“What’s new in Lipnica?” I asked when I arrived in Lipnica in 2000. And again today, the same question. J, my closest friend from Lipnica, arrived in the early evening and gave the same response to the same question.

We first headed to the border crossing that was just past Lipnica. No border crossing anymore. Thanks to the EU, no border anymore. But that would not be quite right: Slovakia uses the Euro, Poland doesn’t. This means a change in border crossings: in the 1990s, Poles went to Slovakia for cheap goods; these days, the reverse is much more common.

On through the lower part of Lipnica to the Elementary School Number 1.

Where I see the first surprise: a new sports complex.

And further down the road, a few more surprises: street lights with solar panels and wind turbines.

All the while, a new road, a road that doesn’t jostle riders to dust.

Not all surprises are plesant.

And not all sights are surprises.

What’s changed in Lipnica? Everything, and nothing.