Ruth's birthday turned out better than expected... and what a finish!

Pouring buckets when we woke up yesterday morning, but by 9:00am or so it had stopped. The forecast was for more rain though. Ruth had an 11:00am dentist appointment so we weren't sure whether we should drive into town but by 10:30 it still wasn't raining so we decided to hop on the bikes.

That turned out to be the best choice. Didn't really want to move Max the motorhome if we didn't have to.

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On our way to the dentist...

View from our bike ride into Berat.

We locked the bikes on one side of the bridge and walked the rest of the way.

Things went well at the dentist. A technician who specializes in doing the computerized scan had come in just for Ruth. I didn't see it being done, but Ruth says it was pretty high tech and the computer displayed a 3D looking model of her teeth. I should have gone in and taken a photo, but there were other people having work done. She said it was pretty cool, although a little uncomfortable doing the rear teeth.!

So with that done, we now wait for the aligners to be made. It normally takes about two weeks, but the dentist spoke to the technician about our schedule and he thinks he can have them ready by Thursday. We have to bring 73,000 lek ($870 CAD, $680 USD, €600) in cash with us that day to pay the bill, so we will have to make a few trips to the ATM between now and then!

Next up was to find a hairstylist. I checked the google maps listings for reviews, but there wasn't much there. We walked over to one salon but the girl said she was busy until 3:00pm and we didn't want to hang around. We found another place that wasn't even on google maps, and the girl could take Ruth right away.

Ola was a really nice girl, and her English was very good.

The finished product!

She hasn't had her hair this short for a long time. Total cost including eyebrows and a tip was 900 lek ($10.75 CAD, $$8.50 USD, €7.40).

Ola's mother was there as well, and when we were about to leave we asked if they knew anywhere we could buy fresh chicken breasts. The butchers seemed to only do beef and pork, and the chicken in the grocery stores is often frozen and thawed, and sometimes seasoned. She tried to describe where it was located, but eventually just said "follow me" and walked over there with us. Everyone is so nice. Sure enough, this was the place to buy chicken! When you stay in one spot long enough, you eventually find all the best places to buy things! 

Then we stopped at a fruit and veggie lady that we've been to once before. The bill came to 270 lek, but I only had a 200 or a 2000 and she didn't have enough change. She took the 200 and said to pay the other 70 next time we're walking by!

And then it was back to Max. We weren't back ten minutes and it began raining again. Our timing was perfect!

The restaurant by the campground looks like it's been there a while. The campground on the same property is fairly new, only opening this past summer. I went up and asked if we could have Ruth's birthday dinner at around 6:00pm. They do not speak any English, so Google Translate comes in handy!

We went up there just after six, and there were two other tables, both with a couple of guys at them. And the waiter was male, as was the owner/chef. Ruth was the only woman all evening. We just thought that was odd on a Saturday night.

I asked if they had any local wine, and he was proud to bring out a half liter of his personal home made stuff. It was really good, and we ended up with another half liter later on. For food, he suggested a local traditional meal. His translated suggestion said it was "local bird"! We said "sure" without having any further idea of what we were getting. This is risky when Ruth has a gluten allergy, but sometimes you have to take a chance in life.

They brought out some salad and salce...

Salce and pickles.

We never did find out what the stuff on the right was!

Then the owner came over and waved his hand like he wanted us to follow him. So we headed outside where he was doing the cooking over wood coals...

Dinner is cooking!

Some kind of bird with rice.

It tasted like chicken, but it was pretty small and not as much meat as you would normally see. It might have been a local chicken, but we're not convinced. It was tasty though.

We were stuffed and we couldn't eat it all.

The little puppy ran all over the restaurant. 

Nobody cares, and we didn't either.

He's such a cute little guy... and no, we are NOT adopting him!

So about half way through the meal some music came on and the two guys sitting sort of next to us got up and started dancing. Then the owner/chef joined in. I took a quick video. Turn up your volume...

Local dancing.

Anyhow, it turns out that in this part of the world, men dancing together is a cultural norm. Eventually, Ruth joined in, and even I got up with them! We had quite a party and eventually the homemade raki was brought out.

We knew when to call it quits though. Good thing, or they might still have us there. By the time we paid the bill and left, they were still dancing.

Including tip, the bill came to 3,000 lek ($36 CAD, $28 USD, €24). What a fun evening.

The sun is trying to shine this morning, so we're headed out for a power walk. Heavy rain is forecast for this afternoon and overnight.

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