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Lazuli Ventures

We offer off-beat, alternative tourism in Bosnia's countryside and cityscapes combined with creative writing.
(7)

01/06/2020

“/ writing as writing. writing as rioting. writing as righting. on the best days, all three. /“
- teju cole

Speak up and speak often beloveds. Every day’s a good day for Babylon to burn. Amplify our voices, educate ourselves, and give from our money, time and heart to dismantle the trash racist systems we live in.

Black lives are sacred. Black lives have always mattered.

-blacknessisadisease @ Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

01/05/2020

the quarantined ramadan life has me craving things in real time, with real resonance, more than ever. interacting with the 3D world through a 2D app realllly doesn’t cut it. I rang my bro the other day at sunset just to hear him call the adhan live. It hits different when it’s not a recording. this little video brings me a peaceful joy though, so I thought I’d share 🌱📿

jumuah mubarak fam 💚 I hope this ramadan/quarantine you’re getting your fill of HUGS at least, growing a plant or two or ten, drowning out the excess noise, and centering on your heart’s eye. peace. ☕️

05/04/2020

Sarajevo | 1992 - 1996.
•
_dormiveglia_
the space that stretches between sleeping and waking
•
on this day in 1992, the Siege of began. the longest siege on a capital city in modern history. nearly 4 years of daily bombing and shelling by Serb forces. 50,000+ injured. 11,541 killed, 1,601 of them children. 2 million+ priceless books and manuscripts burned in an attempt to erase & rewrite Bosnia’s history. the literal and figurative roads connecting people and communities destroyed, the very fabric of the city changed forever. migration, displacement, diaspora, identities renegotiated. a trauma that persists into the now - wearing many, many faces.
•
it’s a strange thing to reflect on the Siege of Sarajevo from the comfortable confines of quarantine living. surreal parallel realities. a few weeks indoors (with all our walls and electricity standing) have us stir-crazy. imagine years? 😳
•
and still, the citizens of this city defeated an army more powerful than them by degrees of magnitude. it’s remarkable. honestly, if the spirit of Sarajevo could be bottled it would prove the right kind of vaccine for what ails us. theirs is a resilience so full, so breathtaking and unassuming.
•
they set up clandestine theatres and makeshift schools and digging underground tunnels and resisted & resisted.
creative thinkers and everyday hero’s doing the impossible, armed with dark humor and grit.
facing -20 winters and 45+ summers, broken windows letting in the elements.
the uncertainty of surviving another tomorrow, another yesterday.
on a diet of canned UN food, leftovers from Vietnam and WW2 so stale the cats barely touch it.
quick funerals in city parks under the cover of night.
•
and yet they persisted, and here they are, and what a gift to the world that is 🌱❤️
•
“how can one not go to Sarajevo? it’s a privilege to have been in Sarajevo. I didn’t want to leave Sarajevo. I’m going back this summer to Sarajevo.” ~ Susan Sontag
•
so glad i found you. thank you for choosing me. and gratitude for the pure pleasure of sharing you with others. hasta la próxima inshallah @ Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

22/03/2020

color therapy for the apocalypse 🦎

@ Bjelašnica Mountain

15/03/2020

To ride or not to write? Despite the uncertainty around travel in the next few months, we are continuing to plan for a grand summer writing trip, in the hopes that the chaos will have largely died down by then. We hope that it will be our most rejuvenating, healing, breath of fresh air road-trip (post quarantine/cabin-fever) yet.
🍃
However, we’ve decided to postpone all registrations for the next month and until several travel bans have been lifted. has closed its borders to all travelers coming from covid19 hotspots. Thankfully they only have a few cases to date - unlike Spain where our Lazuli team is currently holed up indoors in what feels like a dystopian telenovela. 😷
🍃
We pray you’re all staying safe fam, tending to your heart and healing. Getting deliciously slow & creative while normal life is turned upside down, and looking out for the most vulnerable around you. In these uncertain times we have the chance to serve. This too shall pass, we just gotta ride it out together.
💛
Love &
Inshallah see you under the Bosnian summer sun ☀️ @ Bosnia and Herzegovina

