The first few hours of our trip together was indicative of our 9-day Balkan adventure... a surprise home cooked meal from an Albanian Grandmother, stunning mountain views, and unmatched hospitality from the gas pump attendant to the family-run hotel owner welcoming us to Borove with a fresh lamb shank feast. We filled our days with peddling to places where we recited Surah al-Kahf… a cave, a farm field, a nearby lake, a mountain pass. We kayaked Lake Ohrid at sunset and Lake Prespa after sunrise. We prayed Jumuah in a 15th Century masjid. We wrote poetry in silence under ancient mulberry trees adorning the mountainous village of Drenove. We saw sheep and shepherds…everywhere! We zoomed down the windy roads of Galicica National Park’s famous Mountain pass for over 30 minutes straight, transporting us from Europe’s oldest lake to another ancient lake of wonder and seclusion. We crossed international borders on bicycles. Twice. We sacrificed a sheep and nourished our bodies with its meat as we descended the Fir of Drenove National Park and reflected upon the test of power that Dhul’Qarnain faced. We tried our hand at potato farming by plowing fields under the power of a horse and the good-humored patience of local village farmers. Throughout the program, our local guides shared stories of pain endured from a brutal former dictatorship, invited us to remember Allah at a traditional Struga Tekke (lodge of worship), and shared many farm to table meals with us before and after our adventures together. Together, we experienced fun in the sun, pain in the rain, and everything in between. Some participants conquered their doubts about e-cycling 2,400 feet up a mountain pass, and were rewarded with views of Lake Ohrid that photos cannot capture. Others garnered praise from village aunties for their Burek dough kneading and rolling techniques, as the family matriarch collected wood to start a traditional coal fire-powered Burek Oven in the yard. We digitally disconnected, tapped into traditional ways of being, and found ourselves truly feeling our Fitrah through our time spent with local families, hiking mountain forests, and lounging around lakes with Surah al-Kahf as our soulful soundtrack.