Visiting Saharna Orthodox Monastery

Note: I wrote the text below on Tuesday, and now it's Friday and once again we've got a few minutes of access to WiFi. Warren was in terrible shape on Tuesday and even worse on Wednesday but he's very much better now. No slipped disk, hooray!
----------------------
Tuesday, October 8, was both wonderful and terrible.

Terrible, because as he was getting off a bus in the city of Rezina, an hour northeast of Orhei, Warren suddenly collapsed to the floor of the bus. His back simply gave out. Moments earlier, he had bent over to pick up his hat which had fallen to the floor. Did that cause this sudden attack of excruciating pain?

Somehow, he managed to get himself up and off the bus. Trooper that he is, Warren decided to continue with our itinerary for the day. We met up with another Peace Corps Volunteer who works in Rezina, a young woman named Kate, and Kate's friend who was visiting from England. Together, we all piled into a taxi — Warren got the front seat next to the driver — and rode out to the Saharna Orthhodox Monastery. The drive took us along a winding road high above the Dniester River. Across the river was Transnistria, a place Peace Corps Volunteers are forbidden to enter. (That makes me want to check it out... Google it if you have time.) All we could see from the taxi windows was a bit of the Transnistrian city of Ribnita — lots of Soviet-style building blocks — and then little houses looking much like other places in Eastern Europe.

And then we got to the monastery, and it was like stepping out of time.

Parts of the monastery date back to the 15th Century. Other parts seem to be quite new.

Here's Peace Corps Volunteer, Kate, and her friend, Ian. Kate is wearing a scarf covering her head, required for women here. I pulled my scarf up, too.

Lots and lots of roses growing here.  

Here I am with my Guatemalan scarf covering my head, between two Kmiecs, both in need of medical attention. Behind us, you can see both marigolds and roses blooming.

In the main church we were not allowed to use cameras. Inside, along with many lit candles and shrines, there were exquisite icons, very large. Four icons were covered with golden rizas. (The Chazen Museum in Madison had an exhibit of these about a year ago. Check this out:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riza )

Beyond the main church, we continued along this forested path, a loudly rushing river down below to the right.

We came to this place where exorcisms are frequently done, with hundreds of people in attendance. Kate said she witnessed one of these.

Water gushes out of a stream. There's a cup here — we all had a sip.

This bridge is pretty bouncy! Some boards are loose. 

This is a place where people write wishes on little pieces of paper. Then they crawl into a cave and leave the written wish in a crevice in the rocks.

Warren decided to skip crawling into the cave.  Me, too.

Ace PCV Kate exits cave.

No idea if the little video above will work in the blog. Suffice it to say, the place was peaceful and beautiful and reminded us of a trail in Wyalusing. Pretty much the same, except that Wisconsin State Parks lack icons and exorcisms!