Czech Trek!!

This has been the best week ever! I had the time of my life on the Czech Trek, and I wish it could have lasted twice as long.

Day by day recap:
Left Sunday at 6 p.m. on our pimped-out bus that wasn't actually comfortable at all. 54 people, 54 seats. We got friendly quickly. Rode a ferry to Germany, then drove forever through Germany all night. The sunrise in the Czech Republic was stunning, though our breakfast at some random hotel was not (jellied meat? nej tak). The scenery from the bus was an interesting mix of drop-dead gorgeous countryside and mountains with Communist-style buildings everywhere. You could feel how poor the country was.

Monday morning, we went to Terezin, a concentration camp somewhere in Czechland. It wasn't a death camp, so I didn't feel as nauseous hearing about what went on there as I usually do when I hear about Holocaust happenings. Not to say I wasn't upset - I am human - but we didn't hear too many gory stories. It was a very weird thing to be somewhere that saw so much suffering. We were in rooms that held 600 people prisoner, tiny cells where the people were crammed in so much that they died, in the room where 100 people would shower at a time, once a week, five to each showerhead. To be there was just so strange. I was glad to leave.

Finally at 1 or so, we got to our hotel: a castle on top of a mountain. I was giddy from the time we were driving around the area until we left. The scenery was phenomenal. The mountains, the fall leaves on the trees, the greenness, the enormousness of everything....I hadn't realized how much I missed being in a non-city. We went on a three-hour hike (it seemed much shorter) after lunch, then had dinner. Every lunch and dinner was a three-course taste of different Czech food, and breakfasts were incredible buffets. I don't think I've ever eaten so well in my life.

Budvar, the original Budweiser, was on tap at the hotel -- and I could afford to drink it! God bless the horrendous Czech economy. The beer is delicious, in case you were wondering.

The next day, we did archery in the morning (pretty lame, though I came close to shooting an arrow through an apple) and in the afternoon we did rappelling and high-rope-bridge walking. While we waited, some people sleeve-fought.


But I digress. I thought rappelling would be the less challenging half of that activity, but I was wrong. Since I was a kid, I've loved to climb up things and hated to climb down them, so imagine how I felt having to come down a 25-meter rock wall with just some rope holding me up. It was literally the most terrified I have ever been, though I did get some cool views of the ravine as I slowly, slowly made my way down.

For the high rope bridge, we took a zipline across the ravine.





Then, we walked across a very unstable rope bridge back. The first time I did this, it was a little scary, but I made it just fine. The second time was much more fun, so by the third time, I was a little overconfident perhaps and walking less carefully. I fell, and then had an epic struggle in the middle, dangling high above a ravine. See, after I fell, I of course tried to get back up, which was hard, but I was standing and then realized I wasn't standing on the part for feet, I was standing on the "railing." So I had to somehow get that straightened out and after I thought I had everything worked out, I start to walk again and realize that my safety line had gotten wrapped around the bridge, so then I had to under and over the side. It took forever, and when I finally made it to the other side, the instructor was like, "we weren't sure if you were going to make it, we were thinking about coming to get you." But I did, so life is good, and I'm not too terribly embarassed like I would have been if they did actually have to go rescue me.

It was really fun, though, and I have some crazy bruising on my arm from it. Sadly, by the time I was falling and dangling and struggling, it was pretty dark outside, so no one's pictures of it came out, though I have some pretty bad ones that require some squinting and imagination.


That day was Halloween, and I love Halloween for those of you who don't know. I go all out in the States and I was incredibly, incredibly bummed that I wasn't getting a Halloween this year, especially after seeing everyone's pictures from the weekend before I left. But because the people on the trip were so awesome, we totally made it a Halloween to remember. We crafted costumes out of things we packed and found in the hotel and we were damn creative. I was an angel, wearing a lace curtain with wings made from a pillowcase and two hangers, and a paper halo. We had a whole crew that dressed up for dinner and then we got to do a "treasure hunt" around the castle in the pitch black, with light only from tea lights that kept going out. My team came in second...boo...but later we exploded lighters, and it was fantastic.

The next day was rock climbing on top of a different mountain, in what had to be subzero temperatures. I also attempted and failed at rappelling.

That afternoon we had the best time ever, crawling around caves. I didn't take any pictures, but other people did, and I'll steal them eventually. We were in a part of a national forest where tourists aren't actually allowed. Our guides have to fight every year to get permits to take small groups in the caves. Once we navigated pitch-black caves, extremely tiny holes and a myriad of rope bridges and rocks and leafy trails, our prize was getting to go in a cave where it looked like Indians had been. I'm not sure what the real story was behind it, but it was a tiny room with not much oxygen and a fire pit set up. We all got to sign a guestbook dating from 1912!!

Somehow, after just that small amount of time, we had to leave the Cesky Raj (roughly translating to Czech Paradise). We went to Prague for all of eight hours, which was a bummer, but at least I got to spend them with Diane! We walked around a little, visited a monastery, tried the beer that the monks have been brewing for over 500 years, shopped a little and reminsced a lot. I'll definitely have to go back to Prague some day and actually see it, because we had way too little time there to actually see it.

On the Charles Bridge

OH! And it snowed! The other group got hailed on when they were rock climbing, but we just got a very light dusting of snow. That night while we slept, the castle got a bunch of snow, and so did Copenhagen. Sadly, by the time I got back in to the city this morning (after a torturous bus ride), it had melted.

In short, I'm in love with the Czech Republic.