Found that El Presidente (her real name is Katja but call her El Presidente cus she and couple others have a multimedia thing going in Ljubljana so of course she’s a president or something) had just come back for a quick visit home as she is living and singing in Kampala in Uganda! So she was having a party for some of her friends and it was in a place around the corner in the artist’s part of Ljubljana! It was convenient for me but still got lost cus the artist area is like packed on a Fri night plus I was a bit loaded and wasted!
Ljubljana is quite small as far as capital cities go as its only about 350,000 like a large village but cool! Gypsy told me the place the party was being held was next door to Tiffany’s a Gay club which I thought was odd cus didn’t know that Gays would be tolerated in Eastern Europe. But found out later that they were coming out of the closet slowly. Matter of fact the next day they were having a Gay Pride parade. I met this English girl who was in Solvenia to do some research for her PHD & she was marching in the parade. Not cus she was gay but she wanted to show solidarity for gays and their rights. Hell she was staying next to the hostel at this house that Anarchists stayed. Anarchists in this case are people wanting to change things not cause problems!
I had run into Jake an American guy and we hung out and went for a bite to eat so got to see part of the old city (another old city Christ they all have them).Then headed back to the hostel to indulge in a few beers etc. He was going to come with me to the party cus I knew I’d have trouble finding it even a block away. But somehow we got mixed up and couldn’t find him.El Presidente’s party was fun and I got to see Gypsy who is El Presidente’s friend that I also met travelling in mexico. I called her Gypsy cus she is sort of her own person and doesn’t really give a fuck what anyone thinks or is doing cus she is going to do what she wants. I really like that in a girl/chick/woman and find those kind really sexy and strong & not cling on’s (the female type)! But fuck what do I know about females? So Gypsy and I get along great as I do with El Presidente! El Presidente is like her name implies she likes to play the floor, smoozing with everyone and just moving around talking to all! While Gypsy sits and gets shit faced, wasted or whatever is the flavor of the day! So we hung out, reminisced and laughed about our time in Mexico. We thought shit too Bad old Jake the Snake wasn’t there cus El Presidente, Gypsy, Snake and I had a hoot in San Cristobol and this other place we went to visit. Shit all I could remember was how hard it was raining and hanging around this stove as Snake was telling us about Nookin in the Kookin which is Dutch for well I won’t say but it’s the first Dutch words I learned!
So anyway Gypsy and I proceeded to get pretty shit faced/wasted and enjoyed the night. El Presidente had brought a bunch of African items back from Uganda. She was going to raise some money for either the El Presidente retire fund or help the people in Uganda. But regardless she wanted to auction them off and wanted me to help her. But after a couple items she realized that I was useless so she did it herself. But hell she did pretty good as she sold what I thought were cheap stuff for a good price. But hell when people are partying they end up buying anything I guess. The party was fun and it was awesome to run into Gypsy and El Presidente again!The next night Jake & I watched Germany annihilate Argentina in their World Cup Game! Then there was suppose to be an all you can eat bbq so was thinking shit this can prove dangerous for a guy who's been traveling for 6 months on little food! But shit I was suppose to go hang out with Gypsy cus wanted to check out some street performers. So I missed out cus forgot all about the all you can eat bbq!
So yeah Ljubljana is a small city for a capital but it is a cool city. I was staying in the Celicia hostel and met some cool people there and watched football matches and generally just chatted. Also Gypsy came by the night after El Presidente's party. She wanted to go see some street performers so i figure works for me! But first we had to stop in the park to have a smoke! Suddenly she grabs the joint and tosses it on the ground and I'm like What the fuck u doing? She said I saw a couple of cops on horseback but then we realized they were escorting the Gay Parade coming down the street. I guess that Gays are still working themselves out of the closet or whatever. So they've started a Gay Pride parade but last year some Skin Heads kick the shit out of some gay so this year they had cops out! In comparison to the ones in other countries this one was pretty mild. Not that I'm an expert on Gay Pride parades but in Vancouver a gay hangout in Canada they have a mammoth parade. They have City & Government people sucking up to the Gay votes so they go in the parades too! Hell usually 1/2 of the government people fit in nicely in a Gay Parade the wankers!! So we took in a couple of street performer acts but mainly sat around and drank at an outdoor cafe. What I have a hard time dealing with in these countries that all the corner/convenience stores close really early. So if a person gets the munchies at night then they are SOL (shit out of luck). But Gypsy told me people usually stock up before the stores close but who plans that far ahead? She told me I guess there was a law passed that they closed the shops down so people wouldn't buy alcohol at the stores late and drive but they could still drink at bars and restuarants. So I thought why the hell didn't they just stop the store from selling alcohol after say 9 pm then close the stores completely. But that's like stop selling gas for cars cus people drink and drive!!! Anyway sure must be another reason but i didn't question it with her. But hell we just hung out, drank some beer and talked.
