Back in June II - Eastern Slovakia

Back in time again, it was the 20th of June and I had just finished my quite enjoyable Mid-term training. After a quick lunch and sensitively waiting for the train I had checked on Internet before -I could had taken others that were late, early for me, but there were a different category, which means you'll probably need to pay more-, I took a repairing nap in my way to Kosice.

I recall waking up, watching the landscape and thinking how nice and green is Slovakia, and turning greener and wilder in nature as crossing it from west to east, from Bratislava to Poprad and then Poprad Kosice. Why Kosice? Why not?! It's European Capital of Culture 2013, the second largest city in the country and a beautiful one, as you may have heard by the locals from there -also the easter you go the more patriotic people feel, or something like this I had been told. Aha, lucky me I found a map to show you. See? That red line is the one I took to go and back.

Anyway, when I arrived around 4pm, my friend Peto -an INEX volunteer and soon to be leader together with me in Slatinka eco-village- was waiting for me in the train station, within the 34º the thermometer indicated in the pannel just outside it. Of course, with this melting feeling we agreed that the smart thing to do was just having a rest in his fresh and modern house until the sun was somehow calmer.

Peto is currently studying geography in Bratislava and he lives there, only coming in time to time back home for the weekend to his parents house, where I was their guest. I guess I haven't met many families so far to compare, but really, they treated me like a queen. Even when his father didn't know much of English he tried to talked with me via his son -in the role of a translator-, tough I could understand him in the basics -felt so proud and rewarded when this happened. And also her mother, who tried harder in English, was friendly and curious, making me questions -you know, funny fact, everybody wants to find our why I ended up in Slovakia, me included! :P

Well, his father prepared for me a tasty dinner and after some talking we decided to go for a walk. My impression of Kosice -compared to Bratislava that is the city I'm use to now- is that is peaceful and colorful, and the people in the streets are actual locals and not tourists crowds or crazy bachelor parties guys -no offence, Bratislava :P

Next day we had the other half of the touristic visit by foot, came back for lunch when I was happy to prepare for them pasta carbonara, and -last part- go all over Kosice in Peto's friend car, not only for visiting but for finding a place to buy this lens cover tap of the camara that I had offered to the spirit of the waterfalls in High Tatras the day before, haha. It was hard but we manage to find it in the biggest shopping center around. Shame on me, I don't have a picture with my hoster, but here's one of he and his friend in the entrance to a forest in the outskirts where it was built a tower from where you can see all the city -nice view.

Then, after a moment of stress because of train delays -I told you, can not trust Slovak railways punctuality-, we headed to the train station in his friend's car -really helpful guy indeed- and I took another train to my real destination: Humenné and very close, Jasenov -final destination. See? I am also going to lead a workcamp of a renovation of a ruinned castle and it's very normal -and more necessary this time since it's a brand new project- to arrange an appointment with the local partner and talk over the living and working conditions. Yeah, this was the main purpose of the trip -tough I'm extremely thankful to Peto for hosting me and avoiding making all the way from Bratislava-, and the importance of taking an specific train was because Dasa was also coming.

Who's Dasa? This name should sound familiar for the genuine readers, haha. She's my menthor, she was a leader last year in Slatinka and this year we'll be leading together Jasenov castle workcamp. Since our local partner said that  he didn't speak so much English she was the one who had been in touch with him for this visit and he was waiting for us once we arrived to Humenné to take us by car to Jasenov.

I was actually surprised to find in Humenné's train station a couple in their late-fortys/early fifties. I don't know why but I was expecting someone younger, ale nevadi. Alex and his wife -Barbara might be her name? my bad, I forgot- greeted us warmly and drove us to the Culture's House of Jasenov, where a friendly mayor came by bike and opened for us the place where we stayed the night over. It was a huge place and I didn't take any pictures of the inside because it was already dark, but no! I took this one photo of the dinner we had that night: home-made wild-pig soup, by Jasenov's mayor, check that! :D

Next day it was 22nd of June, Saturday, and we woke up extremely early for a Saturday morning -6:45 am, to take a shower before our meeting with Alex at 8 am to finally take a look to the castle (yes, there were showers! no, hot water was too much to ask, haha). He picked us up with his car and drove us somewhere close in the village, where a steep hill was waiting for our 15-minute walk to the top and find this amazing place.

During this visit Dasa and Alex were talking in Slovak about future work and the history of the castle and the organisation that is nowadays in charge of its renovation. Sometimes they will translate some words in English for me that I really appreciate, tough I felt certain that Dasa was translating the most important parts for me -she's so caring!

After reaching the top the only possibility was to go down again, so we start our descent passing trough some important places: the break area, the cottage where we are supposed to sleep during the workcamp -there were some mould in there, we hope is nothing serious and they will manage to fix it by then- and finally the way back to the car by a beautiful meadow.

I really liked the place and the atmosphere. For me since the night before I felt like in a fairytale, and the view of the castle and the certainty that we are going to live in the forest for a whole week -showering from a stream of water and cooking in a fireplace- just made this feeling deeper. Can not wait for this to start! :)

Alex drove us to Humenné's train station with plenty of time for taking the train at 11:22 am -that's the reason why we had woken up that crazy early, in case you wondered-, making it possible for me to take the connection of an InterCity (IC) train to Bratislava in Kosice and saving 2 hours of trip. In the train Dasa went trough her notebook and made sure to inform me of all the previous questions we had previously discussed, and had been answered by Alex.

Once in Kosice I said goodbye to Dasa, who wanted to visit Kosice since it was her first time there. Me, on the other hand, just wanted to reach home, make a laundry and prepare the things for my next trip, that was just going to start the very next day. But that's another story, a great one and therefore deserves a post on its own. So see you in the next post, unconditional reader.

Hugs,
Ali