disturbing boat accident

I still can’t cut and paste. But I saw a headline reading “15 Dead in Tourist Boat Sinking,” and was shocked to click the story and learn that it happened in Lake Ohrid, the Macedonian side, 200 meters from shore.

I took a side-trip to Ohrid in October 2006, while based in Sofia, Bulgaria for a Levinas conference. Ohrid is a gorgeous little place, and since it’s right across the border from Albania I also crossed over and hired a taxi driver to take me on the winding mountain roads to Tirana, the Albanian capital.

Ohrid itself is a quaint tourist paradise. Normally I adore boat rides, but in Ohrid I avoided them, simply because the boat captains there were offensively aggressive and overpriced (unlike the kind and welcoming people in the rest of the town). They all wore flashy nautical hats and got in your face too much, quoting an outrageous price for a boat ride and then insulting you if you lost interest upon hearing the price. Perhaps this was simply a tragic accident, or perhaps those Ohrid boat captains have a dishonest racket going. I suppose the story will be developing.