Slovenia Fruits and Health Festival 2013

In August 2013 I travelled to Slovenia to attend the Fruits and Health festival, an 801010 festival set in Hotel Utrip, high in the hills not far outside of Ljubljana.  I stayed the first night with my friend Zare who I had met in Thailand.  He met me at the airport and we headed to swim in a lake which was a perfect antidote to a few hours spent in a plane.

The night before the festival Dr Douglas Graham was giving a talk in Ljubljana to an audience of over 100 people.

Zare and I walked in a little late and I saw my friend Grant Campbell in the audience and went over to sit with him.  Doug was on top form that night and it was interesting to see him speak in front of an audience that was not made up of fruit festival attendees that already knew the basics of his message.

After the talk there was an awesome raw food party nearby, abundant fruits and fruity people and some Slovenian music too.  My friend Helen was there with her husband Cedric who I was meeting for the first time.

Next day Zare and I got up early and headed to a local shop to get watermelon for breakfast.  We headed to a local market later to get some figs and nectarines and we were told by a police officer that we could be fined for walking around topless.  We drove to Zare's garden to eat some freshly grown cucumbers and got an intense workout in squatting, lunging and sprints.

Zare dropped me off at the Hotel but unfortunately was not joining the rest of us for the festival, he had signed up for Woodstock instead and I would see him later in the year.  Dr Graham gave the opening lecture and later Grant spoke, followed by Yuliya Tarbath from Rawesome Healthy speaking about travelling as as an 801010er.

In Doug's fitness class in the morning we ran, skipped and backwards-walked up and down the steep hills around the site and moved a pile of wood from one place to another.

The perfect recovery breakfast was provided after that with piles of watermelon set out for us.  I attended more lectures and after Grants's ultrarunning lecture in the evening some of us went outside to play music and sing by the campfire.  We stayed for a bit of a spontaneous prayer circle later that was a very powerful and memorable experience.

The next day was more fitness followed by watermelon, and lectures.  We played an enjoyable game in a circle in which we divided ourselves into different countries and asked a question about our country to the rest of the group.

Fitness again the next morning had me carrying Cedric up a hill and Doug gave some inspirational teachings on training and recovery.  We all gathered for a closing speech given by Professor Rozalind Graham that had almost the entire room crying and a spontaneous hugging session happen, her talks really are that powerful and inspirational.  We held hands outside in a circle during the closing ceremony and shared memories then we were all given a box of figs to take with us as a present.

 

Dushko (probably incorrect spelling) gave me and a few others a lift to Ljubljana and I met up with Zare again.  I was still high from the great feeling of the festival and me and Zare cycled around Ljubljana at night and as I cycled I started singing "living a life of love, all around the world..." a song I have yet to finish.

I have some videos of the festival on my youtube channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLutoSbzrNCKnf3m7b9PKhyzRgQP6aDTfc&action_edit=1

and some more pictures up on facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/ronnie.smith.7777/media_set?set=a.10152104755508574.1073741828.586408573&type=3

For more information please check the festival's website here:

http://fruitsnhealth.com/2013-2