SKAKAVAC!!!! As in the Skakavac waterfall. I had such an amazing day trip from Sarajevo to this extremely tall waterfall. Its a whopping 98 metres tall!
Raquel, my friend from the hostel, and I started our trip off on slightly the wrong foot. We arrived at the wrong bus stop and after "talking" to several non-English speakers we finally found out where our bus was leaving from and made our way there. Luckily, it was only a 10 minute walk from where we thought it was. However, we were late and had to wait for the one coming an hour later. So we stopped in a cafe and decided to have a little break while waiting for our bus.
Now those who know me can vouch for the fact I tend to get a bit grumpy when things aren't working out how I imagined. So needless to say, I was a little perturbed by the fact we would be heading out an hour and forty-five minutes later then planned. Luckily, life always has a way to prove that things happen for a reason. While we were sipping our drinks we were treated to taste a sample of this local, homemade drink made by the lovely lady who owned the cafe. I can't remember its name but its basically a fermented pear drink. I assume its slightly alcoholic cause it had that flavour but it was tasty! As we were enjoying this treat an older lady sitting next to us started chatting with us. It turns out she had taught herself English, German, and Spanish. Enisa was a lovely lady and we enjoyed a good conversation with her. I think she was very eager to practice her English but considering she taught herself, using the internet, movies and by reading English books, it was very good! Enisa offered to have us stay with her if we ever return to Bosnia and said she would love to introduce us to her daughter, whos in her late 20s. While we were all chatting another man joined the convo and it turns out he was one of the many Bosnian that immigrated to North America during the war. He was a kid at the time so he grew up in the states and comes back to visit every year. Despite how frustrating our morning had started out, we never would have met these wonderful people if we hadn't have missed our bus. Of course, this wasn't our last example of Bosnian hospitality we would encounter on our adventure.
After our little detour to the cafe, and a stop for some yummy burek we finally made it onto our bus. It only took about 15 or 20 minutes to get to Nahorevo, where we would begin the hike. The first half of the walk is through some mountain roads and farmland. There were a lot of animals and beautiful sights to be seen. Unfortunately, it was about 40 degrees, humid, and virtually no shade to be seen so this part of the hike was a little exhausting. With the exception of one minor hypoglycemic episode, no thanks to me (although one nectarine later I was as good as new), we finally made it to the half way point! We came across the hut where we were told we could refill our waterbottles and gets some drinks if necessary. Little did we know, this funky little joint was run by a man named Dragan! Who welcomed us in right away, filled our water bottles, and offered us a free shot of his homemade rakija that he sweetens with pine sap. It was delicious! In my experience most rakija tastes like turpentine but this stuff was goooood. Dragan was quite a character. He makes juices, rakija and herbal mixtures to make money and lives in the mountains. He lives off the land as much as possible and of course helps tourists on their way through to the waterfall in the peak season. After a good chat with him and some of the other hikers passing through we were back on the road to the waterfall.
The second half of the hike was much easier. It led us through the forest so we were covered by the shade and it was MUCH cooler then in the searing hot sun. It took us about another hour to get to the waterfall and boy was it ever worth it! The waterfall is simple but gorgeous. We took a ton of photos, ate our lunch and had a good relax time before heading up to the top of the water fall. At the top you can literally look over the edge of the water fall and down into the valley below. Its quite surreal and made me a little dizzy looking so far down. After reaching the climax of our adventure, we were both pretty quiet and tired walking back to Dragans. We were planning on walking back down to the bus but at just the right moment two guys came down on a rickety old tractor and trailer. We had already discussed the idea of hitch hiking back down and this was our perfect chance. Dragan kindly flagged them down for us and explained to them where we were going. They didnt speak a single word of English so this was very useful! We enjoyed a nice leisurely ride back down the hill and arrived just in time to catch the bus back to town.
Over all this is probably one of my most memorable days of my entire trip. I had such a wonderful time and was really humbled by the hospitality shown to us by all the lovely Bosnian people we encountered through the day. I can't wait to come back one day!
This farmer and his wife (up top) were adorable! They were waving and smiling at us as they passed!
The amazing view.
Dragan collects money from around the world. This was my first time seeing Canadian money in over 5 months!
Theres Dragan!
Dragans hut.
Thar she be!
I look tiny in comparison!
Hello Butterfly!
View at the top looking down into the valley below.
This is the exact point where the waterfall begins.
Hitch hiking back down. I wish I had taken a photo of our drivers!
Berat saturday market
The farmer that wants me to marry his son.
Some of the Gorica kids.
Our water gets turned off several times a day. Sometimes the power is turned off also.
