First off, apologies to everyone who wasn't on this part of the trip for a somewhat ridiculous number of inside jokes and pictures of people you don't know. I really didn't take that many photos this week, and the ones I did take were mostly of the people I was with. I'm putting a bunch of those up, so that the rest of the group can see them, and hopefully all my friends everywhere else can see what a great crowd I was hanging out with the entire week. Also, apologies for any details that I get wrong (or for that matter, details that I get right that you'd prefer I didn't)... I actually am finishing this almost two weeks later, and it seems like ages ago.

19 September

Bovec, Part 2. Corinne gets a horsey back ride and Navida gets a piggyback ride.

Everyone who was on this trip knows, and is probably appalled, that I'm leaving so much out. I've resigned myself to the fact that far too much happens in any given week to be reported faithfully, and in a week where one is trying a dozen different experiences for the first time, with fourteen plus people he's never met before, it's not even worth trying. The best I can do is touch on as much as I can, and give the flavor. One thing I have neglected though, and which absolutely has to be mentioined, is the Cheese sandwiches. More specifically, the packed lunches that the hotel provided for us each and every day. Since we were doing activities, we had to bring lunches with us, which were then left in the vans and met us mid-way or at the end of our trip of the day. These lunches became a source of great amusement and also disdain as the week went on, while also inspiring a level of food trading not seen since second grade. The plastic bags we picked up in the lobby contained the same thing every day: One sandwich with one slice of ham and one slice of cheese, another sandwich with only cheese, a granola/chocolate bar, a square blue box of juice and one piece of fruit. The only variations on this theme were two: The vegetarians (Paul and Navida) didn't get the slice of ham on one sandwich, and each day the fruit was different. This list is entirely accurate; sandwiches came dry, no mustard or mayonaise, and no other additions or subtractions. I think perhaps once Neil got shorted his granola bar, which was ironic since he liked them (and ended up with a pretty good collection by the end of the week). Catherine (and Corinne perhaps?) quite liked the juice, and managed to gather several of those up. No one was collecting the cheese sandwiches though, which is too bad, because it's really all they were good for. By the end of the week the cheese sandwiches were the subject of much humor and amusement, and lead to outright rebellion as Adrian went to the market and made up his own lunch on the last day. If you want to make anyone on this trip groan, offer us a cheese sandwich.

So Thursday in Bovec was supposed to be our day off, or a free day, if you wanted to do something (paradoxically, things done this day were definitely not free) but since the weather was threatening to turn bad, we changed Friday’s activities – Canyoning – to Thursday.

For those of you who don’t know, Canyoning is basically hiking up a mountain, finding a stream that has carved a canyon down the side, and following it down. That’s the cliff notes version. The novel itself, depending on the stream and the canyon, can and probably does involve hiking, climbing, scrambling over wet rocks, jumping off cliffs into deep pools of water, sliding down waterfalls, or even ropework, belaying one another down cliffs with water rushing down around you. The place they took us didn’t have any true ropework, though it had places where it could. We generally hiked around those. It did have pretty much everything else, plus lots of opportunities for extra jumping.

The tricky part of this is that A. You’re in a canyon, so there isn’t any sun; B. The water is really cold; and C. The going is pretty treacherous in places. This means that the dress code involves thick neoprene wetsuits (5mm, with padded knees and elbows), thick nylon shorts over top of them giving everyone a bit of a superhero look, hiking boots over neoprene socks, and helmets. If looking fashionable is important to you at all times, then Canyoning probably isn’t your thing. Some people can manage to look good in that outfit, but pretty much those are people who can look good all the time, like in the case of our group, Little Dejan.

