Over the hill and through the woods...

I don't think I've ever been more physically exhausted than I was last night after the YES Abroad group went on an all day hiking trip to the Skakavac (Skah-kah-vats) waterfall and beyond. Despite my ultimate exhaustion, however, it was an amazing and incredibly fun day.

After 45 minutes of walking through a dense Bosnian forest we made our way to the main attraction for the day, the waterfall. The Skakavac waterfall is the highest one in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its about 98 meters tall. At the base of the waterfall there's an almost overpowering onion-esque smell which we later learned comes from an edible herb that grew nearby called...something with an "s" maybe? We all gathered up some of the whatever-it-was to bring to our host moms and headed towards our next destination.

After the waterfall our hike took about a 60 degree turn upwards and it soon began to feel like a climb. The scenery was well worth it though, at times the woods were so think that when it rained you didn't even get wet and everything was dark green and covered in moss. We walked through just about every type of terrain on this hike, well, except for desert sands. The views and the scenery were fantastic and well worth the trek.

The next stop was a little restaurant and bar on the top of the mountain. It was so remote, it didn't even have a menu the owner would just kind of make up items and prices for you. The funny thing was, despite its location, it was a pretty packed house. All these old men had climbed up there to drink beer and watch the Manchester United game on television. We all enjoyed some hearty Bosnian mountain food and headed on our way again.


After lunch the hike down began. We got to the bottom about five hours later then we planned too, but it was all worth it because we caught sight of a gorgeous rainbow. To finish off the day I caught a bus back to Panjina Kula and gave my legs some much needed rest.