Hvar Star

---

Well, sunday confirmed it - sick. I guess it was inevitable. You can't keep up this kind of pace and share rooms with that many dirty backpackers without something eventually catching up to you. On my train to Zagreb I started feeling a swelling in my throat and then got off into the unsavory Croatian humidity and spent the next two hours searching for my hostel. (I think Croatia officially wins the award for worst direction givers, as I had a similarily hard time finding my place in Split). Got to the hostel and...closed. Shit! Backtracked to an HI Hostel and went straight to bed. It was about two in the morning at that point. Woke up in the morning and felt like death.

I was skeduled to go to the Plitvice Lakes the next day, and I had been quite looking forward to that for some time, so I figured I would compromise most of my time in Zagreb and see if I could nip it in the bud. Slept away most of the day. Felt bad, there were all kinds of nice people in the hostel who kept trying to talk to me, and eventually I just had to be like, "Dudes, sorry, too sick." I did manage to see a bit of the city in the evening. Took in Mirogoj cemetary, which is touted as one of the most beautiful in Europe. Saw FranjoTudman's grave. Kinda wanted to spit on it, that genocidal prick.

Then, went to the movies.

Caught the bus to Plitvice in the morning. The driver was even nice enough to drop me right at my hotel. Two star hotel, it was. Not bad quality for the price I paid. I stayed in a couple of two stars in France that didn't quite meet the distinction. If those were two stars, then what the hell was a one star, a shallow grave?

I was feeling slightly better, so the day turned out good. The lakes are beauuuutiful. They have the clearest water I've ever seen, and I grew up on Fox Lake. The place looks like an aquarium. Did a circle of one half of the park, with the intention of doing the second half the next day. Most backpackers do Plitvice in a daytrip, but I thought it would be fun to spend the night there, even if it was a bit pricier. Good thing too, because I was definitely in no condition to go on to Split that day, which, as it turns out, is another 6 hour drive. That night I met Lucy and Roz, two sweet (and rather "fit") British girls who had missed their bus back to Zagreb and were now stuck for a place to stay. They ended up in my hotel and we went for some drinks at a nearby pub. It's so easy to talk to Brits, just get them going on the Inbetweeners are you're set.

The next day I did the second half of the lakes. Liked it better. Lots more narrow pathaways and small warterfalls. Caught the 2 o'clock bus to Split, and, six hours later, arrived, stepped out, and ran right into...Lucy and Roz. Small world, it was.

Just stayed a night in Split before I caught the catamaran to Hvar. I might spend another night there when I go back to the mainland, as it is actually a very cool place. There's a rather dull communist influence on some of the outer buildings, but the waterfront and center are totally nifty.

Anyway, I'm in Hvar now. Paradise on earth. The villa I'm in has a terrace that looks right over the water and last night we just sat out there and got drunk. T'was amazing. We hit up a bar a little later. It was my first time drunk since the gong show that was Budapest. After that four days I was in desperate need of a detox.

Swam in some reefs today. The girls out here view bikini tops as strictly optional, which is just....terrible! Tomorrow Lucy and Roz are gonna meet me out here and us and two other Brits are renting a motorboat for the day. Gonna do some island hopping and hit up the best beaches. Should be a time.

Still sniffing a little bit, but I think everything should be officially cleared up by tomorrow. Hopefully that spells the end of my health glitches.

---