The Great Outdoors

Written 9/26:

            I’ve let too much time pass since I’ve written my last blog post!  I hope that I can remember everything I was going to write about.

            On Friday evening, I had a chance to Skype with Ross, and then I went to a walk with my American friends plus Arvida and Admir.  We went through the downtown of Ilidza and into the park.  Once you get to the park in Ilidza, you can follow a long, straight road, covered by a canopy of tree branches, out to the source of the Bosna River.  However, when we got to the path, we saw a bunch of film trailers and found out that it was closed.  Boo.  The security guard was nice though, and tipped us off that they should be done filming within a half hour, so we decided to go to a nearby restaurant and wait it out.  (We also found out that they were filming a movie with Penelope Cruz!  Sadly, we never saw her, so I guess I missed my chance for my first Bosnian celebrity sighting.)

            After some Croatian wine and Bosnian doughnuts, which are little buns of fried bread served with a creamy cheese to spread inside, we finally proceeded down the path.  The air smelled so good and so clean, and walking outside along trees and fields was quite refreshing.  The air quality is quite bad in Sarajevo, and people smoke all the time, inside and out, so fresh air is a scarce commodity!  We also had a great view of the sun setting behind the mountains.  Unfortunately, we kept being following by a hungry, stray dog, which was a little creepy and really scared my friend Arvida.

            It was getting dark by the time we got to the river source, but we could still tell how stunning it looks.  There are a series of intersecting streams, with footpaths and bridges creating a grid around which people can walk.  There is also a group of white swans that will swim up to you looking for a snack! (Mom, I will take you here if you come to visit.)  The actual “source” is very cold and quite small; basically it’s a stream that comes straight out of the mountainside.  It was too dark for me to take pictures, but I plan on going back many times, so I can get some later.

            By the time we headed back, it was close to 9pm, and I was tired, hungry, and a little cranky.  I hope my friends forgive me for whining about wanting to go home, and vetoing the idea of going out for drinks!  For some reason, the combination of Skyping with Ross earlier in the day, being out in nature, and feeling hungry and tired made me quite homesick for America.  I ate dinner and went to bed straight away, which fortunately allowed me to feel much better in the morning.