Adventure Beat

Richard Bangs Adventures just completed the first of two five-day expeditions in the Balkans, Discovering the Mysteries of Macedonia. (Next week we'll follow it up with a visit to Bosnia and its growing environmental movement.) Though we focused primarily on the intriguing legends and history of Macedonia, birthplace of Alexander the Great and many other influences on the classical world, we also took time to enjoy the more modern aspects of Macedonia. Richard Bangs wraps up our coverage with this anecdote on losing love, and the ever-present hope of finding it again.

On our last night in Skopje, Macedonia's largest city and capital, we headed to Capri, a watering hole for the fashionable and famous, and met the proprietor, Dragan Muratovski, who with his bald pate, body shirt, and single earring is the simulacrum of Mr. Clean gone hedonistic. Dragan ordered up some rakija, and after a shot I asked why he named his haunt "Capri."

He dropped his head toward his glass and sighed: "It is because of the biggest regret of my life. The biggest mistake of my life." He then told the story, one as florid, romantic, tragic and optimistic as Macedonia itself.

When Dragan was a young man he traveled to the island of Capri and met a beautiful Italian woman, Laura. They fell madly in love, spending the perfect summer together, and resolved to continue the relationship, to take it to a higher level. Dragan had to return home for a spell, but was able to make his way back earlier than expected, and he set out to surprise his love. He walked into the hotel and heard her laughter wafting from the pool. He rushed outside and saw her splashing about and playing with another man.

Unable to contain his anger, he pulled the man from the pool and beat him up. Dragan then took a room for his retreat, where he received a call from his lover's father — who informed him that he had just bloodied his daughter's visiting cousin. The father forbade Dragan from seeing his daughter again, and disappeared with her. 

Dragan returned to Macedonia and opened up a bar in her tribute. He lost himself in collecting expeditions to Africa and Asia, and brought back a capuchin monkey from Thailand as a companion. But he was depressed and anxious, still pining for his lost love. When after five years the monkey suddenly died, Dragan went to a psychic to understand why. She said the monkey had absorbed his stress and it was too much for its little heart. Dragan had the monkey stuffed, and it hangs today in an apartment above the Capri with a little smile curled across its face.

After telling the tale, and showing me the monkey, Dragan belted back another rakija, put on some Caprian music, and sat down facing the door as he always does, hoping, he said, that someday his long-lost Laura will walk through it. 

Perhaps this story on the Internet will make it come true.

Next: No Barriers: Ascending personal summits

Previous: Daily updates: Expedition Macedonia

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