Been a long time since I wrote something...valuable I mean. You know why? I've been collecting. Like a little ant during autumn. So this post is going to be partly sound interactive in order to get you inside my movie. Please bear with me and let me take you through the...

^{The ugly | ...the Good and the Bad died of hunger, only 2 horses survived | click here for larger image}

Babarunca Outlaws

Give a play to the song below. I know you mostly don't know the words because you know...they are in Romanian, but hey! Listen to the rhythm, to the call to arms behind it.

My people's history is full of guys that rode on horses, drank wine until dead drunk and sometimes planned and executed some robberies. The legend calls them "haiduc"s. Merry men, like Robin Hood; it is said they were giving the wealth to the peasants. Right... and Mary was a Virgin.

During Easter, we've been in the mountains, close to Brasov city, our beautiful mountain city. While coming to the remote place we've stayed (and which I'll be presenting to you with another occasion and post), we've passed through places where people, if they still live constantly there, are going back to their "closer to earth" state.

^{The deceiptful smile | During the old times, outlaws would outpower you. Now they can outsmart you. | click here for larger image}

Our "haiduc"s now are usually stealing scrap iron and trees while the mighty horse is their slave. No respect for nature, no respect for animals and no respect for life. The only constant here is the animal, while the human being is degrading with each century that passes by.

Once mighty, sang about in great legends (but as you well know, legends are written by the victorious), our outlaws are now, merely people that ride on skinny horses.

Outlaws we still have around these areas but times are hard. Hard to feed horses as you can see, and hard to find wealthy people to be able to rob. Usually being an outlaw now means stealing something to feed your own mouth and in the best case scenario, your family. There's no time and place for others.

Colours in rainy Brasov

So yeah. I've been around Brasov. Sue me!

Yes, like any other typical Romanian girl, I love Brasov. It's probably one of the cities I would move to. We even considered it at one point. Definitely better than my industrial town where I ruin my youth.

I like people in Brasov because they don't run away from the rain like others do. I've been in Paris and I've seen people running away from a little summer shower like it was sulphuric acid. In Brasov they barely put their hoodies on and continue walking calmly.

I don't know if it's true but people in Brasov seem smarter. Maybe I'm just a little goose and I can't read people, I don't know, but this city gives me the impression people still like to read, during the evening, on their balcony, with all the fresh air around and their little cup of mint tea. Yeah...that's my movie.

This city is a combination of old and new with habits as a constant. They were and still are merchants. This is one of our country's economic hub and you can see that. There's potential here.
Also, the places to eat around in the old city, but not only, are one of the finest in Romania.

Colorful frames can be hanged around the places as you look around. During summer or winter, autumn or spring, colors are present here through constructions, lights, the green of the forest and the general good administration.

Of course, poverty is present everywhere in Romania so Brasov can't escape difficult sights like the one below.

Straight out of Sacele

So push straight play.

Sacele is one of the longest villages in Romania I think. I mean, it looks infinite. That road through the middle of the village doesn't end.

Buuuut...right when you enter this Sacele, coming from Ploiesti on the alternate way, there's this neighborhood. Ghetto one might say. Infectious hole. The only good thing about this ghetto it's the fact that it's right in the middle of the mountains. They still have forests so the air is nice. Other than that... boy, it's a place you don't want your car to run flat.

Oh... and did I mention that this is one of the biggest colonies of rroma people? Oh no, I didn't? Well it is.

Ok. Maybe I'm being irrational. Or some of you might call me prejudiced but this is not a place where you want your car to break down. For sure if you get a flat tire in the process of passing by through here you have to be careful at least.

Life for sure is different for them. The back of their houses it's also their personal garbage dump. In time, those areas transformed the land. I wanted to take out my drone and capture these details but then also I decided that it's more indicated to not stop and take out my expensive equipment and seem like I'm spying on them. They are not the kind of people to mess with.

If you pass around here in the middle of a sunny Sunday, around noon, you will have to go at around 30 km/h in order to not hit some small kid, some drunk old guy or some possie that it's gathering from the favelas to go pick up, I don't know... a bag of sunflower seeds.

These children live mainly on the street. I guess this builds character and gives you experiences you will not be able to get somewhere else. So this style of life can act as a funnel in order to pull out, from the depths of society, the very best, la creme de la creme, and bring it on a silver plate to the other end of the consumer society, with a cherry on top of it. Who knows what will become of children in the picture below years from now?!

Finding things deeply burried in the ground is the main job around these parts. The ones that are lucky enough to collect with and use their car are the ones that leveled one or two steps on the ladder of life.
The other ones, working the asses off their horses, are still on the beginer level and can explore only limited areas. They intake everything. They are the way Romania selectively collects its garbage.

The majority of people throw their garbage unsorted out (yeah, we are savages) but somehow metals get to metals while plastics go to plastics. This is where the "gypsy fairy" comes in.

In spite of some of the dark movies I presented upstairs, I had a good time. My country is complex, has a lot of needs and I think that is what will drag us forward. After a lot of time, I was in the middle of my family and that felt so relaxing.