Hi Kathy,

Thanks for writing back and sorry for this slight delay in answering. I biked when you’ve wrote back and worked into the night as I am pushing a project that involves folks from California which means staying late. I looked up your site and have seen that Miso is probably Miso Poduje. I knew his late father, but did not meet him personally yet. Croatia is a small country and we do know each other personally very often, so I will for sure have an opportunity to meet him sometimes and tell him I know you.

It is true Dubrovnik has a bad patch, but we are sticking together in order to help them out. It is true that the after the war policies of the local governments did not manage to balance development with the interest of the inhabitants of the old city and this resulted with present frustrations and difficulties. I know the city rather good and will go down next week for some meetings and then again in October as I’ve said. If you will want to meet more people down there I’ll gladly give you some local contacts next time you’ll visit. Feel free to join the Friends of Dubrovnik LinkedIn group should you feel you wish to belong.

Your approach to “local” is really compatible with mine. I traveled quite a lot and have seen many places really getting the down side of tourism, Thailand being one of them, but it happens everywhere, Spain, Italy, Croatia… Slow Food really has a point there, saving the traditional economy through the food production is very important as it makes local communities less dependant on cheap travel and development. And yes, walking is complimentary. I made 200000 miles across US by car and once took an airline pass hoping to see more at once. I’ve seen much less and never repeated it. Then I walked the Sonoran desert, snakes and all… Magic. Walking – you just take more in. You idea is great and it IS totally compatible with Slow Food. I am a foodie probably, but I love hiking and love what you do.

Did you say you brought John Mackay over? I would have loved to meet him – when I lived in California more than fifteen years ago, and was getting nostalgic for the old world, paradoxically his first Palo Alto store was a place to get some comfort. My wife and myself always visit their stores, more recently the new Milwaukee one and follow what they are doing. I heard about the meat problems they had last weeks… If he ever returns to Croatia we have to get him to my wine cellar for some serious tasting!

I’ve seen your photo in Argentina at your site – its a pretty photo – I know the place quite well as my wife is from Buenos Aires. We loved it down in Lago Argentino region and Perito Moreno. I’ll look your new web site too.

Regarding the contacts, I might have some in Istria, but more on the tourist infrastructure side. However, they can help you probably. Why don’t you give me a call, or Skype call. I’ll be most happy to share local knowledge with you.