FIRSTLY, MY CAMERA JUST BROKE. Damn it. This is one in a too-long series of replaced-by-warranty/ repaired-for-a-price-because-the-warranty-recently-expired Canon Powershot cameras. It's annoying each time it happens, but super duper annoying now because:
*I'm in Europe
*I have no mailing address
*The warranty paperwork is in a friend's basement in Salt Lake City, Utah, United freaking States.
What to do? I guess it's just a first-world complaint, but it's still lame.
SECONDLY: If you are a single man, move to Split, Croatia immediately. I should have told you sooner, but basically (and it's confirmed by residents), there's a 5-to-1 female-to-male ratio here. You wouldn't believe what kind of dumpy, lame, wimpy (or mean, or otherwise unattractive-by-way-0f-personality) men are walking around with HOT, well-dressed women! Ladies: stay away!
(I wish I had a visual for you -but at least now you can commiserate in the loss of my camera.)
THIRDLY: The update.
Not a whole lot more to report here in Croatia. We had an aweome time on the Island of Hvar/ at cliff Base. Granted, it's never easy to be away from home- it wears on you not to be able to do do laundry or eat the food you want- either because you can't purchase it, you can't drive anywhere to purchase it, or you can't cook it (no kitchen, no cookware)- but it's a close second to feel welcomed and well-hosted.
Upon leaving the island, we took, like, the craziest cab ride ever! It was a super-classic tourists-get-scared cab ride; we had arranged for a 1pm pick-up so we could make a 2pm ferry. 1:40 rolls around and no cab. 1:45. Suddenly, our cab driver ripped into our meeting place. He literally threw our bags in the back, yelled at us to get in... and off we went, careening wildly across a winding mountain dirt road that traversed precariously over a steep and bare mountain side- We tried to assure the driver that there was no hurry, as there was NO WAY we would be on time for the ferry- but he persisted rocketing accross Hvar. 1:58 and we're still flying. Cutting off other vehicles (including a small Vespa carrying a father/ young son pair- who just laughed; they must be accustomed to the pre-2pm-ferry-cab panic). Then suddenly, the road drops down from the mountain and the marina appears. The driver squeels into the ferry lot- directly into the loading zone, throws us out of the cab, communicates to the ferry staff in Croatian, and we get on the boat just before they pull out of the dock.
Back in Split, we immediately ran into our old "landlord", Tomi. He works for friends of his that actually own the room where we previously stayed- and they offered us a good rate for lodging in two rooms of theirs -as well as driving service to and from the Split-vicinity crags each day (thereby saving us the cost of car rental).
We also finally ran into our first real Croatian climbers out in the wild! (We met others at Cliff Base, but that was about as random or exciting as meeting other climbers at the climbing gym.) We met them at the crag near Split- we were climbing at a cave along a massive limestone ridge-top crown. They were excited to recommend good cliffs in the vicinity (to flesh our the skeletal Croatian climbing guidebook)- and invited us to join them for beers that night (an invitation I accepted, naturally).
Upon picking us up from climbing the first day, our "landlord" took us back to his home and provided us with fresh fruit (mostly grown at his home), wine (that he had made himself), and the company of his family and friends. The next day, We lunched again at our "favorite" restaurant at which our friend, disco-going Jelena, is the hostess. It was great to run into her again- and we made plans to meet up while we're still in Split.
The weather yesterday finally broke- it went from VERY HOT to VERY RAINY! It seems the weather doesn't do anything in moderation.
So, now we're occupying ourselves with rain-dodging. It's proven somewhat fruitful, but has lead to some interesting and intense barely sheltered thunder 'n' lightning sessions. Anyway. A few more days left in Croatia... then I'm probably up to Frankenjura, Germany... and hopefully -Ceuse, France shortly thereafter.
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