Macocha Caves, Cerna Hora Brewery and Death Metal.

Today I woke up bright and early to take a day trip to the Macocha (pronounced Mah-tso-ch(as in How come with the throaty C)-uh Caves and the Cerna (Chair-nuh) Hora brewery. It was a lot of fun. One thing I love about being here is the fact that even though we had to wake up before 8am on a Saturday to take an hour bus ride to the "mountains" and hike up a long, icy, cold hill to look at old caves, i never heard one complaint. It's great. And honestly, the trip was a lot of fun. The caves were absolutely beautiful and awesome and incredible, and the brewery was.. well, interesting. I learned all about the process of making beer, and even taste tested three different kinds of beer (unfiltered, dark, and honey) all of which were unpleasing to my taste buds and kindly passed down to the boys at my table. Sorry beer, our relationship is still nonexistent. You tried, though... :) Below are a few pictures from the trip...



















After having walked through several dark tunnels and looking at darkened caverns, we were lead through a corridor which opened into this:








Then we got into a tiny little "boat" and cruised through the smallest opening of the cave along a little river. The czech speaking guide had to continually remind us to "WATCH HEAD" :)















After the tour of the caves, we hiked even farther up the icy slope and reached a lookout point overlooking THIS:













This is the first process of fermentation of beer. Pretty disgusting, if you ask me. If we had wanted to, we could've easily stuck our hands in that. Sick.








Second process of fermentation. It smelled terrible.





Where the bottling takes place. Unfortunately, it only happens M-W at this little brewery.





Tonight, a friend stopped by asking if I would go out with her for another guy's birthday. Trying to be a supportive friend, I went. We ended up at this intense death metal bar complete with beasts and demons and all things creepy and evil. Not to mention screaming music. Luckily, we only stayed about 20 minutes. I drank tea and it was served to me in a purple flower mug. The Slovenian boy across the table from me encouraged me to remember that "death metal lovers have soft spot, too" haha. Afterwards, Rachael (my friend that invited me) and I decided we were ready to head back so we got on the bus and ended up in a great conversation that made us miss our stop and end up at the end of the route. The bus driver tried to tell us how to walk to the dorms from there in Czech, but since we only understood a few words, it took quite a while. Eventually, we made it back (after a nice, pleasant 20 minute or so walk through the peaceful part of town and more great conversation) and I spent the rest of the evening laughing with Magda. She's great. All in all, quite a memorable day :)




Jeongmin, Magda, and I at one of the pubs down the street. Magda and I drank some yummy flavored hot chocolate (coconut and dark chocolate hazelnut) and Jeongmin took the more "conventional" route.



The yummy tiramisu I had with my hot chocolate :)




Prayer Request:
Pray for my friend Rachael. She is a pretty devoted Catholic and came to the CR through a devotion to following Christ. She has been struggling here with her attitude and desire to be here, simply not enjoying the time she's spent here. Pray that God would grant her peace as well as joy. That he would use our friendship to strengthen and encourage each other, but most importantly, draw nearer to him.

I love you all.
And am really tired.
So, dobry vecer :)

Until next time...