raxacorricofallapatorius

In the last installment, we had just left Zagreb. We made camp in what I think was the only camping site in the area (Autocamp Plitvice), which was little more than a grassy parking lot. We ended up parking right across from a family of Rom, who were fascinating to watch.

They had two cars, and a small day tent set up between them. The trunks to both cars were open, and there was all this *stuff* just sort of spilling out all over the place. Clothes, furniture, electronics; you name it. The woman were barefoot and in long skirts and vests, and the one teenage girl had tons of dangley gold jewlery on. They sat on the ground, talking amongst themselves, and occasionally taking something out of the trunk to show one another. This went on for hours. I have no idea what a bunch of people who spent all their time together found to talk about, but they certainly kept one another entertained. Unlike most campers, they made no attempt to interact with anyone else, and were given a very wide berth by what few other people were there. They had music playing from one of the car radios, and I was kind of surprised at how...umm...the only word I can think of is "Eastern/Arabic" it sounded Very mournful and yearning, even though I couldn't understand a word of it. But they dutifully turned it off at 10 p.m., so it wasn't a nuisance. I woke up early the following morning (about dawn), and they were already gone. We never heard them leave.

So, on to our next destination, Lake Balaton, Hungary. The Lake itself is HUGE - in fact, at a length of 77 km and a width of between 4 and 14km, it's the largest lake in Central Europe.

Anyway, so we find a campsite, register, and park our camper just feet from the shore, under a very large tree. We are just starting to set up the awning, tables, chairs, etc., when it begins to rain. Just a little bit at first, certainly nothing to anyone used to Dutch weather. Then the skies opened up and it began to pour, while a lovely 60 mph breeze kicked in.

With the first rush of air, from out of the tree branches literally thousands upon thousands of mosquitoes descended upon us under the awning, seeking shelter of their own from the wind and rain. Within seconds were covered from head to toe in bugs, just like you sometimes see bees swarming on people. COVERED.

I immediately started shrieking and managed to slam the door to the camper shut so more bugs wouldn't get it, all the while dancing and shaking and waving and wriggling like mad trying to get the bugs off. I'm pretty sure I invented a few new swear words, too. I don't know anyone who actually *likes* mosquitoes, but let me tell you, having them in your hair and eyes and up your nose is a new level of hell.

Fred, meanwhile, was just calmly wiping them off, completely unphased by the whole thing. Within a few minutes the rain and wind had stopped and we were able to wave the bugs away and out from under the awning. Then we went inside the camper and spent a half hour or so squashing the little buggers that had managed to get in.

The whole thing was over within 45 minutes. Then the sun came back out, and everyone went back into the water. O.o. Lots of people had VERY wet tents, though. :c) We spent three days in all just hanging out by the water.