In August I participated on SCI working camp in Kuterevo. It is small village near city Otočac in mountain Velebit. There is shelter for bears and we mainly worked on shelters. From Otocac I began walking towards the village and at some point a got a ride, changed a car and finally reached the village. Impressions of the place were great already at the beginning. I saw it was a place where I will learn something new.
My friend Tomislav took me for a beer in Bear pub near the shelter where I met a friend from primary school. Haven't seen her for a long time. Recently I was thinking on meeting somebody from my class and she was one of the choices. I was anticipating she would be interesting to meet although we didn't hang around in the early days. But she sure was interesting and I enjoyed her company. Weird place, I thought.
Our accommodation was wooden house with 3 floors. We slept on the floor. While somebody was walking around on level above or below, you could easily hear him/her and sometimes even feel the vibrations of the movement. It didn't work as massage, unfortunetely. Water was available in limited amounts. Toilets which we used were called compost-closet. After you did your job there, you were required to put sawdust onto it, not water. That was cool, no one could know what were you doing there since it was very silent. There were 3 toilets & 2 shower. Each group of volunteers had a chance to take a shower once per day at specific time during period of half an hour. Shower was cold and refreshing. We cooked mainly vegetarian food as it was cheeper and more environmentally friendly.
In the beginning we shared house with the group of volunteers from USA. There were few girls and one guy who was very friendly and hanged out with us much more than the others. It was very unusual what happened last night. Since it was their last night, we proposed to make dinner together. So we did it and when the dinner finished, Americans went upstairs while we remained sitting on the table, chatting, drinking, waiting for them to join us again. But it never happened. Does it mean that in USA they don't have big parties on the last night?
While days were very hot, nights were very cold. During the night we would hang out with the Belgians, also a group of volunteers. During weekend there was a "party" in the village. Young people gathered around some pub-van which offered cheap drinks. There was also a car with some folk music which I didn't appreciate very much. Veronique, my friend from primary school, and her cousin were there, so I joined them for some time. It's good if you don't stay too long. I didn't drink that much so it wasn't very funny to be surrounded by drunk people. Few times we, the volunteers, made a big fire and gathered around, singing,...
Recently shelter got new land, huge area which is connected to the peak Kopija. We went there few time to work and enjoy the nature. Up there one can find bear cemetary which has few bears. One of this bears was killed when one volunteer went inside of shelter to play some music which bear actualy didn't like that much so it attacked the volunteer. Soon this peak will be very interesting area when volunteers re-arrange it. One night we wanted to sleep there. There is also a platform from where you can spot a bear if you are lucky and also feel safe since wild animals cann't reach you. We slept there for few hours and than the storm came. In few minutes we took our stuff and went to the village. Soon afterwards big rain came and we felt lucky for good timing. I remember that one night when there was a storm a big lightning stroke down waking up virtually everybody.
Few tips for handling the snakes which we learned. When moving a stone, lift first the farther part since the snake can than escape out of your way. You can use a stick first and hit the stones a bit to alarm snakes that you are near. If you are bitten by a snake, you shouldn't move too much so the poison doesn't go around your body. You should put you wound (ex. arm) under the earth and leave it there for some time (hours). We didn't encounter any snake.
Each morning I went for the bread. Here in the village you need to order in advance how much bread you want for each day.
One can meet many interesting people there. Professor who shares his wisdom during the nights. He would often mention how this place is also a shelter for people since many of them come there to setle their mind and thoughts. It's true, I can say that one Belgian girl actively worked on defining her destiny there. She has a birthday on the same day as me. Last year some guy came with a monkey. He was a pilgrim traveling from Belgium to Jerusalem. They walked, donkey carried their stuff and searched for clear water. If the water wasn't drinkable, it would spit it out. Smart donkey as it was proved in many occasions. On fortunately, donkey couldn't cross a border to Turkey without spending some time in quaranteen. This year Mathew, the pilgrim, returned to Kuterevo (without donkey) and planed to go to Jerusalem with his friend from Israel.
In the beginning, when the little bears arrive to the shelter, a dog is put there to help the socialise and teach them how to behave, share food, etc. It's funny to look at them sometimes when bears are fighting, dog is barking at them and then one of the bears starts to chase a dog, dog runs, bear goes back to the other bear to continue the discussion, dog comes again, ... Dogs bark much more, bears are producing sounds only seldom when they are really annoyed too much. We would give them ice-cream: some corn and vegetables put in the ice. They eat meat rarely and if they do, it is rotten meat.
All in all, place is full of interesting people (and bears). You are very close to the nature, mountain is at hand. Morning is beautiful, animals playing around, sun rays and clouds surrounding you. Definetly a place you wish to visit again. And all this is just a part of the whole story.
In the beginning, when the little bears arrive to the shelter, a dog is put there to help the socialise and teach them how to behave, share food, etc. It's funny to look at them sometimes when bears are fighting, dog is barking at them and then one of the bears starts to chase a dog, dog runs, bear goes back to the other bear to continue the discussion, dog comes again, ... Dogs bark much more, bears are producing sounds only seldom when they are really annoyed too much. We would give them ice-cream: some corn and vegetables put in the ice. They eat meat rarely and if they do, it is rotten meat.
All in all, place is full of interesting people (and bears). You are very close to the nature, mountain is at hand. Morning is beautiful, animals playing around, sun rays and clouds surrounding you. Definetly a place you wish to visit again. And all this is just a part of the whole story.
