With the wedding in full swing I took a moment to walk around the property. Nostalgia of an unfamiliar variety emanated from the space around me. What an amazing start to the festivities so far! Not only were there the traditional bargaining session, but also the fake bride swap. Evidently another Belakrajna wedding tradition is for the family of the bride to bring out three fakes in a last ditch effort to dissuade the groom from stealing away the "beautiful" daughter.




In hilarious succession, three fakes were presented to the groom and his family. The first was not even female! The cross-dressed relative almost looked like Raggedy Andy! The next was even worse, fake warts and slovenly attire made this next choice easy to deny. Finally a third bride emerges, and the crowd by this time is really into, hooting and hollering and carrying on in this language so foreign to me - and yet I understood the gist.




The band was awesome! The squeezebox made the show, and these guys were ready to party. They must have already played fifty songs by the time the actual wedding banquet had begun. One perky, white-haired relative (who neither side seemed to claim as their own) seemed particularly interested in the music. Or was it that he tried dancing with all of the youngest women attending the wedding?

Well, after a wonderful dinner, dancing, dancing and more dancing, I was exhausted and ready for bed. I actually had to have an aunt of the bride drive me home around 2 AM. She went back for more! The stamina of a Slovenian family to celebrate an event like this was staggering!




In the morning we toured the vineyards. I climbed into the cherry trees with an uncle of my surrogate Slovenian family and picked the most delicious fruit, eating almost as many as I collected along the way. What fond memories I will always carry with me when I think of the heartland of Slovenia, a place where family traditions are seamlessly melded into modern life. The kids may have Ipods and cell phones, but they also have a love for the farmlands that reared many of their previous generations.




Our last stop on the Slovenia tour would be the amazing limestone caves of Postonja in the southwestern portion of the country. In order to make it to the very popular tourist zone where you can take a mini-train deep into the caves for views of the stalactites and stalagmites you must first cross through thick green deciduous forest. With more than half the country covered by forest and agricultural land, it is the second greenest nation of Europe behind Finland's fiords and wild coastland.




Deep underground the warm, humid temperatures of the Slavic summer disappear quickly. Spectacular columns and spires line the ceiling and floor of the cave. When I discovered from our tour guide that this wonder of nature actually pales in comparison to the size and majesty of the limestone caves of Mammoth in southeastern California. I immediately put that on my mental list of places to go and explore.




ER Harris