15/03/2020

To ride or not to write? Despite the uncertainty around travel in the next few months, we are continuing to plan for a grand summer writing trip in the hopes that the chaos will have largely died down by then. We hope that it will be our most rejuvenating, healing, breath of fresh air road-trip (post quarantine/cabin-fever) yet.
🍃
However, we’ve decided to postpone all registrations for the next month and until several travel bans have been lifted. has closed its borders to all travelers coming from covid19 hotspots. Thankfully they only have a few cases to date - unlike Spain where our Lazuli team is currently holed up indoors in a dystopian telenovela. 😷
🍃
We pray you’re all staying safe fam, tending to your heart and healing. Getting deliciously slow & creative while normal life is turned upside down, and looking out for the most vulnerable around you. In these uncertain times we have the chance to serve. This too shall pass, we just gotta ride it out together.
💛
Love &
inshallah see you under the Bosnian summer sun ☀️

06/03/2020

peace to you and yours 🖤
🌿

01/03/2020

To freshness and freedom 🕊🇧🇦
happiest Independence Day to this land of real-life phoenixes and misfits and sparkling eyes. You’re the kaymak to our cevapi. Stay luminous, darling.
✨
And on another note, our July spots are filling up!! 🙌🏽 If you’re interested in exploring with us and seeing for yourself the magic Bosnia has to offer, send us a message and we’ll be happy to give you more information ☺️

28/02/2020

‘Fold the unfinished poems of our people into paper lanterns and release them. Let light fill all the spaces where words cannot yet go’ - jusmun

And let serotonin and sweet pleasures fill your weekend habibis. Jumuah Mubarak! 🌿 @ Stolac

24/02/2020

Oh what’s that you said? Lazuli are running another trip in Bosnia this July?! Hold up, let me get in on some of this roadtrippin JOY ✨🙌🏽
Yes yes, we’re back on our 5th (!) edition ElhmdA, and so excited for what this year will offer up. If you’re interested in joining, or would like more information, drop us a message. The love is abundant but spaces are limited 💚 @ Citadel Počitelj

31/01/2020

on pausing to exhale, giving space for silences, and then encouragement to share. 🤍 we have a lot of banter and jokes on the road, and also moments where we exhale it all out. it can be uncomfortable to ‘expose’ so much (or any) of ourselves. writing is usually a solitary enjoyment, and letting people in on that takes some cojones. often though it’s precisely because you’re strangers at the start - people who know you outside of your usual context - that makes it so easy for everyone to open up on our trips.. and I swear the gems and personal revelations that emerge, and the real joy and intimacy within the group as the days go by, is a payoff that makes stepping through your fears worth it.

naturally not everyone is shy, and not everyone wants to share much.. and that’s all okay (we respect that and meet you where you’re at). however, just the act of writing and reflecting collectively lends a different energy, depth and ease to the conversations we have outside of the writing workshops, and to the friendships we form. it’s really not about how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ your writing is, but about how open you are to turning inward. our genuine hope is that the seeds planted here grow into sweet fruit for you down the road 💙

@ Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

25/11/2019

“On this land there is that which deserves life.” - Mahmoud Darwish
Happy Statehood Day BiH 🇧🇦 May your children grow in unity and love 🤍

12/11/2019

Chirpaz : opening my backpack / home from the journey / to release the smell / of detergent from that one time / I had my clothes washed / after the best day of my life
Excerpt from our on-the-road dictionary. New words for timeless feelings by 🍂 @ Bjelašnica Mountain

01/11/2019

autumn hues 🍁🍂

29/10/2019

Ever heard a boring person say let’s go to ? 😏 this summer pack light and come let your hair down with us on the lazuli writing trail. We’ll be traveling through some truly inspirational places, in blessed company. Dates coming soon! 🚐

20/10/2019

weekend behavior 🚣‍♀️ @ Konjic

11/10/2019

Jumuah Mubarak fam 💙

09/10/2019

taking leaps 🙌🏽 Saboura showing us chickens how it’s done.

