After facing a very rainy city and attempting to catch a bus to BUNK'ART, Brandon and I returned to the hostel. We saw Tom who had found an awesome Yugoslavian era jacket and looked like he was about to start a revolution.  Tom often sat for hours drawing in his sketchbook, he is very talented and you should definitely check out his work.

Tirana was beginning to feel more and more like a much needed rest stop.  Moving around so much really takes its toll on you and I feel like I'm starting to understand how being on the road for extended periods can affect you physically and mentally.

I was trying to capture a shot of the gentleman behind Tom walking down the street with great hubris clutching his rosary beads.  He did not fit into the setting of the backstreets, his flawless appearance and cigar hanging from his lips seemed somewhat out of place when among the merchants selling livestock in the gutter.  But then Tom's smile, be it out of focus, is just dazzling.

Carlos had travelled to Southern Albania with the intention of catching the ferry to Corfu and spending the day there before flying home. Ryanair decided otherwise and so he came back to Tirana.

We went for a walk into the centre to see the Pyramid, an old broadcasting station that you can walk up the flank to the top. It was nice and has a good view over the city but what happened next was astounding.

A man approached us asking where we were from and would we like him to show us around; then he asked his true question if we could help him buy some food for his family. Right away Carlos' kind nature kicked in and said we'd go to the supermarket. On arrival he asked for a chicken and picked up the biggest juiciest bird I have ever seen. It was 2000LEK, that's around €15 for a chicken. Next up was the cheese counter and the man asked for 2kg of miscellaneous cheese. I could see Carlos' face lower as he'd realised the guy was taking him for a ride. Our new 'friend' proceeded to pick up litres of Olive oil to which he was denied and Carlos said just to get the chicken. He really did try and push it and had a great big smile on his face the whole time. He may have resold it or he may very well have a family to feed, we'll never know. We wanted to find something for dinner and bought a rotisserie chicken from the hole in the wall near the hostel; our 350LEK bird didn't compare to that of the 2000LEK delight.