i'm not sure how I ended up in Ukraine already...

I'm travelling with Franck from France, the CouchSurfer I met in Budapest. We met up in Cluj two and a half days ago and since then we've:
1. hitchhiked from Cluj through northern Transylvania and the Carpathians to Borsec...originally planning to go to Sovata and then head south, it was raining off and on all day so we decided to stay in the truck as long as we could.
We drove through incredible valleys filled with gorgeous little villages, orthodox churches, silver scaled rooftops and women in scarves.

2. spent 5 hours in Romanian Orthodox masses and slept at a monastary...In Borsec another trucker picked us up, we were planning to have him drop us off at a lake about 60 km away, but again the rain intervened. the trucker was saying something about monastaries and how we could sleep at one. So we said "ok", thinking he was going to drive us there.
The rain was pretty biblical and every village we passed featured people standing outside, staring at the river in concern. Then he stopped the truck and let us out, pointing down a road and saying "two kilometers". It was getting dark and we had no idea where to go. Plus we were at the edge of the forest and had been talking about bears all day. This was a small dirt road in the middle of nowhere so we stuck our thumbs out at the next car that came by and miraculously she stopped. A very well dressed woman in a very nice car filled with flowers and garment bags and all white interior STOPPED for a couple of muddy hitchhikers and offered to drive us to the monastary. We didn't even know which one we were going to go to, so she said she would take us where she was going and see if they would let us stay.
We drove up to Sihastria in the rain and twilight and as we got out of the car were struck by the sound of drums and chanting monks. Franck and I just stared and grinned as Florica pulled an extra headscarf out of her car and tied it around my messy head.
She went in to consult with the priest and eventually we were called in to meet him, a man all in black with a long black beard. They spoke and spoke in Romanian and asked us if we were hungry and conferred some more. The priest blessed us and then held onto my arm with an iron grip. We had no idea what they were talking about but finally the priest gave Florica a key and she took us to our room so we could change.
Then dinner, wonderful simple soup and bean stew and wine and vegetables all from the monastary, and then the mass.

By this time it was already 10pm but the mass would continue until 11:30 or 12. It was still pouring rain so Florica pulled me under her umbrella (poor Franck was exposed to the elements) and we walked through the dark and cobblestones toward the basilica and the sound of the chanting. We walked around a corner and suddenly saw one of the most cinematic views i've ever seen with my own eyes...a vast white courtyard under a black sky, illuminated by the light coming out of the basilica.
This is the place. Imagine it at night in a flooding rain.
We sat in mass for an hour or two, kneeling on the floor, I trying to keep the scarf on my head (a constant struggle). It was very beautiful but I had no idea what was going on so just tried to blend in as much as possible.

Next morning, same thing. Florica and her friend told us to be at the basilica at 9 am (while they didn't show up till 10!) and again we sat through the multi-hour Byzantine sort of mass. Again, fascinating watching the monks come and go, old ladies kneeling and praying, young girls scratching their noses and looking around and obviously wishing they were elsewhere...

Then more amazing food, all made at the monastary - vegetable and cheese soup, bread, polenta with soft mild cow's cheese and cream, their own white wine, turkish coffee.

Then Florica and her friend took us for a tour of a couple other famous monastaries in the region, Secu and Manastirea Neamt; bought us souvenir picture cards and small icons to carry with us; and took us to the bus station in the nearest town.

Did I mention that nobody charged us a penny for all of this?

3. Hitchhiked across the Ukranian border, not sure about visa requirements...
From Targu Neamt we hitched to Suceava, and from Suceava to the Ukranian border. Incredible luck with our rides, both times it was the first car that passed that picked us up.
We had no idea what the visa requirements were for Ukraine (my LP from a couple years ago said i must have a visa, but an american guy i met last week said he thought the rules had changed). No internet anywhere, frantically texting anyone we thought would be at a computer to see if they could check, finally just ended up getting in the car and seeing what happened.
And they let us through, no problem, no visa, no money, no nothing. A very long line at the border but we were allowed to ride through with a Ukranian family who then drove us to a 'hotel' (see: Everything is Illuminated) in the nearby town. 3 Euros a night, each.

4. Trying to get to Lviv...today we jumped on a small local bus bound for Chernivtsi (still very near the Romanian border) and I thought we were going to get lynched for taking up two people worth of space...just when i thought they couldn't get one more stout old lady on the bus they managed to cram one on.
So we are now in Chernivtsi, waiting for the next bus to Lviv, looking forward to perogies for lunch. It's pretty nice here, but the language barrier is a serious problem. We're still pretty intimidated by the Cyrillic, but people are generally nice.

I can't access gmail from here but hopefully will be able to get to it in a bigger city.