“Travels to a Different Time” : 9July1974: Costenesti, Romania: Too Much Pear Nectar; Dancing with DDR Girls; Pierre Sells His Shoes to a Young Communist!

I must lay off the pear juice! Runs galore all morning and thank goodness for the airmail edition of Le Monde! I was dreaming of waffles with loads of butter and maple syrup but instead a strange breakfast of canned grapes, stale bread and jam. My rumbling stomach calmed down so off to the beach with Eric and Pierre. Played some Frisbee and novice Eric caught on quickly. Sylvia and some Czech girl joined in and we played Frisbee for two hours. After steaming up I was in the freezing cold water for 10 minutes and emerged numb. We stayed until 5. I had my half-cooked dinner as the gas cannister ran out. At 8 a group of us snuck through “control” on the beach to the communist youth camp discotheque. One needs a special pass to access the compound of which we do not have as this is the exclusive domain of young communists. A 12-day vacation with all meals costs 500 lei at the communist youth camp. The Romanians are trying to pump up the Black Sea coast as a tourist destination but at present I do not think they have the infrastructure to support that ambition. And the swimming is much better in Yugoslavia and food is somewhat more plentiful there. Tourists are also charged double price for accommodation. Camping for example is 7 lei for East Bloc residents and 22 lei for non-East Bloc residents. The music was much better tonight and Eric and I danced with some DDR girls. Pierre sold his shoes to some young communist. We left after a couple of terrible Romanian beers of which one can only drink half a bottle before it goes flat.  We headed out to the Dacia nightclub which was dead so we waked home in light rain. Please no more Romanian rain!