43.11 Bulgaria. One last day's fling in the Rhodopes: A hike, a vertical climb and reflections of life through water. It does not get better.
I've made the comment from time-to-time: Who likes a showoff? Of course, if I'm the showman, then that's obviously different. Here I was preparing for a 3rd climb on the rungs, via ferrata, steadying myself and arguing internally with my cautious, negative id(iot)—Be a man, Jeffrey...well, at least try. Stop shaking and get on with it. I had a feeling, this being the 3rd time over the last ten days of undertaking the vertical climb (on our way home from a formal hike), maybe I'm pushing my luck. Then I had a better thought: 'Cut out the superstitious nonsense'. In fact, there is an old Jewish concept that when a person does something for a 3rd time, it becomes a habit. (Unfortunately, it works on negative behavior as well. Got a few of those, too.) Lo and behold, my photographer had not taken her position at the mound opposite the cliff. Instead, I found her climbing the rungs, upstaging me. Heck, what's the world coming to? Can't a fellah have a...