Ash and Small Bear go on an adventure!

Walk to the sea through narrow streets; little Renaults and old Mercedes as much a part of the architecture as the sun-drenched white stone Catholicism and the roses. Pass the brown, buddha-shaped old men, waist deep in clear green waves standing still, giving thanks for the perfection of everything that is while their wives sun themselves on the rocks like tired seagulls. This morning in a cafe the man at the next table asked ’Are you from Kenya?’ and I realized I’m about the same color as my espresso, from mornings of playing tag with schools of tiny rainbow fish in a fluffy neon seaweed forest and finally giving in, letting the salt water precipitate me back out onto the hot, bleached pebbles of the beach. My great aunt serves the main meal of the day in the afternoon, and then everyone sleeps full of beer and fish and family until it cools off enough to wander back outside, where my nieces practice Spanish guitar for the stars and for each other.

My first Hrvatsko words were ’beautiful’, ‘ice cream’, and ‘I’m going swimming.’