"Take care of your Women"

[pictures: 1. from the chairlift; 2. Andy and Pat enjoying lunch time; 3. a gorgeous lake at Strebske Pleso; 4. the high tatras; 5. our cabin (Andy's picture); 6. Beeler and Pat following Andy down the non-trail; 7. the crew headed up the peak; 8. Pat and Andy hanging out on top of the world; 9. Andy and the stunning view; 10. Beeler, Pat, Me, and Andy enjoying our Pivo at the summit; 11. the lake we hiked to the second day; 12. Andy and the bridge]




So we boarded the bus that took us to Stola, [pronounced Sh-tola ]finally, and were on our way to meet our Slovak landlord, Jaroslav. Jaroslav had been e-mailing Andy throughout our dilemma and said that if it were necessary he would pick us up. We all had different images of what we though Jaroslav would be like, none of them right. But we got to Stola and then waited in the freezing cold for Jaroslav to come pick us up from the bus stop. He came, picked us up, and drove us about 2 minutes to our cabin. When we got out of the car it was snowing! It was awesome! Our cabin was perfect. There was a kitchen, a bathroom, a living room with beds and a loft/attic type room that was "the boys room [high five]". We were also informed by Jaroslav, or Jaro as we affectionately called him, that the Queen of England was staying there as well. Pretty cool. So that night we made plans for Jaro to come by in the morning and give us suggestions for the day. He also told us to beware of bears and for Pat and Andy to "take care of your women" which is doubly funny when you consider that in reality, I would probably take better care of them, had the need arisen.

Next morning I woke up to dear Andy singing "Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory" making me feel right at home. Jaro arrived and gave us some great suggestions which we decided to follow. [As a side note, Stola has only one convenience store/market and one restaurant that we made reservations at twice.] We took the bus up to Strebske Pleso and milled around for a little bit before getting some lunch at the Olympic training grounds. We didn't know it at the time but thats where we were. We also met the Czech Olympic coach for high jump, triple jump, and long jump. He was very amiable and told us that some US athletes were there as well for the altitude training. So that was pretty cool. Then we started on a hike but instead found the chair lift to take us to the summit. It was awesome! It took us to a pretty high summit and then we hiked up the rest of the way. The view was amazing, like from the top of Mammoth. There were tons of clouds but we were above them so the view was stunning. We hung out at the top for a little taking it all in before returning to the summit and having a pivo, and what a great pivo! We walked back to the chairlift to discover that it had stopped running about an half hour earlier so we had to hike all the way down. We weren't really sure where to go and somehow managed to pick a bad way every time. First we tried to go down what I'm pretty sure approximated a black diamond slope, and then in trying to get back to the other path, traversed a non-traveled, wooded area. Andy face planted in the snow, Pat got soaked, Beeler crawled up the slope, and I almost peed my pants laughing at them. When we finally made it back to the other trail we saw the athletes training and then tried to get down a different way. Andy was the leader, first mistake, and basically blazed his own trail that included swinging from a railing. It was pretty hilarious. But we all made it down in one piece. We caught the sunset, kind of, before heading back down to Stola. We had a delicious dinner, three courses with 2 drinks each, and all for about 7 dollars. It was awesome! So naturally we made reservations for the next night as well! We went back to the cabin and hung out, read and listened to music before calling it a night.

The next morning Andy again tried to sing but I was awake before he could manage. We stopped at the Potraviny to get some breakfast and some food for lunch before heading to the bus stop. We didn't take into account that the bus schedule is different on weekends so when Andy called Jaro to see why the bus didn't come, we all felt like idiots when we were informed that the bus wouldn't be there for another hour and an half. So we went back to the cabin and made a disgusting amount of pasta that we then had to consume exceptionally fast. We went up to Strebske Pleso again but then caught the tram to the next stop over and decided to do a hike up to a lake. It was much colder and wetter. The trail was basically impassable in parts but we pressed on like true hikers and made it to a gorgeous lake where we had lunch and then some coffee before heading back. It was a very enjoyable hike.

We got back to the cabin at the same time as the day before and then went to the restaurant for another delicious meal. Probably the best two meals I have had on the trip. After dinner we went back to the cabin and drank some wine from our jug. Haha. Pat and Beeler taught me and Andy how to play Yuker, which we kicked their butts at. It was really fun. The next morning we packed and headed out. Jaro met us on the way out and told us that there was a problem. We were nervous, not knowing what it could be, and then he said "You two can go [to Pat and Andy] but the women must stay." It was freaky to say the least, especially since he was dressed like I imagine a Slovak mobster would be dressed. And then he added, " That's how we do it here." Andy and Pat were freaked out and laughed nervously, trying to diffuse the situation, until Jaro finally smiled. Close call. Haha, but I think I could have taken him.

Anyway, Stola is definitely the gem of Slovakia, and one of my favorite places I have been in Europe. I loved every minute of it!!