The Nikolaevo Horseraces

On Saturday, I went to a small village called Nikolaevo to watch traditional horse races. Participants rode from a nearby village bareback on their horses to a finish line outside of town. My pal Greg and I clearly stood out from the other bystanders, who were Roma and Turkish. The purse was 100 leva and a one-month supply of horsefeed. That is several weeks salary for the participants.

The day was cloudy with intermittened showers. Approximately 250 people showed up to watch the race, from a town of about 2000. They waited eagerly for an hour or so while the contestants rode off one-by-one to the starting line 5km away in the next village. We waited in the wind and rain, eagerly searching for the horses in the distance. The horses appeared several kilometers down the road and the onlookers went nuts.

Must work now. I will revise this in the next few days with the end of the story....