We arrived in Krakow at 10:30 at night, and Emma ran
straight to the nearest vendor because we were all dehydrated.  It was easily the most delicious water I’ve
had since I returned to Poland in September – what is it about fizzy water,
anyway?  Emma looked un-dead now, and as
a man passed by, she exclaimed, “Hey, there’s my boyfriend!”  He looked a cross between Kris Kringle and a
forest ranger.

While we were waiting for the bus at the wrong bus stop,
Emma said, “My boyfriend’s back!” and indeed, Kris Kringle Forest Ranger was
standing amongst us.  We (Emma and I and
our students) were looking pretty conspicuous, staring at our map and at the
bus post, holding sleeping pads and luggage.

He was a mountain man, from the Beskids in southern Poland,
and he asked us where we were from.  “Oh,
Białowieża!” he chuckled.  „You’re bison!”  (Białowieża is famous for its bison.)

Mountain Man had
a white beard, gold rimmed glasses, and a large nose.  He wore forest green from head to toe,
including a button up vest and a felt hat with long feathers and three braids
hanging from the back.  He had a walking
stick in one hand, an ax in the other, and a bottle of beer in his coat pocket.
As he led us to the correct bus stop, Kamil was chatting to him—something about
bison meat being quite delicious.

When we thanked
him, Mountain Man said, „You don’t thank mountain men.  The correct way to show us gratitude is by
having beautiful children.”  Since none
of us were ready for families, we wanted to sing him a traditional folk song.  We couldn’t decide which, of course, and Asia
dismissed my (admittedly silly) suggestion of „Happy Birthday.” 

So Mountain Man
sang to us instead, and really belted it out: „Brunettes, blondes, red heads...”

Then, bidding us
pa pa (informal goodbye), Mountain Man walked off into the night.