkers to protect the Albanian people from! As a result of Cold War tensions, we will be the first Americans many of the Albanian people will see or meet...it will be interesting! But a bit of food and rest are really all we need for now......
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