Hello, I’m Salvador. You could recognize me because I used to walk around the town saying Dober dan, Zdravo –and other sentences with doubtful accent— to everybody. Since the first day, everyone in Idrija answers me in a kindly way, so why not continue, I feel homy doing it. When I try to communicate, It´s nice to see how the people that already know about my existence answer me smiling with something that I perceive between laugh and mercy. In my mind feels like they are saying “Well, you tried it kiddo”.

Language barrier apart, I came here to speak about Idrija, but I don´t really feel like just describing you the places where I went or you can go; cause if you don’t know them, you can discover them and create your own view. So, I'll tell you a bit of my history and how I feel here –It´s practical for me and maybe funnier for the reader—.

One of the first things that I remember when I arrived –April 2021— is that I spend some weeks trying to understand the difference between rake, kobila and the wild lake. Let me explain one thing to contextualize; I came from big cities, urban atmospheres; there you won´t find nothing more than buildings, concrete, and a smoked rubber smell wherever you go. All it´s a kind of the same grey tonality. For that reason, here I got shocked. Everything was green, beautiful, fresh, clear; not even my spring allergy deprives me of enjoying the environment. In fact, the first time that I went out to hike, my goal was the wild lake. Easy, right? Well, I don’t even found the entrance of Rake. I remember myself saying “this must be the wild lake”, “no, it´s here”, “Wait no, is this place for sure”. You can guess the next, it wasn't any of those places and I was lost –and a bit scared of the possible bears around—. Somehow, I went downhill and I found the town again. What I want to say with this is that there´s some points famous where you can go, of course, but all the surroundings of Idrija deserve being explored. What I truly discover that day and the next ones is that several small spots are waiting for you with some magic. By the way, don’t worry; after some days Maja took me to the real Divje jezero.

Anyways, not everything it´s the environment here around. I always say that the places are the people that live there, and Idrija it´s the one that can prove it. I met a lot of people here, I met -epic music sounds- the locals. It´s hard to explain how comfortable I can feel here with people that I saw maybe one or two times. It seems that the calm of the city is somehow integrated into the behaviour of the inhabitants. It doesn´t matter the place, Mladinski center, Swenak, Galerija, Bela or wherever I go, they are not just around watching me as the Spanish guy, they always welcome me with good vibes, some topic to discuss about and, why not say it, some snap –Tip: watch out for those little bastards—.

Now food –draga hrana–. One of the questions that I eared the most is if I miss the food of my country, and the answer it´s always the same: No. There are a lot of different things here to try and I can´t say no to new food and less when everything is okusno. The sirov burek makes me crazy, Čebapčiči it´s perfect as a fatty sin, all the products of Vitaminčk and the local market (cheese, honey, vegetables, etc), the homemade yogurt that I'm addicted to from of Mercator, I really need to learn how to bake potica and, of course, the jewel of the Idrija crown in pasta shape. You should know what I’m talking about and I want you to understand my point. When I went to the scout camp in Pšenk, the kids explained to me that they have a kind of tradition where they marry two people there, and then they tried to search someone for me. I told them in that moment that I wouldn´t marry no one there, but that if I could I would get marry with the žlikrofi. That´s the level, what an ambrosia I discover here.

A brief paragraph must be dedicated to the beer as well, it´s amazing the production of different breweries that Slovenia has around. I tried some of them and the quality is pretty high, maybe for the clean water of the country or the love that the people put into craft it, I don´t know. Pivovarna Zajc it´s near here and it´s an example of what I’m talking about: good people making good beer. According the cheap ones –even if they are the same— I´ll say that I’m team Laško, sorry Union people.

I think I’ve been lucky coming here and now. I enjoy a than beautiful as hot summer swimming in Bela and kobila, I lived Čipkarija and the žlikrofi –bless them again— festival, the concerts in Mejca and Swenak. I’m approximately 4 months and half here around and the time pass fast, I can perceive the reality changing by the landscape of my window, the mist that emerges from the ground of the mountains and merges with the clouds in the mornings, the ten minutes rains, the huge thunderstorms that appears from nowhere. --Ok, the weather could be a bit crazy— some days ago I was missing those rains and now I’m wondering if the sun will comeback in some moment after this short summer. Anyways don´t get me wrong, dark or green, warmer or wet, the beauty of the city endures over all.

I don’t know how to finish this text as I don´t want to think in my departure. Idrija and his people are hugging me since I´m here and I know it´ll continue being like that until my last days around.

According to this, I’m always up to meet new people, so if you would like to meet up for a coffee or ask me whatever, feel free to tell me živjio on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consdesoto/

To je to, se vidimo kmalu.

Salvador.