Feelin' Free, Clear Mind in Skopje, Macedonia

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SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

 “He was part of my dream, of course - but then I was part of his dream, too."
- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Waking hours before the rest of the hostel today was to be expected.  As a light sleeper who prefers early to bed over late at the bar, I’m usually the first up.  After getting in relatively late last night and going directly to my room, I really didn’t see any of Skopje, Macedonia, my new home for the next couple days. 

In the first kilometer of my run I stopped to snag a pic of a statue of a swimmer under Stone Bridge in city center.  While Stone Bridge is a bit of a hallmark in Skopje, the swimmer was nothing special and I was only taking the pic for my triathlon company’s photo archive in case I needed it as a filler photo some day later. 

 

There I ran into Karin, another American triathlete also running and taking pics.  We ran together for a bit, grabbing shots of Macedonia’s monuments and statues, which, for some reason, had all been relocated here to the country’s capital. 

One of maybe 4 photos of me taken during 2012

Before parting, Karin asked to take my pic, stating, “You’re part of my story today.”  It was a simple yet interesting comment. 

In the next several days it turned out that the people were every bit as much of my story as the cities and the sites, as I made several adventures with the German women and Aussie men that I met there at Shanti II Hostel in Skopje.  The first of those adventures was to monastery on a river.   After an hour ride out of town, we arrived to first find not the monastery, but a whitewater kayaking course.  Many of the boats used were painted with the colors of the country.  Unfortunately, I’m not up on my Eastern European pro kayaking to know if we were watching the national team practice or just some really serious paddlers with national pride.

The monastery was nothing special.  It was built up a bit and now had a touristy restaurant and wine bar in front of it.

The location itself is what was remarkable.  A series of three modern dams caused the gorge to flood.  The river was met with steep canyon walls.  

Our group commissioned a boat to take us up river to a cave, allegedly the second deepest in Europe. 

If you have never been in a cave before, it’s something to see for sure.  However, these caves were a tenth the size of others, like those in Carlsbad, New Mexico.  The coolest part was how many freaking bats there were and how close they were to us. 

Back at Shanti II Hostel I once again found myself in conversation with two amazing humans I had the pleasure of meeting.  Joanne, a Scottish traveler, was wrapping up three weeks of holiday in The Balkans and Em, the staff at Shanti II.  Both of these women had much wisdom to share that became part of my story that day.