Little Dejan was first introduced to us as one of the kayaking guides and rafting guides, but as we learned throughout the week, he pretty much does everything except paragliding (His words, “Well, you can’t do everything”). He’s one of those people who isn’t just beautiful but genuinely likeable as well, which if you think about it makes you really want to hate them, but when you’re with them, you just end up being a little bit jealous and thinking how cool this person is. I don’t know who started calling him Little Dejan… I suppose it could have been anyone, as we needed a way to differentiate between the two Dejans, and while not little, he is definitely the smaller of the two. He and I spent a lot of time talking as we floated down the river on the last day, about kayaking and other things as well. Turns out he is trying to write a book about kayaking technique, first in Slovenian and then translating it to English. He is interested in making some video to go with it too, to show in live motion some of the stuff the book talks about, which I think is a great idea, especially as easy as it is to slip a DVD on the inside of the back cover. He didn’t know anyone who kayaked and did video work though, so I told him that if my movie project works out, I’ll probably own at least one good camera, and would make the sacrifice to come to Slovenia sometime and spend a few weeks on the water. I’m noble that way.


(Little Dejan explains to Catherine as Tom looks on... Too beautiful? You be the judge... )


Anyway, back to canyoning… the trail we were on was the one where they took all the guided tours, I think, and it was pretty well worn and marked, so we weren’t exactly blazing new territory, but it was fun all the same. There were several long slides down near vertical waterfalls (the last was 11 meters, if I remember right), a few places where we had to jump, and several places where you could do jumps that weren’t strictly necessary, but good fun all the same. James took the prize on one of these by jumping from ten or eleven meters into a pool that appeared approximately the size of a bathtub when I jumped from 7 meters high. Someone else did it too, but I’m not sure who (maybe Paul?) but James was the first and was fearless. I dared Neil to do it and would have followed if he’d taken me up, but happily he was smart enough for both of us. One other admirable performance was by Kathy. She was clearly not very comfortable with either heights or climbing around in tough places (or maybe both), but she was a trooper and went everywhere that everyone else did, doing all the jumps and slides, sometimes with a scream, but she wasn’t the only one there (Yours truly was the only one to let fly with profanity when jumping into the abovementioned bathtub, I think). I started to say something to her about it, but then thought perhaps it would be more satisfying to her if it weren’t mentioned… so this is my sort of compromise, I guess.


(Corinne and Kathy... both looking a bit puzzled. Nice skirts though... )

The last person/event that needs to be noted is Navida. I think I mentioned before that she wasn’t entirely comfortable with being under water, so she was going easy over a lot of those places, but still keeping up with the group and doing a bang up job, just as she’d done in the days before. Then we came to one place where there was no way around… we just had to jump, and I don’t remember how far it was, but it wasn’t a small jump… at least 4 – 5 meters I think. Navida did it, but was nervous and slipped a bit as she was jumping I think, and ended up hitting her ankle on a rock as she went into the water. At first she thought she was okay, but as she started putting weight on it, it was pretty bruised up and she ended up not really being able to walk. So… I’ll give you three guesses who saved the day.

If you guessed Little Dejan, then you’re either reading this more closely than I expected or my writing is more obvious than I realize. The two of them made their way up a short path to the trail and Dejan carried her down the mountain like a hero. Neil and I still think that it was all a ruse to get to wrap around him and let him show off his manly strength, but Navida maintains that Dejan is too beautiful for her, and that she had no interest. I remain somewhat skeptical. Too beautiful??? Is there any such thing?

The biggest drag about Navida bruising her ankle is that more than anyone else, she and Corinne were the ones who really wanted to go horseback riding. Well, because of the weather, the horseback riding was scheduled for that afternoon, after the canyoning, so she had to miss it. Her bad luck was my fortune though, as I stepped into her place and went with Corinne, Neil and Paul to spend a couple hours riding… Out of the four of us, Paul had the most experience, riding once a week or so, Neil is learning, apparently, and Corinne and I were pretty much absolute beginners.


(John Wayne, eat your heart out. Have chaps ever looked so good on an Englishman and a Swiss Maiden?)

