In October 2004 I traveled from the village of Dardha, where I was halfway through fieldwork, to the village of Bagëtia, where I wanted to conduct a final round of interviews. It was a good day and the journey of 100 kilometers took “only” seven hours. Traveling together with my friend and field assistant, Klodian Rama, I left Dardha when it was still dark at 5 o'clock in the morning on the only bus going to Korça, the central town in southeastern Albania.

Although it was barely fall, the mornings at the foot of the Mal i Thatë mountains were already bitter cold. As the bus bumped over the gravel road, Klodian and I sunk deep into our jackets. Once it was light, I wiped the steamy bus window to see the dry, karstic landscape unfolding in front of us. It was plowing season and people were already out in the fields. Some, it seemed, were waiting for hired tractors, while others had taken advantage of the crisp morning air and started plowing with teams of horses or donkeys. To me, it was still striking to see that most people in the fields were women or pensioners. Young men did not work in agriculture anymore.

After two hours of a bone-rattling ride, we rolled into Korça where we hurried to catch the next minibus (furgon) to Pogradec. The minibus took us on the national asphalt road and, compared to the regular bus this morning, traveled quickly.