We have tired on several occasions to describe the transportation here, but a verbal description just does not capture the experience and so it has been delayed and delayed. But what would a blog on Albania be without discussing the furgons? We must try.

What is a furgon?

It is a minivan that can seat 10, 12 or 16 people. At least that is the scale for which they are licensed but the number of seats actually has very little to do with the number of people you put in the vehicle. Since the fee for licensing is based on the number of seats in the minivan, drivers buy the smallest van they can and pack in as many people as possible. Seat belts are not required except for the driver and they only buckle up just before the checkpoints which are fixed based on the season. In the summer, certain shady areas are where the road police set up and in the winter, they relocate to their favorite sheltered areas.

The other trick to cut expenses is to put a for sale sign on the van. If the vehicle is for sale, the owner does not pay the taxes; the buyer must pay the taxes when the vehicle is registered under their name. We suspect that few minivans are ever sold, just abandoned when they become unusable and we suspect, a furgon becoming unusable has never occurred in the history of the country.

So how do they work? There are fixed routes between the various cities and villages. All you have to do is to find where origination point for the furgons going in the direction you want to go. If your destination is not a final stop, then you must know which route runs through your destination. Then, catching the furgon is either a simple, straightforward experience or you feel like raw meat thrown into the shark tank. Elbasan is our least favorite place to catch a furgon. Even while we were in training and traveling there 2 or 3 times a week, it never became easy. The drivers knew we were heading to Peqin, yet they spotted the foreigners and either wanted to take us to Tirana or wanted a premium price for the ride. In contrast to Elbasan, most drivers are courteous and fair and in Albanian hospitality style, go out of their way to make sure you get where you want to go.

Picking a furgon is like picking a line at the supermarket, which one will fill and leave first? You guess, climb in and sit. At most places, the drivers work together to fill the furgons in some order, but in Elbasan and Durres, that is not the case. We suspect there is a system, but after a year, we still do not understand the process for loading the furgons. We have learned to walk the long route toward the furgon stand and see if you can catch one that has left with an empty seat.

To describe the driving here is a challenge. At first, we compared to an ant column with everyone weaving in and out and around each other to go in their general direction. But a better description is they drive the way they walk. You crowd each other (no personal space here), go around when some slows down, stop when you see someone you want to talk to, and turn around anywhere. In the history of Albania, no one has ever made the block if they miss a turn. The car is just a faster way of walking.

Traveling the highways is always an adventure – passing on curves, passing into oncoming traffic and using the lane markers and street signs only as suggestions are the standard practice. Passing is probably the most disconcerting act. It seems as long as you honk your horn to let the driver in front of you know you are passing and then flash your headlights to warn the oncoming traffic, it is ok to pass. So far, each time we have passed a vehicle, the oncoming traffic has shifted to allow 3 lanes. But the first time a furgon passed into oncoming traffic, I thought our time here was finished. It is a good thing the roads are so poor that even on the main highways, the speed is rarely over 50kmh and drivers have time to react.

We hoped to provide a clip of the furgon ride, but it hard to have the camera ready when the classic Albanian pass occurs. If we ever get it captured on film, we will add it and repost this entry. But for now, it is too terrifying to turn loose of the seatback and take out the camera.