I had the best day of my life today. My roommates, Kendra and Amanda, and I all had the same field program to the Salt Lakes of Bourgas, Healing Mud, and Nessebar. The day started off with a 2.5 hour drive from Varna to Bourgas. I passed out for quite a bit of time, which was nice because I got entirely too little sleep last night. We arrived at the salt lakes and healing mud. They are a natural resource used by locals as well as foreigners as a form of Eastern medicine. The salt lakes and the mud have healing properties. The really neat thing about it is that it is not a tourist attraction. There aren't any luxuries or modern facilities, and it is completely free. People frequent this place to heal health problems or take advantage of its beauty effects. Going into this trip, I had no idea what I had in store for me!
We arrived, received a 10 minute presentation about the salt lakes and healing mud, and then we actually got to do it! First we started off in this pink lake of lye. It smelled SO bad, and it really burned, so I didn't stay in there very long. After the lye, the next step was to go over to the black mud and cover our entire bodies! We were black from head to toe, even our faces. It was so much fun! I can't wait to post pictures! After we were coated in mud, the next step was to walk over to the beach and lay in the black sand while the mud dries. It felt so good covering ourselves in the sand over all the mud. Finally, to get the mud off we had to run into the sea! It was AMAZING. The sea was a beautiful light blue. The water was warm. The waves were the perfect height to be fun, but not overpowering. All I wanted to do was stay in the sea all day. I have never felt more refreshed than I did after the mud bath being in the water. Unfortunately, we did have to leave, and we got back on the bus.
However, the day was not over yet! Our next stop was to the town of Nessebar! We spent three hours there, and my roommates and I had a blast! We found the coolest souvenirs! I mentioned in an earlier post about how I got some Bulgarian rose oil. I had no idea at that point what a huge deal rose oil is in Bulgaria! Every single store we went to in Nessebar had an enormous selection of rose products! Apparently the majority (I want to say 80%...) of the world's rose oil comes from Bulgaria. It also is so special because it takes thousands of rose petals to secrete one single drop of rose oil!! Crazy, right? I went all out and bought rose-everything. I got mini rose oil souvenirs for friends, rose body lotion, rose hand cream, rose soap, rose face cream, rose water mist, rose lip balm, and even some rose jam for my parents! I LOVE this exchange rate!! Everything is so cheap! I got all of that for about 20-25 USD. The rose products smell amazing and feel so refreshing. I'm so excited. Nessebar itself was a lot of fun. I really liked the town. The buildings there were the images I had in my mind of what Bulgaria would look like. There were Roman ruins spread throughout the town. It was right along the sea too. It was just beautiful. I had so much fun with Kendra and Amanda. We took a two hour ride back through the beautiful Bulgarian countryside to return to Varna and the ship.
After taking the world's most needed shower, some friends and I went out to dinner at a restaurant called Mr. Baba's, which was in a "pirate ship." We were actually sitting on the upper deck of this pirate ship while we were eating. It was great. I got some fresh mozzarella with bread for an appetizer and breaded calamari for my meal. It was delicious! Great meal. I came back to the ship after dinner instead of going out with everybody else. I'm exhausted and I need to get some sleep.
I had the best day today. I am so happy right now. My life is so incredible. I have experienced more in this past month than most people will in their entire lives. I am so lucky. I find it rather ironic that I was so upset when they announced that Bulgaria would be the replacement port for Egypt (which was initially on the itinerary before chaos broke out). I was so excited for Egypt, and I thought Bulgaria was not anywhere near as exciting. Who would have known that I would fall madly in love with Bulgaria?? Bulgaria! Out of all places! I am very tempted to say that this has been my favorite port so far. Greece and Spain are right up there too. I am so sad that tomorrow is our last day here. I will return to Bulgaria someday, someway though. It is far too special for this to be the last time I see it. For now though, I will savor every minute of tomorrow!
Time for bed! Goodnight, Varna :)
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