Have yoga mat and bicycle, will tour for food.

Well, like so many plans in life, not all goes exactly as you’d planned or imagined it. Especially teaching Yoga in a country where the concept of yoga is like a weird exercise their granola-eating neighbours friends of friends do. And also, not all goes as planned as a cycle tourist either

So, some days one must start with a tall espresso, and a shot of Jack Daniels.

A quick catch up. I have been touring by bike and teaching yoga in Croatia for the past month as a 3 month yoga workshop tour I have been invited on. For most of the past month I have been living at a Retreat Center that had originally “hired” me to help develop there yoga and Thai massage program for staff and guests.

What was failed to be mentioned or perhaps slipped through the cracks in my mind is that actually the Center is still being developed, and is a working farm. Like, the Yoga Studio that leaks is being used as a hay barn, the lodging I am sleeping in is the guest tepee, and every time there is a guest I have to clean it and move to the couch or cram in with other workers, and since I am also a horsewoman and the best rider, I am also the best poop scooper.

Alas.

The first week I spent a lot of time grumbling in my head and wondering what the hell I was doing here wasting my time. But, once I let go of what I thought my trip would look like, and started going with the flow, it’s been just fine. I get to ride everyday, teach yoga in the living room with the chairs pushed aside, and am quickly making life long friends with my two other long-term workers, Steffen and Laura. German and New Zealander respectively.

We are laughing all the time. Even the some what demanding workload and the creatively driven but sometimes challenging director, seem light because the company is so good.

So far, the guests at the Center have been few and my payment has been great food, company and warmth.

So, nearly a month has passed, and I am restless, and need to ride my bike and meet some of the Yoga Studio’s where I will teach at the end of the month.

Panniers packed, yoga mat and snacks and I am off.

I first visit the Ashtanga yoga studio in Rijeka where I will teach a workshop at the end of the month and get the lay o the land. These people were so warm and welcoming, I immediately felt at home. Benedikt, the owner and teacher are amazing. Powerful teacher, and well loved by his students. His other yoga teacher from LA invited me to stay with she and her flat mates in the US Embassy apartment where they live. She is a dancer, choreographer, masseuse and yoga instructor on contract with the Embassy to help bring cultural events to Croatia. How do you get that job!!

Then down the Coastal route of Istra, northwest of Croatia. Some call this region the New Tuscany. It looks so similar to Italy, beautiful Mediterranean climate, red soil, olive trees, and vineyards. Beautiful.

The only problem is, someone told me Istra is flat. If they had ever gotten out of the car, perhaps they would have discovered Istra is anything but flat, especially when I am carrying my house on my back. Then, trucks, buses, BMW’s that are stacking up behind, give a friendly blare of the horn, just two inches from me ear. I nearly dove off a cliff a few times from fright. And there is no road shoulder. Talk about Yogic breathing!

I decided the major roads in the mountains were not safe for me to ride so, I decided to bus it from city to city, and ride in the local area. You wouldn’t believe how much head shaking, bribing and tusking and rolling of eyes I got from the bus drivers to load my bike at the very bottom of the bus cargo. I am used to cycling in countries where you can put your bike on anything and folks help. Here, I meet resistance. The worst day, was of course the last day of my week tour, dead tired, panniers extra heavy, lonely, pouring rain, slogging for hours up a mountain to catch the only bus that day back to civilization, and plus started my fucking period. At the top of the mountain just before the bus stop, I did what any grown woman would have done. Started bawling, of course. Then, to cap it, the bus driver actually kicked my bike to emphasis the fact that no way was he putting my bike on the bus, because there was a little road grime on it.

Time for an espresso and whiskey.

Stay tuned…. more stories from the road as I start my Yoga teaching tour for real. First stop, the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik, then the capital, Zagreb and finally Rijeka. I am excited to finally start teaching!!!