In these last days of April we are hitch-hiking in the North East Slovakia.
Glorija and I manage to get a ride right out of Jalová village and now we are enjoying the surrounding landscape.
The tight road twists and turns through the Poloniny National Park, with its peaks covered with snow and its thick woods which separate the country from Poland.
The driver is a muscly guy with a large neck, in his thirties.
He doesn’t speak English very well, but the kid next to him acts as his interpreter.
His name is Eric, he’s the coach of the Slovak National Wrestling team and he’s going to visit his mother in the village of Runina.
We tell him about our Altripiani project, about the zig zag itinerary we are drawing on the border between Poland and Slovakia, following the Carpathian ridge.
He seems very interested in our project and keeps asking about the reasons that pushed us to start this adventure.
We are curious about this bizarre couple too: we don’t understand if the kid, Ján, is his son and how come that he speaks a perfect English in the middle of nowhere of the country.
We have almost reached the snowy Polish border and Eric invites us to his mother’s house for a coffee.
The woman is preparing fried pirogi, a sort of dumplings filled with cheese of a very tasty aspect!!!
We sit down at the table and while drinking a smoking-hot coffee we find out that Eric is Ján’s father best friend, and that the kid speaks English so well because he lives in England with his mother and three little sisters, while his father works in Bratislava.
Ján is 10 years old, very quiet and good-mannered. He tells us that he’s in Slovakiato visit his grandfather and for a check up due to a recently defeated cancer, and to support his father at the next match of the Slovan Bratislava.
As our attention lingers on the word “cancer”, letting the rest of the conversation go, the kid reassures us with kind words and big smiles.
The breakfast turns into a brunch and the simple conversations become deeper and more friendly.
Ján is fine now, as soon as he gets back home, he’ll be playing in the Manchester Junior Football team again, as he used to before the disease.
With enthusiasm and a pinch of pride he tells us he has healed thank to Slovakian cures (and not to the English ones), and that beyond football he’ll keep following rugby and hockey with passion on TV.

Ján is a smart kid and he already knows a few languages. He was born in Warsaw where he has lived till he was 5 and speaks Slovak, Polish, English and he’s learning Spanish at school.
Despite his young age, he’s so lucky to travel a lot across Europe with his dad or his dad’s friends for the most important matches.
Ján Junior’s father is Ján Mucha, a great goalkeeper who played in the Everton Premier League, and in the Polish, Russian, and Slovak championship as well.
He’ll be playing in the Slovak National team at the next European 2016 and Ján Junior has no doubts, he’ll support Slovakia.
On the 20th of June we’ll all be attending an important match: Slovakia vs England at the Geoffroy Guichard of Saint-Étienne in France.
Also in this case, Ján is sure about which flag to wave.
Between one pirogi and another, he updates us about Euro2016 saying that the Slovak round is quite challenging as it comprehends also Russia and Wales, two teams that should not be underestimated.
In the confusion of the kitchen, between pans and frying oil, many times the little Ján simulates the stadium’s loudspeakers by pronouncing his father’s name as we were at the stadium.
“Jáaaaaaan Muuuuuchaaaaa!”
And we all whoop ” Oléeeeee!”