Back With the Alfreys: Part 1

 Hey guys! As I said in a previous post I was planning to go visit Dylan and his family once again. Last time I was in Shipka I made a post about it and it got pretty popular, so I hope this one is as good, if not better than the last one. Now, the story is quite long, so I'll split it in  three parts - one for each day I spent there.
 Credit for most of the photos (the prettier ones, to be exact XD ) goes to Chris, who you'll meet later in this post.

Part 1:

 I couldn't get on the early bus from Sofia to Kazanlak, so I took a late one instead, which was pretty awful. What was worse, though, was the fact that it wasn't even a bus, but a minivan. All the seats where taken, so there was too little room for comfort. The journey went on for about four hours, so it was very exhausting. When I finally arrived in Kazanlak it was already quite dark (about 9:00pm). Dylan was waiting for me. We took a taxi to his village, Shipka. While in the taxi, we caught up with each other for the past year or so. The poor driver was stuck listening to our excited babbling, but he didn't mind, especially when Dylan left a tip for him.

A funny looking pigeon at the bus station in Sofia.

 When we got to his house everybody was there waiting for us. Pete, sadly, couldn't make it to Bulgaria this year, since he was busy with his new baby, but promised to come and visit as soon as possible.

 The next day me and Dylan got pretty early and prepared ourselves for some early herping (about 10:00am, which is considered early for snakes and other herps). Didn't expect to see anything thrilling, so we just walked casually, catching up on what we haven't yet. First we stopped at the garden. Last night Dylan's mom, Sophie, told us that she saw a little dead snake there, but couldn't identify it, so we decided to look for it. It wasn't long before we discovered it - a young dead Aesculapian snake (Zamenis longissimus):

Poor thing's head probably got smashed by a non-educated gardener or something.

 After we where done guessing the cause of death we moved along. Surprisingly, a lot of cold-blooded critters where out and about already. Green and Balkan green lizards where darting around in the bushes, and a lot of insects and arachnids where hiding under rocks and stuff.

A dead Green lizard (Lacerta viridis). It's tail and abdomen were probably bitten off.

False black widow. First time I've encountered one. It was definitely a cool experience, though Dylan is slightly terrified of spiders. XD

 At one point we reached a little water fountain. We wanted to drink, but it seems we weren't the only thirsty ones around:

Dylan specifically told me not to film him while he went for a drink with the bees. I'm not sitting on the sidelines, tough! Of course I'm gonna get all the action on camera. XD 

 The find of the morning was definitely this guy though:

 A juvenile Aesculapian snake. As soon as we saw him crossing the street we raced to catch him, because we had a bet who would catch more snakes on my visit - me or Dylan. Luckily, I caught this one (Dylan claims that he went easy on me this time, but he totally didn't XD) It was a pretty healthy lookin' fella, except for the tail, witch looked broken and twisted. Definitely a nice find, but our main goal was an adult one, 'cause I've never caught one before. 

Some more shots from our morning trip:

Those brown things that look like hanging poop are actually wasp nests.

Yup... definitely a new FB profile pic. XD

I don't know if it's visible, but there are threads of frog and toad eggs in this puddle.

A dragonfly, ready to emerge from his childhood and into adulthood.

Waiting for it's wings to strengthen and dry out. 

 Later that day Dylan's parents introduced us (well, Dylan already knew them) to Gabriel and Chris (he's the guy who made some of the photos on this post). The four of us where planning to go herping on the "herping/birding" road me, Dylan and Pete used to visit last year. It was nice to go back there, though we didn't see much snakes.

A truly magnificent looking Balkan green lizard.

And it wasn't just that one, we found a dead calf in a underground river pipe as well!

 At some point the wind brought an awful stench to our noses. It appeared to be a rotting dead cow. At first we where just standing there, looking at it, but Gabrielle broke the silence with a joke: "Well... I guess dinner is served?".

 We also found a few big Mediterranean banded centipede, of witch, oddly enough, I don't have any photos. Last time I argued with Dylan and Pete if those where dangerous to people. Chris, who's an entomologist, said that while they do possess venom, they aren't too dangerous to humans. Feeling confident, I looked at Dylan proudly: "Did ya hear that?". Though, as I said it, the centipede bit my right index finger. It stiffened momentarily from the venom and remained like that for the next half an hour, making flipping larger rocks a lot harder. Well, at least I learned my lesson...

 After a while we where ready to give up. It was too hot, we'd ran out of water and there was no sign of any snakes. Dylan, now angry and frustrated, flipped one last rock, and what he found under it was a huge female Smooth snake.

It was a big one, about 80 centimeters, witch is crazy for a Smooth snake, considering they are normally 60 or, rarely, 70cm, and the biggest one ever found is about 90cm!

It still wasn't as cool or rare as the combo-morphed "gold and cream" one from last year, but it was the biggest one each of the four of us had ever seen, so it was definitely a great find!

 So, that'll do for part 1 from my stay with the Alfreys. Soon I'll be posting part 2, so be sure to check it out as well. ;P