I hung around Ljubljana in the Celicia Hostel for a couple nights. I was sitting at the computer one day talking to my buddy Jake, an American teacher from Vegas! I said "Shit I got to kill 4 days cus have to be in Salzburg in a week. I got to find some place to go in Solvenia for those days!." So this chick pipes out & says why don't u go to Krangska Gora? I said cus I don't where it is or what's there?" She said it's a really beautiful village in the mountains & she's gong there! So I thought shit she did all the research, better than anything I could think of & what bus to take, etc. So I said hey maybe I should tag along! So we made plans to go the next morning. Yeah I know it takes all the fun of planning when ur traveling! But shit it takes the chilling or not doing anything mode back into traveling! I guess sometimes we all just want to do something and also chill so this was a good way I guess!
So the morning had to get up kind early @ 9 am to go to this village with the girl Natasha I met the previous day! Natasha's story was she came from England to do some research for her Masters/ She was only in Slovenia for a short time before returning to England. I had no idea where we were going so I just had a sleep for the 2 hrs until we got there. So shit when I awoke we were there and I saw the beautiful Slovenia isn't that big so the only reason it took 2 hrs was cus we stopped at every village and town. I was kind of surprised with the village, Krangska Gora, cus I was expecting a typical Solvenian village not a ski resort which it was. But it was summer so it wasn't overly crowded with tourists. But later I found a lot of bus tour tourists there from England, etc.
Natasha had booked a hostel room for herself and had told me but I don't usually book hostel beds cus don't plan that far ahead! So I followed her as we looked for her hostel but couldn't find it. So Natasha walked to this house to ask and came across this little old lady who she thought was so nice. So she wanted to stay at this little old lady's house rather than the actual hostel. I didn't really care where I stayed cus after awhile all places seem the same. So we got an apartment with a kitchen and bedroom for 20 Euros each which is the same as a hostel. The hostel or places to stay in Slovenia aren't cheap!
I had no plans of what I wanted to do and Natasha wanted to go for a swim. I didn't want to rain on her parade but I knew if she wanted to swim in a mtn river, stream or lake that it was going to be ice cold. But I went along to the river with her. I was right for the first time as it was ice cold so we just hung by the stream/river and chatted while kind of walking thru the stream to cool off!
Natasha checking out the house that we stayed in the apartment in Krangska Gora
going down to the river for a swim but found out the water wss too dam cold!
The view when we hiked up the highway and got to the Russian church
Walking to the next village to go and check the mtn that the 3 countries meet
Met Ram this Nepalese guy selling sweaters, hats, bags and jewellery from Nepal
Natasha had to return to Llubjana as she had to some rsearch for her Masters which is why she was in Slovena. So I was by myself then so moved to another hostel which was OK.
So the next morning I figured I had seen as much as I wanted to see there I grab a bus out of town to Bled where I was told there was a nice lake. It was only a 1 hr bus ride and I noticed that the landscape was getting to have less rugged mountains but more rolling hills.
Bled was more touristy than Krangska Gora as people went there to walk around the lake or take a boat ride to the island in the middle with a church (what else in Eastern Europe?). So there were a lot of restuarants with people sitting outside eating but it wasn't for me so I just walked around the lake while I waited to check into a hostel.
I had planned to check into the Bledec Hostel but when I asked this guy who was running this other if it was the Bledec Hostel he said yeah so I booked in. (later found that the Bledec Hostel was down the street). But that was OK cus the Bled Hostel I booked in was 5 Euros cheaper! But this hostel had a lot of flies around cus it was across the street from a livery stable and chicken barn.
When I got into the dorm room (it was a strange setup cus 2 hostels were sharing the same building?) I found out that this Canadian chick in the next bed was also from Vancouver and lived 4 blocks from the studio apartment I was renting last year.
Talk about coincidence! So of course we had to chat cus I had only met 1 other Canadian on my travels but knew there were a lot around. I realized while we were talking that I had forgotten a lot about Vancouver and shit I had only been gone 6 months! So since we were both traveling alone we went for a walk up to see the town from this castle but we didn't go inside cus it cost 7 Euros. But didn't think the view was any great hell too!
I guess we had a lot to talk about cus we decided to go for a pizza later. Then I never saw her again but hey that's the way it goes when u travel. U meet someone and hang out for a day and find out a lot about someone and then u never see them again. So the next day u can't even remember their name!
Well that evening there was a Germany - Spain football match so I went down to a bar with a bunch from the hostel. It slowly detoriated to a big drunk down by the lake. then somehow I lost my dorm mates and ended up drinking and smoking with a bunch of Irish people. Then like I said I never saw any of them again cus that's the way it goes when u travel.
So the next day was a complete waste as I veg'd outside in the shade. But then I met this Slovenian Guy and his girlfriend so we had to drink and smoke a bit. Then I thought shit I got to get out of Bled cus not doing anything but drinking and smoking.
So the next day I decided to leave by catching a train to Salzburg, Austria. i had to be there by Sun to meet my friend A.
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