I got lucky again on my trip. A friend of a friend, Dragos (pronouned Dragosh), was able to give me a free ride from Brasov to Iasi, wih a detour to Pietroasele. Although his vehicle was too small to even be a clown car, I didn't complain. The ride brought me through 9 of the 40 counties of Romania. Our stop in a small farming community called Pietroasele was more than a backpacker could imagine. I got to see first hand how farmers, Dragos' grandparents, live in Romania. After they served us fish soup (a complete fish, bones and all, mind you), I was allowed to wander through their farm.
Notice how different Dragos dresses compared to his grandparents. It would be as if my grandparents wore Native American clothing.
In my time in Romania, I saw no other backpackers. In fact, other than a few Peace Corps. workers, I met no other Westerners. Even though I did run into some problems during my time alone in Romania, I highly recommend visiting the country. As my Romanian friend Marius put it, "Romania is Europe's version of the "Wild West."
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