Mexico 86 at Eagle’s Nest

This post is part of the series about communist Bulgaria between 1979 and 1989. I already posted about my cat, ice cream, TV, elections, and bags.

I see you’re reading these so, allow me to take us on a journey back to 1986. Turn on the imaginary Sepia filter, because it’s both time and location appropriate.

Football was very big at the time, partially because our team played fine, but also because we didn’t have much else to do. Kids would collect photos of strong teams, cut out of newspapers, and adults would gather near the park to agressively discuss games. We also played it, many of us, even some fathers.

1986 was a World Cup year. The same World Cup that Maradona dominated and eventually single-handedly decided by scoring a dubious goal with an arm, the Hand of God, as he said.

The World Cup was during the summer break, and we were not at home. My grandfather booked a 20-day vacation with the kids in a mountain hut-like “resort”, called Eagle’s Nest, where there was supposed to be a TV. I was excited to go there because it was close to two very famous places – Shipka and Buzludzha.

However, to everyone’s surprise, Eagle’s Nest was affected by the electricity shortage, common for the Communist Bulgaria. It had no power most of the time. No electricity meant no TV, and no World Cup. We had other fun things to do, like preparing oil lamps.

Thankfully, the adults discovered that the nearby hut Temenuga somehow solved the problem, perhaps had a generator. Their TV worked. We could be their guests.

So every day with games, a large group of adults of all ages, their children and grandchildren, would walk to the other hut, now closed, to watch the games. We would gather around the CRT TV, and watch players with colorful jerseys, exotic stadiums, and listen to commentary that sounds like coming from a tube.

Bulgaria drew two games and lost to Argentina, which made the championship a bit less interesting but then we rooted for Argentina because, if we lost, at least we lost to the World Champion.

I had lots of fun at these late evening trips through the forest. My memories for the individual games are gone. But the forest stayed with me. I’m sure I’ll find the paths between Shipka, Eagle’s Nest, Temenuga, and Buzludzha even today. I can close my eyes and be there.

It took decades for me to discover that the World Cup was a month after the Chernobyl disaster and we should’ve stayed inside. The dark forest wasn’t safe.

Shipka, Photo Credit: Vislupus, CC BY-SA 4.0.

I need to show this place to my kids one day.