Adventures in Slovenia

On Sunday, John flew into Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where I had take a late train to the night before.  We met at the train station, and it was great to finally see him.  The late morning bus to Bovec we had wanted to take did not exist, as it was Sunday, so we spent the afternoon wandering Ljubljana, while waiting for the evening bus.  It is a very pretty town, on a river, with a lot of outdoor cafes, and tons of bicycles.  You could tell that people were really into outdoor activities.  Not unlike Portland in a lot of ways.  John had a fair amount of jet lag, but only slept for a little awhile on a bench in the middle of the main square…. 

We then took a 3.5 hour bus ride over mountains through very twisty roads, stopping numerous times for everyone to get out and stare at the engine, because the coolant was leaking.  Luckily the bus made it there, and we made it to the camp.

Adrenaline Check is the name of the adventure group we were staying with, and our initial plan was climbing, biking, rafting, and canyoning all within 2 days.  After getting there late, and with John’s jet lag, we cut it down to just canyoning and rafting. 

The canyoning was awesome!  We did it with our guide, Simon, and with 4 guys from Holland who are about our age.  There is a river that has carved natural waterslides, waterfalls, and deep pools into a canyon.  When we first got there, our first sight of it was a 12 meter (39 foot) waterfall, that had someone going over it.  I exclaimed “awesome!” while two of the guys with us turned green and almost turned back.  Simon explained that it is the last thing to go over, is far and away the biggest, and there is a hiking path to go around, so you do not have to go over it.  Finally the guys with us were convinced to go forward.  After hiking to the top, you start with going over small things.  Some of the places you slide down a water slide, some you fall down a waterfall, and some places you jump off a rock into a pool.  The first ones were only about 3 feet high, and you build up from there.  For some of them, he had us go over belly down or backwards, just to mix things up. 

There was one that he would not let us look over before going over, but instead had us each float on our back while he steered us toward the fall.  It turned out to be a 20 foot waterfall, with rocks overhead, so you almost land in a cave.  The pressure of the falls shoots you down like a torpedo.  It was amazing, and much better to do without looking first.  (A couple of the guys with us admitted that it was fun, they were glad they did it, but they would not have done it if we had seen it first).  Finally, we got to the 12 meter fall.  I was excited to go over it, and stepped right up.  John went because he was still tired from jet lag (and months of working on the house), and figured that letting gravity do the work was easier than hiking out.  Three of the guys with us hiked out, and one of the guys only went over the waterfall after watching John and I both do it, and realizing we didn’t die.  That night, the guys from Holland told John, “We feel really bad for you, having a girlfriend like that.  You can’t really back out of something if she says she’ll do it first!”  Once they found out I was his wife, they said, “Even worse!” :-)

The rafting the next morning was in an absolutely beautiful setting, with a beautiful river.  It would have been a lot of fun (and very challenging) in my kayak.  It would have been a ton of fun, without too much challenge in a small 4 person raft.  In the giant 10 person raft they had us it, it was a nice run to enjoy the scenery.  But, as the scenery was incredible, it was worth it. 

For the two nights we were with Adrenaline Check, we stayed in their camp, in tents.  They were platform tents with mattresses, but they were still tents, which John was not too happy with.  The camp was in a beautiful setting, but it was definitely roughing it. 

To get back to Ljubljana, instead of taking the 4 hour twisty bus, Simon, the guide we spent the most time with, offered to drive us, since he was headed that way.  It was a much shorter (only 2 hour) and much nicer ride with him.  The entire way, he kept pointing out sights and telling us the history behind different areas.  After that, we took a night train to Split, Croatia, then a boat to the island of Korcula for some beach town, old walled city, relaxation.  More on that soon!