Over the River and Through the Woods

Today, on my journey into Albania I saw...

...Two bored guards working the border crossing
...A castle on a hill
...A donkey cart piled with the jumbled heap of a broken car
...A rusted railway bridge enjungled by monkeying youths
...Ten watermelon vendors on a single stretch of highway
...An old woman setting off on a long dusty road
...Hundreds of concrete bunkers rotting in the countryside
...A blazing red Vodafone billboard
...A dry riverbed filled with refuse
...Checkpoints manned by police officers in well-starched uniforms
...A rickety one-lane bridge for two-way traffic
...Countless donkeys tethered in the fields
...A boy clutching 2 white wreaths followed by a small procession
...Towering power lines strung across the agrarian plains
...A road construction sign translated into flawless English
...A tapestry of colorfully painted apartment buildings
...A student learning to drive (Autoshkolle)
...A bright yellow hummer
...A sign proclaiming "Welcome President Bush"
...The tangled traffic of Tirana's central square