Dispatch from Albania # 8 Nov. 23, 1999
From: Cdcphotog@aol.com
Subject: Message #8 fr Albania
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: undisclosed-recipients:;


Dispatch from Albania # 8 Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1999

Up very early in a downpour to journey back to Durres to get photographs of
water. Scratched.

Changed plans and stayed in Tirana, photographing the director of the Torture Rehabilitation Center. As Kathy said, ìCan you imagine that there is such a thing as a Torture Rehabilitation Center?!î We did get some nice pictures* of the director with the man who had been imprisoned 26 years walking together in the rain. First time my Nikon has been wet, but ëtis OK. Pictures first, we say.

Packed for our trip south to Elbesan, Fier, and Gjirokaster. Tidbits from conversations and observations : Many vendors in Tirana attach low roofs or covers outside buildings to protect their wares. The construction is primitive, made of metal, concrete, wood, canvas, plastic or whatever they can find. This is illegal, and about once a month the police go through town demolishing them. Last night they were on a tear, and I heard frequent bursts of demolition, not requiring dynamite (like the pathetic home we saw destroyed by dynamite in a blood feud), but they simply knocked down the underpinnings or supports, leaving debris all over the streets. The vendors will sell their wares atop the wreckage for a few days then will rebuild. Cycle continues.

Coincidence: When trying to describe to you a ìtypical Albanianî face, generalization that it is, I thought of a slimmed-down John Belushi. Guess what! He was Albanian. So there you have it.

What if several large companies planted factories here and hired thousands of people. Say, Proctor and Gamble, Pfizer, Pepsi (Coca-Cola is already here), Intel, Ford. That would make a mega-major improvement. What would the shareholders say when told their company is INVESTING IN ALBANIA? Jay Leno might get lotsa mileage outta that. On the other hand, doing well by doing good might not be such a bad marketing strategy. ìshitetî means ìfor saleî

We saw and photographed a magnificent double rainbow outside Tirana, overlooking an impressive garbage heap.

Rubble is everywhere. Looks like a war zone that has not recovered. Ugly. Dogs and cats scour the rubbish while children play in it.

Things spotted in garbage**: plastic bottles (no Styrofoam for unknown reasons), food, clothes, rags, tree branches, dirt, cigarette stubs and cigarette boxes, shoe soles, egg boxes, debris from buildings including bricks, tiles, mortar, concrete pieces, planks, nails.

A (an?) historian told us that ìAlbania does not have even minimum living conditions for a European country.î

The Tirana sports palace was the main reception point for all Kosovars coming into this country. Host families, very poor, would come down to the large center and take a family back to their homes, feed and care for them indefinitely ó the essence of Albanian hospitality.

A son and father went to get some refugees and came home with 11. There were 10 in their own family, so now they had 21 in one apartment = HOSPITALITY

A package of cigarettes costs one American dollar and the average number smoked per man (women generally donít smoke ìunless they are gypsiesî) is 1 pack a day. From what interpreters say, 90% of the men over 16 smoke. ìAnd now teen-age girls are starting.î Even though Albania produces tobacco, the cigarettes of choice are

Marlboro & LM. The Marlboro Man on his cowboy horse grabs your attention on major billboards in every town, even in most of the villages weíve seen.

Much marble here. Floors are slippery and could provide a good way to get rid of any unwanted guests. In Tirana, women are well-dressed and wear high-heels everywhere, so there are lots of shoe stores and shoe repair shops. Their make-up is straight out of VOGUE. Their lip-liner is perfect.

In one town we saw two women sweeping the sidewalk and street. Unusual.

Police drive Volkswagens while Mafia (shijek) drive you-know-whatís

During entire trip have counted 5 neon signs

Saw large spirals of black smoke as we drove outside town. Asked and learned that cement, a popular roadside product, is made by burning limestone. Anyone can set up his small ìfactory,î haul in the rocks, put them into a concrete bin, set them afire, and burn them to ash. Sack it up, put into large plastic baggies, stack them, sell them. Good business.

Love, Carolyn

*I donít like to use the word ìshotsî or ìshoots.î So militaristic. Photographer Imogen Cunningham tried to change that jargon. Edward Weston & Ansel Adams also. Wanted to teach people to think and say, ìmake a photograph.î **Iíve always enjoyed Holden Caufieldís and Cadillac Jackís interests in what people use, collect, or discard.



next