A Night Of Song And Dance In A Yambol Apartment

The plan was a trip to Galia's cousin who live in an apartment block on the other side of Yambol City. We were meant to meet up with another cousin Poliya and her partner Dimco. We met at the St Nikolai Church at 6:00 where Nasco was armed with a guitar. The walk to the apartment was taking a trail that followed the River Tundzha for about 1 kilometre. It was a walk that had it's dangers at the broken path under our feet was negotiated in the failing light of dusk without any street light to aid us.

We arrived and took the robust elevator with the bare wall that slid past us as we rose the the third floor. All four of us only just squeezed in as it was designed purely for loving couples. We entered the apartment which had no heating other that a little oil based radiator in the spacious main living room. The room was laid out with the typical Bulgarian with a food laden coffee table surrounded by the sofa bed and a running television with Bulgarian pop folk divas singing and flaunting their beautiful bodies to tease and steal our male instincts to watch.

As the evening started we knew it was going to end in the early hours of the morning. I had brought along 1 litre of rakia and Dimco had also brought 1 litre of his home made rakia that was crystal clear. Now I was fully aware of the strength of my own golden coloured rakia, it was around 42% proof and I knew how much I could drink in an evening. The trouble was that I didn't know what strength Dimco's rakia was and traditionally he drunk mine and I drunk his. I know now that it was much stronger that the 42% proof that he was drinking and less smooth, it had a moonshine quality that certainly took the shine of the moon on our way home in the early hours of the morning!

The food as always was excellent, mainly potato based with three dishes of mashed potato and garlic with a carrot top, Russian salad and mayonnaise based boiled potatoes. Then there was the meat, smoked chicken, smoked ham, salami and highly salted and herb covered pig skin. Unshelled and salted peanuts and of course dark Plovdiv made Bulgarian winter beer, Yambol produced orangeade and cola and the two bottles of homemade rakia to wash it all down with.

It wasn't long before the guitar was strummed and an evening of home produced music was filling the apartment block. I knew most of the tunes, as we all lost our inhibitions and just hacked them out. There is something about just letting yourself go and singing no matter how bad you are, now one cares as long as we are all enjoying ourselves. The drinking talking and singing went on and on and on. Our host looks after here Baba who is a bit senile, but of all the singers, she was the one who had the most beautiful voice and often sang perfectly in tune with her renditions of a descant roles throughout.

Was there something missing? Yes, the dancing, but it didn't take too long for the evening to bring about a curtain call fro an impromptu danced sparked off by the beautiful women there this evening. As I was about to get and and join them I was stopped by Dimco who insisted that the women were here to dance for the men to watch as we studied the swerving, juggling bodied of women only a metre away from us. Dance Bulgarian style here is bordering on the erotic as the women purposely tease their bodies to the seated men, just like the Bulgarian Pop Folk Divas. Dimco and myself just enjoyed these moments of watching without any guilt, the women were enjoying us watching them as much as we were enjoying watching them!

The evening was over too quickly as we found out that things didn't turn into pumpkins after midnight. In fact the evening was such a joy for us all that we were invited to do the same thing 24 hours later. And did!

There was a price to pay though as I woke this morning with a hangover. I haven't had a hangover for as long as I can remember. Dimco's rakia that I was drinking was the culprit, I drunk far too much and it was far too strong, next time I'll add some water to it to bring it nearer the 40% mark.

We hadn't done things like this for a long time and it was such a pleasure and lots of physical contact with hugging, kissing, holding and general letting yourself go, without any fear or inhibition!