Day 14 and we are half way through our journey. The skies are sullen and the temperature below 12 C when I leave with Tamas for Laci's house. Nancy will stay in Garabonc until the planned family party in the afternoon.

Tamas and I had a quick coffee at Laci and Agi's. Then it is off in Laci's Honda to the horbargast store (fisherman's). It is not open so we go over to the large Csarnak across the road. It has all kinds of vegetables and fruits and meats. Each person sells what they grow on the farm. I have been here before but it is a lovely place to visit and the prices are better than at the local SPAR supermarket |across the road).

We are only in the Horbargast store for a minute. Laci buys something which looks like worms. When we get outside he shows me...it is thousands of MAGGOTS ! They are wriggling and look very alive. He says they are good for our bait.

We meet up with Robbie, Laci's friend from work in a small village not too far from (Nagy)Konizsa. We get all of the fishing gear loaded into Robbie's car (a small Suzuki). He bring two large fish (ponty-carp) about 3 kilo each. They are very clean and have been gutted. He stops part way and drops these fish off to someone. We make another stop, but I do not know why.

The road gradually dies and we are on a mud rutted road that is full of holes filled with water. We go deeper and deeper into the woods until we see a small lake. When we get out I see why Laci said to bring mosquito spray... there are billions of the little devils and they attack you everywhere there is skin. Fortunately we are heavily clad because it is still quite cool.

We carry all of the gear to the far side of the "lake" (large pond). Robbie does all of the work... he is our guide. Fishing for ponty in Hungary is quite different from Canada. Long rods are used and floats and the bait (on very small hooks) is dried CORN kernels. We do use some of the maggots though but the main bait is corn.

Robbie not only sets up the lines but he shoots out some special mixtures of food around the area we have set the float lines. He uses a large slingshot for this.

It isn't very long till I get a bite, but I have to learn the system and lose what might have been the first fish. I am more successful on the second bite and I land a small fish, not a ponty but something in the same family. We throw it back.

The weather is changeable and we get some small showers, but we a protected by the trees of the forest.

Laci tells me that Croatia is only 50 m away; so we go to look. There is a fairly large creek or small fast moving river. Croatia is on the other side. It is obvious that this is a popular spot since there is a fire pit and a large set-up which can trap fish in the river. The mosquitoes are even worse here.

We head back and find no change in our luck. Another friend of Laci and Robbie wanders in. He is Gabor a co-worker. He does not fish but smokes a few cigarettes and talks. His dialogue is generously filled with "basd" (fuck). He rambles on and on and finally leaves.

We think our luck has changed when one of the lines is pulled by a large fish and we hear the line running. But it is lost !

I catch another fish, but it is even smaller than the first. Laci takes video so we have proof.

We started fishing about 9:30 or 10 am and it is decided to leave about 12:30 pm. Robbie misses yet another fish. He will be back because he uses up all of his "seed" food.

We take the drive back... mosquitoes biting at us even in the car.
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We arrive back at Laci's about 2 pm, which I though was early... it isn't.

Jozsit, Magdi, Irma, Istvan, Tamas, Gyongyi and Nancy are there along with Agi and of course Laci. We start with the required shot of palinka provided by Jozset.

The food was prepared by Agi and is enormous in scope. We start with Haleszle (fish soup). There is much kidding about "where are your fish?". The soup is excellent. This is followed by pork hock and chicken polkott, boiled potatoes and galuska. Lots of Laci's red wine is also served.
Then it is on to desserts- my favourite is red currant with fruit filling and whipped cream.

During dessert, Irma and I exchange family tree notes. There is a discussion over the old pictures that I have and who they are. She gives me some pictures for copying and her notes. I will edit this later. The tree looks like it goes back as far as 1804...which is a generation better.

There are lots of pictures taken. Magdi takes a lot on her camera and I on mine along with video.
Irma, despite her complaints about health problems, looks very well. Everyone else does too.

There was much kibitzing around the table and lots of laughs. Nancy and I were the only English speakers, but I did manage to set the table off with a few good laughs.

There was the usual exchange of presents and hopefully everyone got something.

It is hard to say good bye to so many relatives at once, some we only go to see once. But we still correspond by letter and the Internet.

Tamas drives us back to Garabonc. We start getting ready for the journey to Padua tomorrow. We give Tamas and Gyongyi the special gift we brought from Canada - a jade symbol of the Canada Winter Olympics.

Tamas is lending us his GPS so we do not get lost with the other GPS which is very bad.