The feelings about the horse riding were a mixed bag. Definitely I think the guy who took us was a bit odd… he was very nervous about us getting his horses too close together, as I guess some of them don’t like one another, but I didn’t see any signs of it. This came to a head about halfway through the ride when we were headed up a road part way up the mountain and suddenly the guy spun his horse around and took off, saying in his broken English, for us to run away! It seems there was another horse up the road who was a bit of a young maverick, coming at us to pick a fight. It was pretty funny actually, as the guy who should have really been watching out for us took off like a flash, leaving the rest of us to catch up or face certain peril. There was a great deal of confusion as we all tried to turn our horses around and head back down the hill while he kept looking back over his shoulder to see if the other horse was chasing us… He finally slowed down when Paul reassured him that the coast was clear and there was no pursuit.

In the end, Paul was definitely not happy, as his horse apparently didn’t pay much attention to what he wanted it to do. Neil didn’t really complain about his horse, though he definitely had the liveliest one of the bunch, and was holding it back pretty much the entire time. Corinne had a terrible time trying to make hers do what she wanted, though I think it was more due to her nature and not ever showing him who was boss. Afterwards, she decided that the holiday she was planning riding horses in Iceland probably wasn’t a good idea. For myself, it took me a bit to get the hang of it, but I’ve dealt with animals enough to know that it’s important to show them who is in charge, so my horse and I seemed to get along pretty well after about an hour of riding. There was one point as we were all moving at a good pace up a hill (Trotting? Cantering? I haven’t the faintest idea except that I was getting bumped around more than it looks like they are getting bumped around in the movies) and he decided it was time to slow down… No amount of kicking or cajoling would change his mind. After that he pretty much did what I wanted all the time, and since that was in the first hour or so, I’ll write it off to get-acquainted time. All told, I felt pretty good about it, and had some fun, but I don’t feel any great desire to become a cowboy. It would be interesting to see how well I handle a horse that isn’t in the middle of a line, and used to following the one in front of it, so maybe I’ll try it again sometime.

That night we hit another bar and had a good time talking while throwing in a bit of Mr. Thumb and Mr. Ear and Mr. Rub Your Chest (Nice try Neil, though disappointing that the girls decided not to play…) just to keep things lively. Just for the fun of it, Tom and I carried Navida to the top of the hill so we could take a look at a bar called the Pink Panther. Mostly we saw that it was too small to for the number of people there, and as it was raining a bit, and sitting outside wasn’t a good idea, we went back down the hill and back to the other place. Not before Neil got chatted up by two women who didn’t speak English though.

Friday most of the group went on another rafting trip. I was raining, so Neil and Corinne and Navida and I decided to pass on that one. They all had a good time though, and with the rain, the water was starting to rise and give the river a bit more flavor… That night was more pubbing (are you noticing a trend here?) and other than some schnapps passed around, there wasn’t anything to memorable that night…

Saturday was a kayaking reprise… Now that everyone had lessons and knew what they were doing, we made our way down the river with Peter and Little Dejan as guides. A few people who hadn’t made friends with the kayaks the first day took the inflatable canoes, and given that the water was higher and rougher in places, it was probably a good idea. By the end, pretty much everyone got spilled at one point or another, with about half the group going down in one rapid. Liam took the worst of that one, hitting a rock with his face while he was upside down in the kayak and coming out with a huge knot on his head, a chipped tooth and a bloody lip. Being a mad Irishman though, he shook it off and continued on without any complaints. I managed to make it down unscathed, only to be caught from behind by Mark in the last stretch of flat water, with him holding on and doing his best to turn me over. I managed to keep my paddle in the water and hold him off for a long stretch, but when I realized he wasn’t going to give up, I made the mistake of turning into his boat to try to fight back and tip him instead… that got me close enough that he could lay down on the back of my kayak, which he apparently did, and finally I lost the battle.

