Missing the Boat

On the way back up to Rijeka, our boat stopped in Split for about an hour. Split is a nice, historic town, and we hadn’t been there yet, so we decided to get off and check it out while we had the chance. The scheduled stop was 50 minutes, so I checked my watch when we got off: exactly 6:30.

When we left the dock, John, Taylor, and Pete wandered off in one direction, and the couples in another. Michelle and I debated briefly, then followed the marrieds. We lost track of them, but that was fine. We enjoyed looking at some of the old part of town, but we were really interested in finding food. After wandering around a bit, we sort of gave up and headed back toward the boat. There was a row of various cafés and food stands on our right so I decided to order a chicken sandwich after all. As the guy working there started cooking it, I looked at my watch again. It was about 2 minutes to 7:00, so I figured we’d be back by 7:10 at the very latest. A nice cushion of about 10 minutes seemed sufficient.

As I was pondering these things, my phone rang. It was John. After the initial quick greetings (“Hey there.”, “What’s up?”, etc.) he asked, “So, are you guys close?”
To this I casually replied, “Yeah, we’re not too far, just getting some dinner.”
Then, in a more panicked tone, John said, “Uh, the boat leaves at 7:00.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”

The end of the conversation is a bit muddled in my memory, but that was the essence of what was communicated. I don’t think I said good-bye, or even hung up the phone. I threw it in my purse, somehow gestured to Michelle that we had to run, now, and after briefly considering telling the sandwich guy sorry and that we had to leave, decided against it and took off while he was still facing the grill. Sorry, Chicken-Sandwich-Making-Man. I only left due to the most urgent of circumstances.

Michelle and I ran. And ran. We almost got hit by 2 cars. Michelle tore off her flip-flops early on so she could run with more ease. People looked at us with condescending and bewildered expressions. A few shouted and made fun. Our lungs were burning. Our muscles ached. But we had to continue on, driven by panic, shame, and a glimmer of hope that we would not end up waving good-bye to our team and our luggage and our boat from an empty platform.

Finally we saw our ship, miraculously still docked, with sailors yelling and chiding us from the upper decks. Drawing ragged breaths, we climbed the gangway as quickly as we could. Our team was there, waiting, as we stepped inside all flushed and sweaty. Andy had nearly wrestled the captain to the ground to keep him from sailing. Tim may or may not have punched out 3 people who tried to raise the stairs before we got there. They looked relieved, worried, a little pissed off, and incredulous all at once.

Apparently we got to Split a little late, and the departure time was 7:00 regardless of the docking time, so our stop was only 30 minutes long. I guess there was some old lady with a large shipment of flowers from Ecuador or something who arrived while Michelle and I were running and somehow demanded that her goods be loaded. I personally consider that a miracle, because I think it is the only real reason the boat didn’t leave without us.

Later when I apologized to the rest of the team, they said they weren’t mad, which was nice. I feel loved due to the fact that they tried so hard to make sure we weren’t abandoned, and then were so forgiving afterwards.

Some Final Notes

Okay, we’re almost done with the vacation stuff. I just had such a good time I don’t want to leave anything out.

Here’s some kids playing nogomet.


We decided that Lopud would be a great honeymoon location. John and Taylor make such a nice couple, don't they? They tested out the breakfast-on-the-terrace factor and gave it a high rating.



Taylor and I went on a long hike through the jungle. So pretty!





























One late night, Andy, Pete, Michelle, and I were tossing the frisbee near the water. Not too much time had passed before Andy had developed a very fine sport called Brody. It’s a phenomenal game that requires agility, speed, and precision. Some terms/calls to remember: side-woofer, no exclusions, no Brody, in the margin, long shot, and spotter.
Everything else can really only be explained in person.

Another cool thing about where we stayed was that it didn’t have the kitchen that it was advertised to include. We had bought about 8 bags of groceries in Dubrovnik before heading to the island for a great Easter feast. When we arrived and found only a small dorm-sized refrigerator and no kitchen at all we thought our meal was doomed. But then our hosts offered to let us use the restaurant kitchen (!) since they weren’t expecting any customers. It was awesome to have tons of dishes, pans, utensils, counter space, and an industrial strength oven at our disposal for Sunday, and basically the rest of the week whenever we needed anything.

Overall, it was an A+ trip. It makes me sad to think that 6 of us won't be here for Round 2 next year. :-(

On why reincarnation is implausible…

“…I mean, of all the different systems of belief, you’d think that one [reincarnation] would have a god. Someone has to decide where everyone is supposed to go…It’s really an organizational nightmare…” -Andrew Schneider Gott

Island Life, or Those Pesky Wild Monkeys

Living on a sparsely inhabited island for a week allowed for a number of encounters with nature (Goulet!). There were goats, jellyfish, snakes, lizards, dolphins (I saw a pod of 8 or 9 swim by with the late afternoon sun in the background- it was awesome), and possibly mongooses and wild boar. When we asked our hostess about animals on the island, she said they had wild monkeys.

Early Easter morning, Taylor and I got up and walked in what we hoped was an easterly direction to see the sunrise. We walked and climbed and tried to keep our direction consistent. After about 45 minutes, the sun was clearly up, but the clouds were too thick to tell exactly where. On our walk back through thick, high shrubbery we turned a corner and were greeted by a big, furry, brown…donkey. We’d just been discussing bears, so it was a bit of a relief. Taylor introduced herself and talked to our new friend for a minute or two, but he didn’t budge. Eventually we went around him and continued home.

Sometimes Croatians mix up donkeys and monkeys.

How could I have forgotten?!?

The octopus salad. Actually very tasty... (This was supposed to be included in Fish Food, of course.)

Playgrounding

Fish Food

Tim likes food. Tim likes fish. Here is Tim's fish.









Taylor said: "Hey, that picture is like when you're drunk, and up close it's clear but everything else is fuzzy!"
Silence.
"Taylor, you don't drink."
"Well, uh, I know, but that's what it's like when I'm toxed..."
"Hmmm."






Sara is amazing.

Ahoy, there! Or Adventuring

Being the Rijeka Tiger Pirates that we are, our vacation naturally included many elements of adventure. One afternoon in particular, Michelle, Pete, and I embarked on a grand paddle-boat (or ‘pedalino’ as our wonderful hostess/landlady/renter-person Gabriela called it) quest. The pedalinos can be seen in the distance in the photo above.










Don't Pete and Michelle look pirate-y? We sailed well beyond the territory known to previous (and less courageous) paddle-boaters and successfully docked in order to clamber up some cliff-like rock formations and investigate an abandoned castle.





After that we discovered, and in fact claimed, a small island.


All in a day’s work (or rest), I guess. My only regret was that it was too cold for swimming so we didn't get to use the slide on our trusty vessel. As we pedaled back to shore we passed some kayakers. I yelled, "Ahoy, there!" They seemed confused, and I was a little embarrassed, but got over it.

Of course, we three weren’t the only ones encountering fairy-tale-esque scenes or tempting fate with preposterous self-assurance. Other documented events include:
-Sara “Tom-Sawyering” lemons from an abandoned tree.
-Ancient ruins in various stages of decay discovered in many locations by all members of the team.
-John being literally stalked by a smitten goat-herdess. I am completely serious- ask anyone on the team.

Traveling Musicians

We all seem to like music a lot, and during our vacation we branched out quite a bit in the songs we sang and which of us provided accompaniment. I was pleased to be reminded of a number of 90’s pop-rock hits that I’d sort of forgotten about.