The waterfalls of Krrk National Park ...

It was Ivo who first  recommended that we visit the waterfalls in Krrk National Park - we'd just arrived at the apartment in Pervanova - I was still very jumpy as a result of the furious drive - Ivo wrote down the name of a cafe we should visit, near Bacvice Beach - the Cafe Fife - then he said, smiling his strange smile - I kept on wondering which eye, the left or right, was the false one - you must go to Krrk - they are beautiful - 

We bought our tickets in the Adriatic4you office - a slim girl, exulting in the icy air of her empire, gave us the tickets and a leaflet -

The next morning, we waited for the mini-bus, down near the ferry port - white Jadrolinja car ferries disgorged their shiny vehicles - the girl directing the traffic looked like an irritable komosomolet - she sent us packing -

We met up with the rest of our party - two splendid brawny Icelandic sisters told us about life on their parents' farm - the shy young Irish couple appeared to fall asleep during our guide's exposition of the Homeland Wars -

The Krrk National Park was two hours or so drive away - we listened to rousing acapella patriotic songs on the mini bus sound system - very soon it seemed, we were slewing round hair pin bends, down into a vast canyon - you could see a broad river, sweeping through a tangle of woods, braided channels sparkling with foam -

We crossed walkways, over turbulent, swirling, water - we saw shoals of fish in shallow lagoons - under the thick foliage of the trees, it was very hot and humid - we felt thirsty and dazed -

But at the foot of the falls, we saw people swimming in the river - Anne and I joined them, without delay, wiggling out of our damp clothes - the water was icy - I felt my feverishly hot body cool immediately - the beautiful roaring waterfall glittered in the Balkan sunlight - I lay upon my back, my mind empty of thoughts - I was only conscious of the cleansing, chilling, water -

Our guide did not join us - he said he had friends to see - later, on the way back, he unfolded a map, and told us about Sebrenica - I wondered, as I had done so many times, why ordinary men had carried out such crimes -

I asked myself - how much water, from waterfalls like these, would be needed to wash humanity clean?