We thought for a long time of visiting the Delta, but planning a trip seemed too complicated: difficult access, hours of sitting in a little boat, exposed to the sun, fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner – like it or not, greedy mosquitoes everywhere.
And all this effort to chase beautiful images, already clich̩, overly used in any guidebook or album about Romania. So feeling that we already know what to expect (if lucky enough to have a responsible guide), we get motivated eventually by the same fear Рthat irreversible change will happen soon. The skepticism is there - and it dissolves with the first pelican we see in real motion. Mesmerized, we fill up a 1GB card in no time.
We stay at a local family in a little village surrounded by channels. Him, a fisherman, lipovean (of Russian descendency, a community that moved here in the 17th century due to religious persecution, still practicing an old form of Orthodox Christianity) and her a Romanian teacher, working at the local school, an amazing host and cook.
No small talk – she gets right away to telling us in sweet and intimate details about her experience of parenting at distance a smart, energetic and stubborn adolescent daughter. He – of this “land” for generations - bitches about the effects of new policies imposed from far away by an assortment of politicians, ecologists and greedy businessmen.
The primitive yet still fashionable fishing is the engine of life here. Catch the fish and eat it. It’s enough to survive – anyone can do it. It’s easy to feel self-sufficient. A life without middlemen. But we were right, it’s changing and it’s getting complicated. The daughter has chosen to go to college halfway across the country, away from the fish and away from the water.
And all this effort to chase beautiful images, already clich̩, overly used in any guidebook or album about Romania. So feeling that we already know what to expect (if lucky enough to have a responsible guide), we get motivated eventually by the same fear Рthat irreversible change will happen soon. The skepticism is there - and it dissolves with the first pelican we see in real motion. Mesmerized, we fill up a 1GB card in no time.
We stay at a local family in a little village surrounded by channels. Him, a fisherman, lipovean (of Russian descendency, a community that moved here in the 17th century due to religious persecution, still practicing an old form of Orthodox Christianity) and her a Romanian teacher, working at the local school, an amazing host and cook.
No small talk – she gets right away to telling us in sweet and intimate details about her experience of parenting at distance a smart, energetic and stubborn adolescent daughter. He – of this “land” for generations - bitches about the effects of new policies imposed from far away by an assortment of politicians, ecologists and greedy businessmen.
The primitive yet still fashionable fishing is the engine of life here. Catch the fish and eat it. It’s enough to survive – anyone can do it. It’s easy to feel self-sufficient. A life without middlemen. But we were right, it’s changing and it’s getting complicated. The daughter has chosen to go to college halfway across the country, away from the fish and away from the water.
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