Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Homesick for Egypt


homesick for Egypt
Originally uploaded by kosova cajun

I was taking pictures of Farka Lake, and this old Albanan man tending his cows and sheep watched me suspiciously. Finally he asked me what I was doing. "I'm taking pictures of the lake because it's beautiful!' I said.

"Yes, it's beautiful," he replied. "It was made by Enver; whereas these politicians we have these days don't make anything beautiful. All they do is destory things."

(For the uninitiated, Enver Hoxha was the murderous Communist dictator who ruled Albania from 1945 to 1985. Under his leadership Albania procliamed itself the world's first completely atheist state. His legacy was isolation, poverty and paranoia on such a scale that the tiny country was littered with 750,000 concrete bunkers. And apparently a pretty lake.)