Yesterday was my birthday, YAH 27 years old, and it will be a birthday never to be forgotten. The day started out as a normal routine, except for the fact that two days ago I began losing my voice and could hardly speak when I woke up. I came downstairs and was greeted with “Happy Birthdays”. Emily made me up some granola and yogurt with a peach and a piece of bread with Nutella spread (my favorite thing in the world). I did some morning exercising and had quiet time with God.
However, since yesterday was also our “free” day, in which we take a day for ourselves away from ministry, some adventure was bound to occur. Emily, Jenny, and I planned to travel to Zlakuca (a town 15 km away from Uzice) and visit the 3rd largest cave in the world named “Potpece Cave”.
I left early to town to find us bus tickets. As I was waiting for the bus, this tall van, that seats maybe 15 people, pulls up and opens the door. I hop in, with no seats left and stand against the back of the passenger seat. Riding all the way to town (about 5 minutes away) I feel like I’m in Mexico in a crowded vehicle, wondering if this many people in a van is legal.
As I get to town I head to the information center and speak with an acquaintance about getting bus tickets from Uzice to Zlakuca, and he draws me a map that will guide us from the Zlakuca bus stop to the cave. With 30 minutes before the bus departs, I quickly call Emily and Jenny (who are still at home) and they rush to town.
Getting bus tickets was the next task and this is always fun because it involves charades, Pictionary, pointing at objects, and an exchange of words that neither party understands. I was lucky yesterday to have two people at the bus station speak English. Normally it’s all Srpski. Still with a little English speaking help, it was quiet complicated getting tickets because of the cost, the time of departure, and the fact that the actual ticket was purchased while loading the bus and the ticket to exit the bus station and head to the buses was a reservation ticket.
As Jenny and Emily come running into the bus station, we head out to the buses and keep getting rejected by the drivers, saying they weren’t traveling to our destination. With 5 minutes until our bus departs I run inside, get the English speaking lady and have her follow me to the buses. She is able to convince one of the drivers that we needed to take this bus in order to get to the cave.
Once on the bus, we discover that there is a shortage of seats. I end up sitting on the floor while many others stand.
Twenty minutes later, the bus stops in the middle of nowhere. Everyone looks at Jenny, Emily, and I and starts repeating “Zlakuca, Zlakuca…” and motioning for us to get off the bus. We were so confused. So as people piled off the bus just to let us out, we slowly made our way off the bus and started laughing.
I’ve learned many of the Cyrillic letters so I was able to read town signs. We were in the right place…just didn’t expect it to be so remote. Jenny and Emily kept circling around wondering what just happened and where exactly we were suppose to go to reach the cave. I quickly assured them that we could figure it out, as I pulled out my hand-drawn map. As Jenny and Emily were laughing at me in disbelief, we began walking according to the map. 30 minutes hiking uphill through a quiet village surrounded by corn fields and inhabiting unbaked brick houses, we arrived at a slightly hidden fish restaurant.
Here we enjoyed pure nature with a waterfall and quaint outdoor setting. The waterfall connected to a few fish ponds in which fish is freshly caught and served. We were able to communicate with a couple of people there. One older fellow kept speaking with enthusiasm to us in Serbian and smiling (this is important for later in the story). After enjoying some fish, potato salad, and bread, we were offered free cake…how fitting for the occasion. 🙂 We relaxed for a bit then got back to hiking up the hill. About 10 minutes later I saw the first sign that the cave was near, a rock wall. I sped up my pace and raced up to the cave.
Most caves are underground but this one was in a hill. The entrance of the Potpece cave is 50 m high and 13 m wide. It is the largest cave in Europe and the 3rd largest in the world. We approached the cave just before the next tour was to be given. This cave was used by Serbs during the Turkish wars. Serbs lived in the lower part of the cave and scaled up to the upper level to hide from the Turks. In most parts of the cave it takes 1000 years for 1 cm of cave formations to develop. There is also a saying that if one covers their face with the clay in the cave, it will leave them more beautiful than they are when they wash it off.
After that great adventure we had to figure out how to get back to the bus stop. As we were walking down this huge hill, a car pulls to the side. It’s the Serbian guy from the restaurant! He starts speaking Serbian to us, saying, “Uzice?”, and pointing to the back of his car. So this documents my first “hitch-hiking” experience. He drives us all the way down the hill; the hill that took us over 40 minutes to hike and that is at least 2 miles long. We get dropped at the bus stop, catch a bus soon after and make it safely back home.
Once home I am greeted with one of my favorite meals, eggplant parmesan. Erin researched this dish and made it perfect for my birthday.
She also made a chocolate cake with homemade icing. This was accompanied with fabulous Serbian ice cream. Further, I received a jar of Nutella (!!!) and more chocolate! Our ministry hosts, Chris and Mirjam joined us and we all celebrated my 27 years of living. By the time I made it back home, my voice was pretty much completely gone…so all I could do was sit there and whisper, “thank you, thank you.” What a day!
