15.July 2009
I arrived early on the 15th and all I wanted to do was take a nap. It was about 6am when Haris showed me to a bed and I crashed until about 11 as the bus ride wasn’t all that pleasant. Upon waking I found the hostel bustling with activity, but I had work to be done so I didn’t do much of anything but that until the evening. Later in the afternoon I chatted with Vladimir who owns a hostel over in Niš, Serbia (Hostel Niš). We got on quite well and I really need to go back to Serbia one day and definitely get down that way. I met some of the others staying hostel including Alex (UK), Tom (UK) who was traveling with his pal Leo (German) who had the best swagger I’ve seen in a long time. I was working in the common room when he walked in with a loaf of french bread and I thought ‘damn that’s a hell of a swagger,’ heh. It turns out he was on a German soap opera or something for four years when he was young, must be where he learned the walk heh. There were a couple others but I can’t for the life of me remember their names and we didn’t hook up on Facebook so I haven’t got a way to get it, sorry about that.
Some other hostel owners showed up as well including Vera from Zagreb and Dunja (sorry about getting it wrong ) from Belgrad (Hostelche) and her friend Ana. After a welcome drink at the hostel we rounded everyone up and headed off to the Phoenix Club just down the hill where the full party was to take place. Eating and drinking and meeting of new people (hello Azra and Admira) took place and fun was had by all. It really was cool to see how many people both from the local community (including the owners of City Central and Mills hostels) and from afar joined in the celebration.
The story of the hostel, Haris and his family is truly inspiring and I told him that some day I would like to sit down and have him tell me the whole thing so that I might publish it as part of a series of Bosnian real life stories (tentatively called Bosnian Nights in my head).
After the Phoenix Club we all made our way down to the old center of Sarajevo and joined up with some more people at Club Barka (right next to the Pirate Pub where I ducked in for a second to say hi to my big bartending pal there). People staying at both Haris and City Central mingled with locals and we were all made better by the experience. We chatted, danced and generally had a great time. I was particularly lucky to have danced with the prettiest woman in the place…as you all have come to expect by now I’m sure 😉
The night ended with the group splintering into sections and wandering back to the hostel in pairs, trios and packs. Haris, his friends and I went to have a ‘čizburger se syrem’ as Haris ordered them which made us all laugh. I told him he’s been hanging out with English speakers too much.
16.July 2009
The day started early. I got up at 9.30 as I thought we were heading to Skakavac waterfall at 10. Turns out it was 11 so I had time to take in a little coffee and chat with everyone. We then packed 9 of us into a Land Rover (Vladimir, Haris, Alex, Donja, Ana, Vera, Kelly (first Tasmanian on the trip!), myself and our friendly driver (owner of Hostel Mills just around the corner). It was a Jeep Safari in the making and when we got to the mountain roads we were glad to have had such a sturdy vehicle to bear us.
We were loaded up with water, food and company and headed out for the falls. Skakavac is about 12km from Sarajevo and is 98 meters tall roughly 321.5 feet. The first half is a sheer drop into a small pool (where the bridge is in the photo) and then it meanders roughly another 48 meters down the side of the hill. It was awesome to stand below it and feel the energy created by the drop. You could probably power a small community just on that natural wonder. I was clambering around the rocks at the edge of the pool and if we’re lucky we might find the photos of me under the bridge.
After that it was a 4 kilometer hike back to the trailhead which took about an hour or so. There we stopped at a pub-like place. It was something akin to a mountain hut but just had some drinks. The guy was pretty cool and made up some of the tastiest wild mushroom stew I have ever had. The eight of us sat and chatted before setting off down the road a bit further to meet up with our ride back into town.
Once back in Sarajevo Haris gave the hostel owners and hangers on (Alex and I) a brief tour and we went over to City Central to chat with the owner. I needed to get some work done and so went off in search of Internet. There seems to have been some problem as everywhere that generally had it was without connection so it must have been a pipeline issue.
After a sorely needed nap the group reconvened for one more evening of festivities. This time it was a barbecue at the hostel before some of us set out for the clubs and a mild taste of the local nightlife.
17. July 2009
Today I’m sitting in the hostel hanging out with my new friends Benjamin and Nedzla. They’re playing PS2 and I’m working and writing this. You can find them and most of the others in the photos below as well as some waterfall photos and more.
KPICASA_GALLERY(HarisHostelBirthday)