04/10/2019

But can we just rewind and do it all again!? What a summer it has been. 🖤 Words fall short.
I had full intentions of posting regularly on here but that clearly didn’t happen 😂 (picked up the pen and put down the phone) so here’s a few snapshots of us on the road with two incredible groups of raggamuffin roadtripping writers. Ladies and gents, a thousand thank yous for the laughs, the insights, the mishaps, the growth, the discovery and the deepening of friendships. In the words of (the greatest) .gondzo - you have all made me richer 🖤

11/07/2019

“What kind of wildlife do you have here?”
“The people!”

11/07/2019

“One regret, dear world, that I am determined not to have when I am lying on my deathbed is that I did not kiss you enough” - Hafiz
Having my sister on this journey with us is a dream come true ♥️ @ Boračko Jezero

08/07/2019

Sarajevo, we’re home! ☕️👌🏽 @ Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

18/06/2019

The countdown is on!! In just a few weeks we’ll be back in the land of blood and honey, writing and roving on winding mountain roads. There are still one or two spots left on the trips, so if you’re interested shoot us a message! 👏🏽🧳

03/06/2019

Aaand... wait for it! The final bang of the month! and with that we say a bittersweet goodbye to Ramadan. Eid Mubarak fam 💙 much love to all your hearts & bellies, may this months blessings carry you forward 🌿

27/05/2019

proper Iftar spread 😍
? @ Varoska Rijeka, Federation Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bosnia And Herzegovina

17/05/2019

The river is clean because it moves; the same we can say about man - Issa Omidvar [iranian traveler]

Jumuah Mubarak fam 🧡

14/05/2019

this ramadan, I hope your flowers bloom 🌱

for the spontaneous travelers out there, we only have one spot left for the summer, on our July trip! if you’d like to join us, please send an email or DM.

02/05/2019

stacks on red-roofed stacks 🌿

photo by the incredible

24/04/2019

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief.
I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light.
For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

~ Wendell Berry

17/04/2019

feels like an early onset of roadtrip delight! 🐪

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the quarantined ramadan life has me craving things in real time, with real resonance, more than ever. interacting with the 3D world through a 2D app realllly doesn’t cut it. I rang my bro the other day at sunset just to hear him call the adhan live. It hits different when it’s not a recording. this little video brings me a peaceful joy though, so I thought I’d share 🌱📿 jumuah mubarak fam 💚 I hope this ramadan/quarantine you’re getting your fill of HUGS at least, growing a plant or two or ten, drowning out the excess noise, and centering on your heart’s eye. peace. ☕️

peace to you and yours 🖤 #jumuahmubarak 🌿

taking leaps 🙌🏽 Saboura showing us chickens how it’s done.

On tight spaces, facing fears and making light of the dark. 🦋 There’s a lot of laughter on our trips, but the road also offers up it’s own kind of alchemy. We travel through lush country while mining our inner landscapes for the real gold. ‘Someone asked me what was my best memory of 2018. The writing road trip that I made through Bosnia with a group of 7 wonderful women and with some awesome guides, was what came to my mind directly. It was full, it was round, it was beauty, it was rough and complicated, it was life and gave birth to many very special encounters and poems. The creative writing road trip taught me to find new ways to discover and unlock beautiful and difficult feelings, write through them and create something new out of them.’ ~ Jana 💙💙

On pit stops, adhans, and light transitions. Jumuah Mubarak fam!

One of the biggest blessings since starting these trips to Bosnia is the calibre of creative writing facilitators we’ve had accompanying us. @sukina_pilgrim is phenomenal at what she does and a joy to be around! This journey will be all the right kinds of magic because of the itinerary and more importantly because of the people on it. 🙌🏽 there are still 2 spots available, looking at all you last minute travelers, there’s still time to get in touch 💚😉