The worst of it was that the side of the river I was on was too steep to recover, so I had to swim (then get pulled across by, yes, Little Dejan, who is not too beautiful to save me) to the far bank. I really need to learn to roll if I’m going to spend any more time in a closed kayak. Some kids were there picnicking and got a giggle out of watching me drain water out of my boat and talked to Dejan for a while after I got settled back in. Afterwards Dejan and I made our way the last bit down, catching up with the group as they were taking out. Corinne got in one more roll with Peter standing sentry, but not actually helping her, while I flailed around even worse than usual for some reason (trying to roll to the wrong side, I figured out later.. I have no idea why).


(Adrian waves and pretends he wasn't just trying to find the place where you insert the quarter and make it go)



(Neil and Paul work hard to show off their cute neoprene butts, but Kathy and Corinne don't even notice)


(Liam pre-crash while Mark and Catherine settle in... I still owe Mark... )



(Liam and Corinne - have you noticed how many dumbfounded expressions there seem to be here?)


(Catherine tries to squeeze in while Neil looks for the steering wheel... )



(James, Chris and Navida go for the Heroic poses while Barry plays this one casual... )


(Neil, Tom and Little Dejan... Que est mas macho?)


(Little Dejan, Peter, and the very patient driver, the man who took the group photo below about a dozen times with as many cameras)


(Corinne and Adrian pray to make it through the second half of the day while Neil accepts his fate, and his fruit.)

That night we all went to dinner at The Place of Humongous Pizzas, and despite my attempted warnings, several people ordered as if they were getting Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pizzas, and were consequently appalled at how much food they had left over. It was good food though, without a doubt. My timing seemed to be off the entire night though… I didn’t realize that Neil and Corinne and Navida were in the bar, and so didn’t get to sit with them at dinner, or for that matter when everyone made their way back up the hill to the Pink Panther once again. Once again it was incredibly crowded and pretty small, and when ten of us began to settle into a table that was good for seven or eight and could just manage nine with aid of a wedge, I decided that I was going to head home and get some sleep instead of drinking yet again. I took one more walk down the road from the hotel, even though I couldn’t see any stars (this was pretty much a nightly thing… walking down, away from the main road where it got a bit dark, to see what I could of the stars… and a couple nights it was very good viewing), then went back to the hotel and ended up falling asleep on my bed in my clothes. I woke up when Liam came in a while later, just long enough to hang up my pants and shirt…

And so Sunday came… our last day in Bovec. One group got in some last thrills, doing a short hydrospeed in the higher water. I cruised around a bit, and once again my timing was off, as I missed both Neil and Corinne as they did the same, and ended up finally catching up with them hidden away with Navida and Tom using Neil’s little travel speakers to share some tunes from their Ipods. Neil played us a bunch of James Bond tunes, and I managed to slip in a little Stevie Ray Vaughn, just to show them what they were missing. Neil had to leave earlier than the rest of the group, so at noon our little cadre went down and saw him off, which I have to admit was the saddest part of all for me, not only because he and I had become friends, but because it was the beginning of this great bunch of people going their separate ways.


(The whole group, minus some guides. Front row: Beautiful Dejan, Catherine, Navida, Barry, Paul, Liam, Peter and Corinne. Back row: Phil, yours truly, James, Adrian, Chris, Tom, Kathy, Neil and Mark)

By the time I had to say goodbye to Navida and Corinne and the others, we were in Ljubljana and the little bit of paradise in Bovec was clearly over. It was still sad, but I think we’ll all catch up with one another again sometime, and there have already been some emails exchanged, keeping in touch as everyone gets back home and settles in again… All except for me. Eat your heart out kids… I still have nearly two months left of this holiday, and after a few more days in Ljubljana (which is a great city that I’ve barely talked about at all), I’m headed to Croatia, which is the beginning of several weeks traveling along the Mediterranean. It will be a miracle if I get away from the sun and sand long enough to do anymore writing…

Until then…

Esteban

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