On Sunday, we traveled from Prague to Southern Bohemia. After having lunch at the lodge, a woman named Bára who lives in Šumava took us on an amazing hike through a large field full of purple and yellow flowers to her cottage. It was interesting to see the type of place Bára lives in: a backyard full of horses and a pen of chickens and friendly goats who were more than happy to have us pet them. I found myself jealous of the beauty of her land, surrounded by lush green trees and right in the middle of nature. After failing to catch chickens, her friendly dog Chechol led the way to continue our hike to pick wild blueberries. The sea of green we were engulfed in while picking fresh blueberries was beautiful. The bushes were adjacent to a water well that held fresh, cold, clean water—much appreciated after our long and treacherous hike.

Even though I am not a fan of blueberries, I think by the color of my tongue it’s safe to say that I loved them. Everyone was eating handful after handful of the delicious berries that were tucked away in a small part of the woods. On our way back to the hotel after a full afternoon of hiking, we stumbled across a creek full of rushing clear fresh water that emptied into a pond. About twenty minutes before we were back at the hotel, a huge rainstorm broke out, soaking us all. Typically, I hate being out in the rain—but after a few minutes of being drenched, I decided to just have fun and join the others in jumping around in the rain as our fun-filled afternoon came to an end.

—Alex Rodia

As rainwater flooded my senses from all sides, I couldn’t help but smile as we splashed through the flooding streets of our small town in South Bohemia. Hands still bruised from the purple and blue hues of blueberry picking. Feet muddy from trudging up thinly woven trails lined with fiery colored mushrooms. Bàra had a plan for us, and this plan was executed with a grace and elegance I had not expected. She took us through fields of piercing green grass, to her horses, to her small farm with chickens and baby sheep. We met the “friendly dog,” whom everyone instantly fell in love with. I was not hiking in the small town of Zdikov, but floating through a magical homeland of nature and beauty.

—Sally Bass

We all threw on our rain coats we didn’t think we would need and followed Bara and her friendly companion, Chechol, down the road. Bara led us through the woods and to her sweet cottage to see her horses, ducks, goats, and chickens. After another substantial walk we stopped in a little cove full of blueberry bushes. We drank from a fresh water spring while picking blueberries and snacking on them right there in the woods of Southern Bohemia. Nobody could help smiling when they looked over to Charlotte crouched behind a bush picking berries and plopping them directly into her mouth or as she leaned over the well to get a drink. None of it seemed real, I mean… blueberry picking in the fairyland of Southern Bohemia?!

We stayed until all of our tongues and hands had turned a beautiful blue and purple. We walked through a hobbit land of tall trees, bright colored mushrooms, and an abandoned trailer until we stumbled upon a trickling stream that fed into an idyllic pond. As we walked back to the hotel, Bara warned us that rain was coming. Suddenly, the drizzle turned into a monsoon; all of our efforts to stay dry went out the window. Drenched with shoes squishing, we made it back to our yellow cottage with stories intact.

—Elodie Keating