Putna-Vrancea Natural Park
ROMANIA
A Survival Guide to the Romanian Countryside
By LYNDI
Thursday, March 1, 2018
As we took the cable car down from the Ice Hotel – Aaron and I felt great! The skies were blue, the world’s most twisted highway below us blanketed in snow, our newfound friends accompanying us on the ride – what a great start!
We found our little rental car and slowly navigated down the windy road – still high on emotions from such a great experience the night before.
And as we careened on to Highway 1 to return to Brașov, we took a nosedive. That “great experience” consisted of glasses of whiskey, shots of jaeger, and copious amounts of extraordinarily average beer, and perhaps we were still a little drunk the next morning. But it caught up with us on the return journey.
With groggy heads and what felt like sewage in our stomachs, we made one desperate stop at a gas station to fill up on hangover cures (you know – Coke and Cheetos) and forged ahead. There would be no napping today – no milking a hangover with Netflix and Gatorade – today was the start of another trip highlight: a winter hike through Romania’s forests.
The front desk at Casa Wagner had highly recommended our guide Cosmin – his brochure was stocked with impressive credentials and quotes from satisfied customers. Finding a guide in Romania is pretty simple – there are thousands – but finding one to do snow hikes and an overnight stay in a mountain hut in winter was exceedingly more challenging.
So after a few discussions with Cosmin on the phone we were sold. For 60 Euros per person he promised us beautiful views, a traditional Romanian dinner in a remote mountain cabin, and the opportunity to see wildlife thanks to his expert tracking skills. And to his credit – he completely delivered. But as we all know – it’s not the destination, it’s the journey, and that’s where sh*t got weird…
So Cosmin picks us up at Casa Wager where the hotel generously let us store our big bags and repack for our overnight trip. Enroute to the trailhead, we make a few stops to pick up food for the trip and Cosmin asks if we have room in our bag for a few small things – which naturally was no problem. So when he comes out with a liter and a half of wine – we had to empty some non-essentials from our daypack to accommodate a copious amount of cheap wine (which in our hungover heads – looked like poison) and a few other smaller morsels. We parked at a trailhead that was about 20 minutes from Brașov’s city center, and geared up – meaning Aaron put on his gaiters and I received a stern scolding and then got to wear Cosmin’s gaiters.
To be fair – I had asked him a few days prior if there was any special gear we would need and he said “no”, though when hiking in snow I guess gaiters are a given. What do I know? I just wanted a nap.
We set out through the forest and navigated a trail through virgin, fluffy snow. It was absolutely stunning and incredibly peaceful. Mostly peaceful because Cosmin shushed us every time we cleared our throats or asked a question.
Now Cosmin has an interesting background – he looked to be in his early- to mid-30s, but had spent the majority of his working life as a forestry engineer and wildlife manager for Romania’s popular Bear Sanctuary before deciding he wanted to guide tourists through the mountains and country-side that he loves. But something tells me that all that time spent alone in the woods did his head in. Though he could guide us through the mountains blindfolded and smell a female deer a mile away, he definitely could not competently command a normal human conversation.
As we headed uphill through the snow, he made Aaron walk behind him and me behind Aaron – when I asked why he ignored me – and would stop on several occasions and ask us to take photos of him. At one point, he turned around, held up his hand as a mini gun, and pretended to shoot Aaron.
It was at this point that I knew we were going to die. Cosmin was obviously leading us up to an abandoned cabin so he could murder us and cut us into tiny pieces for his beloved Romanian bears. It was all so clear! We forged ahead, but I meticulously put together an escape plan as we continued…
“When Cosmin attacks Aaron, I’ll grab the knife in his sheath before he knows what’s happening and stab him in the stomach. Or the balls? Wait, no, he would use the knife to attack Aaron – what other weapon can I find? My bare hands? The Vulcan Nerve Pinch? Wait – I’ll run! In my red jacket? And try to hide from the man that can track wild animals across the country? Crap. Best option: run back to town while he gnaws on one of Aaron’s limbs…”.
Little did I know that Aaron was simultaneously planning his own escape route under the now-clear assumption that Cosmin was going to attack us. Hopefully, Aaron’s plan included saving me despite me totally abandoning him in my own escape sequence.
And yet we continued – albeit a bit apprehensively. But it was easy to distract ourselves from certain death as the barren trees made way for stunning panoramas of the Bucegi Mountains, with peaks and valleys as far as the eye could see.
We took several breaks enroute to the cabin as we were climbing at a fairly steady rate in deep snow (plus I had a liter and a half of wine strapped to my back), and within about two hours we could see the mountain hut looming ahead at a crest on the hilltop.
Once we arrived at (death’s) door, we were greeted by a nice old Romanian man who spoke no English but seemed to know Cosmin well. By this time it was about 4:30 in the afternoon, so we got the lay of the land (open bunk room upstairs, outhouse behind the cabin) and relaxed our still-alcohol-infused bodies in the downstairs “mess hall”.
The mountain hut was actually perfect – a small wood-fired stove warmed the entire place, and there was a small kitchen in the back where our Romanian friend worked. He also had a small bar where we could order beer, wine, coffee or tea, but just the sight of a beer can made me sick to my stomach.
In the summers, these mountain huts scattered throughout Romania’s countryside fill up and often are at capacity – we heard stories of nights getting pretty crazy as hard-drinking Romanians blast the FM stereo with Gypsy Pop and down shots of tuica. This night, however, it would be just Aaron, Cosmin and myself.
We tried to make conversation with Cosmin since there wasn’t much to do at the mountain hut but drink (no way) and talk, but getting in more than three consecutive words turned out to be quite a challenge. Even though he barely let us get a word in, to his credit his stories were rather entertaining (how he was attacked by a bear, how to survive a bear attack [it involves a big flashlight?], tales from his wildlife tracking days, and – of course – how he would fix America).
He also prepared a really nice traditional Romanian dinner for us which consisted of homemade soup, bread, cheese and onion, and game meat. And somehow he convinced us to have one glass of cheap white wine by guilting us into it – something about how it’s rude not to partake in wine if offered, blah, blah, blah. After a few hours of awkward conversation, Aaron and I finally made it upstairs to bed at 9pm and passed out.
I truly slept like a baby. After one night of little sleep and excessive alcohol, paired with a day of hiking in snow and a warm mountain hut, my 11 hours of sleep served me well. As my sub-conscious slowly awakened, I could hear the birds chirping outside, smell the wood in the stove below us, and feel the warmth of the heavy blankets enveloping me.
My eyes slowly drifted open and I found my focus on the giant wooden beams above us. Sighing with comfort, I turned to my side to see – EGAD! Cosmin is lying on his side, hoisting his head up with his hand, staring at me? I think the disturbing part isn’t that he was staring at me while I slept, but that he made no move to HIDE that he was staring at me while I slept, revealing a deranged understanding of human interaction at the very least.
No matter – we were up and ready to move. After a nice breakfast with hot tea, we descended back down the way we came. This time we were allowed to walk in whatever order we wanted, and Cosmin continued to impart some really interesting information about Brașov, about Romania, and wildlife in general.
Cosmin dropped us off at the Brașov train station where we bought tickets to Bucharest for the final leg of our journey. He invited us for coffee while we waited for the train, but as we already thought we had tempted fate enough, we politely declined and ran away from his car. So fast, in fact, that we left a bunch of stuff we had removed to make way for the huge jug of wine – but decided life was more valuable than going back to retrieve it.
So despite Cosmin’s detachment from social etiquette, he led us on a beautiful, fun and memorable trip through the Romanian countryside, which was exactly what we were looking for. And we now know to hike through bear country with a flashlight.
