Chasing Ideals

I am keenly aware that some serious posting needs to be accomplished and though my head feels as though lead weights have been inserted into my earholes I shall soldier on. Since last time I have spent two weeks of ecstasy between Croatia's sheets with a sizable group of Poles. Monumental brain energy was spent in attempts to absorb the Polish language and though I am assuredly confident that I can know ask "Do you like cheese?" I am realizing that I have still have quite a ways to go. In that regard I was fortunate again to have Darek (chap who spent hours in Bojano in February teaching me) as my teacher. Two days ago on the drive out of Croatia we two attempted quite a complex conservation to much success despite the end result feeling that my brains had been replaced by baked beans. He on his quest to learn English threw out some unforgettables like "I am onion" and other phrases that had me tickled. I am so grateful for the opportunity to see the country that most impressed me on my journeying through the eyes of others and to be able to share what I knew of its beauty with them.

The lead weights prevent my chronicalling the journey so I will instead give the high points a good walloping. Our first campground was a beautiful spot with plenty of trees and a thigh splitting walk down to the small yet wonderful rocky beach. Many an hour was spent on that beach allowing the sun to scorch my tender white flesh, swimming out to stranger's boats to lay for more scorching, and playing games on shore like "throw rock at bottle" while the sun scorched some more. I couldn't reach all the necessary spots with the sunscreen so ended up with a patchwork red and white back. Now that the peeling skin has subsided I have luckily come out with a bronzed look that mimics Guatelmalan goat herder or something of the like. In our time at that camp we explored the nearby gem of Dubrovnik. I of course had seen it before but never through the eyes of others and still I am awed to witness an ancient city still so intact and imposing in its grandeur. Time under the previously mentioned trees at our camp was spent in some hours of wonderful conversation and of course the consumption of our delictable army load of food. It is wonderful to be camping yet eating foods one could hardly expect well stocked homes to have at the ready. I with glee relish that vacation time away allows for moments and hours of conversation that the pressures of normal life neglect. Sadly there were moments of extreme frustration at my inability to communicate with everyone. I am so frequently reminded of this dynamic of being unable to communicate though I desperately wish to. There were a few times when it was easier to do something alone so as not to feel this inability to communicate to the level that I wished.

Our second point of stay was far out on a peninsula between Dubrovnik and Bosnia's measly portion of coast. No side splitting walks to the beach here. Instead four or five lengthy strides would have one knee deep in the cool clear waters of the Adriatic. Again there was plenty of swimming to be done, conversation to be had, wine and rakija to be sought after, and most especially and excitedly exotic foods to be harvested. Our most capacious discovery was the number of mussels which were collected with fury and eaten with ravenous appetite and garlic or horseradish sauce accessory. Five minutes of swilling down the contents of each mussel and hurling its shell to the table saw us through three feasts of the little delights. Another afternoon Tymek brought crabs of various sizes and though the portions of meat were nothing to close the pantry over the delight of eating what you or friend has discovered is quite marvelous. My crown jewel moment was the discovery, hacking off, and consuming of raw oysters. With machete in hand, googles on face and three metre depths to traverse we had a small feast of the little blighters at time's end. I dove deeper than I have ever and with the trusted machete hacked away at clinging oysters that needed more than a little convincing to break free. When I emerged from the water I had the look of a bear mauling victim with blood stains from an abundance of cuts on my hands, arms, and shoulders but that was meaningless compared with the thrill of the find and the harvest and of eating our raw treasures immmediately thereafter. The taste of the blighters was none to be soon sought again but with a tiny dose of rakija to follow and as I said the thrill the lot went down a treat. Catching, finding, making your own foods has a grace to the consumption that no purchase of food can scratch the surface of at least for me. Our Croatian voyage was a wonderful time of togetherness, of enjoying incredible scenery, and of new adventure. I am so grateful to have been able to return so soon and in the company of people who have become such an influence in my life.

I had wanted to immediately upload pictures to accompany this post but the lead weights have moved from ears to eyelids and I desperately need the ol' beauty sleep (boy do I need that). When they are up you may find some unrecognizables in the mix. Hopefully all remember Wiesieck, Nancy, and their kids David, Tymek, Hannah, and Paul and the other family then has Darek and Asza at the helm and Jacob, Ania, and Weronika are their children. I am safely stowed away in Slovenia once again. I went by train and bus yesterday through awe-inspiring, breath taking, and generally stupendous countryside to be here in Cepovan with Ana and her family who took such wonderful care of me and Andy back in January. Another velika riba was cooked and consumed this afternoon with great glee and satisfied lips. I shall write more of my adventures here in the next few.