In 1987, my friend Gary and I traveled through Romania for 10 days, mostly because we knew so little of it, and knew of no one who had actually been there. So after a lengthy visa application process, we rented a car in Germany, packed it with camping gear, cigarettes for bribes and made our way across the border from Hungary. Traveling through Romania then was like stepping back in time.

Still considered by economists to be a developing nation, in '87 Romania was mired in deep poverty. You were as likely to see folks traveling by horse and wagon as by automobile. The country was still under the iron fist of the brutal dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu. Life was hard on ordinary citizens and you could see it in their faces. Food was scarce and there were few creature comforts.

And while there was a certain wariness about speaking with a Westerner, the gift of a cigarette (I brought a carton of cigarettes for gifts and bribes), almost always opened them up enough to let me make a portrait. Thirty one years later I still remember each of these encounters, and wonder how they might be doing in the years since Ceaușescu was ousted and the country now belongs to the EU.

I found the country to magical, mysterious and utterly exotic. One of the most memorable trips in my life.