Yin and Yang and a little bit of Karma

Does bad luck follow us or does life hold a lot of good things for us? Lars and I regularly argue about how it actually is. We are really Yin and Yang: while Lars is more convinced that things always go wrong for us (of course, our car acts up again during vacation and of course it rains on his birthday, like every year!), I am the one who looks for the bright side and naively ignores all the evil. We balance each other out pretty well. The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. It actually does rain every year on July 11th and damn, the car does play tricks on us. But it has taken us across Europe safely and thanks to the rain, we had endless space at the beautiful Soča. No fighting for the best spot necessary. Everything is good for something: if we had left earlier, maybe we wouldn't have gotten so wet (contrary to the forecast, July 11th was completely rainy - the Slovenians can't predict the weather without the planes either). So pack up a wet tent again. We had hoped that we would be spared from that at least once.

But there was a sunshine yellow envelope waiting for us at the reception! Great surprise from the family! Birthday mail from Manfred and Mari, which we would have otherwise missed.

And there was also supposed to be a little surprise for me: on the way to the shower, we stumbled upon my colleague Anika. What a small world! In the middle of the National Park of Slovenia, from all possible camping sites, we set up our campsites less than 10 meters apart. Crazy life!

We set off towards Karst at a snail's pace on July 12th. Although 90 km/h is allowed, it's not possible. Too many curves, too many campers, and many cyclists who make it impossible to drive steadily. Unfortunately, Ida takes after me in that regard, and she got even sicker. She didn't need the bag, but took smaller breaks after every third curve. A test of patience, while we feel like time is running out ('we definitely won't get a spot anymore!').

We finally reached Na Meji near Pivka around 4:00 p.m. And what a shock for me: it's completely packed (Lars wasn't shocked anymore. He was already prepared for it)!

Such a mess. The poor farmer was out of breath, as he was doing tours of the property with all the campers who arrived today. He said it was quiet yesterday, he gasped in good English. But today, all hell broke loose. Oh, if only we had arrived yesterday. How are we going to fit our tent among the many campers? And above all, is it so steep that we'll have to sleep vertically.

When we express our concerns cautiously, our host starts beaming. Finally, a tent again! We are the 'right' campers, he has something for us.

So we hurry after him, up the hill and further away from the hated tin.

Among overgrown grass, in front of a wooden fence overlooking the valley and the hills of the surrounding area, we are allowed to set up our tent. There is a wooden swing between two trees, from which you can watch the sunset. We can use the existing lounge chairs, as well as the wine-covered pergola with table and benches.

We did everything right! It's good that we didn't arrive until today.

At some point, maybe in another life, we probably made enough deposits into our karmic account.

Now we can take our time and arrive in peace.

The area is very reminiscent of Bausenhagen. However, Bausenhagen cannot boast a well-stocked liquor and wine cellar. The family produces and distills everything themselves. The dad collects the herbs and fruits, the son makes them last. We are warmly invited to try everything.

Phew, if we do that, we'll be drunk for weeks. But we'll probably try a drop or two.