Hivefest 9, Split, Croatia

Prior Hivefest I saw some people expressing their sentiments about the point of going to the Hivefest every year. You have gone once you have been to them all? Some even go as far as referring to the event as the same old circlejerk, an excuse to host fancy parties.

My observations are a bit different. The people who you meet at Hivefest, for the most part, are the true core of the Hive community. They are the essence, the heart of Hive, the glue that keeps everything together. Why do you think other Web 3 projects fail? They do not have the core. The core of the Hive is real people. The usernames on the screen have faces and real lives. We can easily forget about it, living our entire lives online. Hivefest drags us away from our screens for a few days, at least, and allows us to connect on a human level. That is unless you could not come and were watching the streams instead.

I cannot say, I truly know someone until I meet them, hear their voices, see their expressions, and talk to them about life, the universe, and all. That is if we get past our typical Hivian shyness, introversion, awkwardness, of course, and oh boy, most of us, with rare exceptions, have that a ton. I note here that not every Hivefest is equal in the sense of who you will connect with and to what depths. Some people naturally will have more people who will want to engage with them. So it will be harder to reach them and connect with them. That is all okay as long as you understand that they are busy humans, and they mean no offense if they do not engage as much with you. This varies from fest to fest, with Lisbon being one of the biggest fests we had with nearly 300 people, I heard someone say, and then last year in Rosarito ( I wish more of you would have been there. You missed out on a wonderful time!) with under 100 people. Can you imagine talking with 300 people? It seems impossible to me.

I strongly believe that Hivefest and other similar Hivian gatherings are crucial for our community, with all the highs and the lows. The more we engage with each other, the stronger Hive becomes. We connect more. We feed off each other's energy. We find the path forward. We connect to build new things. We make friends for life. And I think we understand what we truly are about when we meet in real life. As it turns out, some of us are much more pleasant face-to-face! Talk about misinterpreting written correspondences and interactions!

Is it about the cool locations? Maybe a little. Who would not want to go to cool places and see the beauty of the world? But it is the like-minded people that make all the difference. Hive people are some of the best people to hang around with! You never know what conversation will inspire you and light the fire within you to make more awesome stuff happen in this world!

And there were some truly inspiring Hivians presenting their work this year at Hivefest 9 in Split!

My last observation is that, lately, I see more and more Hivians (smaller and bigger stakeholders) finding their causes to make Hive more awesome regardless of the crypto market trends. I get the we-want-to-make-cool-shit-simply-because-it-is-cool vibe a lot, and I love it!

Thank you to @lordbutterfly, who brought us to Croatia, Split (his home), and @roelandp, and all others who helped, and continue organizing Hivefest every year! Your work is meaningful and appreciated deeply! It is a challenging task requiring great skills in event planning. You guys are awesome, and I hope to see everyone again next year at the Hivefest!

Conference day 1:

The venue: Meštrović Gallery

It was the first time in Croatia and in Split for many Hivians. It was also my first time there. I think this is the second place I have ever visited with so much Roman influence in culture and architecture.

The setting of the venue was gorgeous! It was in the courtyard of Meštrović Gallery amongst the works of the great Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović. The focus of his works and art was the human body and the emotional expression of the body through various themes. The gallery was the Meštrović family residence originally, which later was transformed into the museum.

_{We were blessed with good weather that day! Unfortunately, other parts of Europe were having some crazy, out-of-ordinary weather with heavy rain at the time, and the days before Hivefest and towards the end of it, Split also received a bunch of it.}

_{A Croatian stray kitty says hello from the gallery grounds! There seemed to be many stray kitties there. Luckily, people seem very nice to them and keep feeding them. I spotted multiple feedings by the locals and food and water left for them in many places.}

_{Welcome to the Hive greenhouse! If the weather took the wrong turn, we would have protection from rain. However, it was quite warm there, so most of us quickly moved to sit outside. Yet our core devs and other presenters had to endure the frying pan once more! Also, @gtg on the stage! ^^}

We were happy to see @roelandp back in his element on the stage, keeping us all on track and in check with the presentations! We missed him back in Rosarito last year, but even super hard-working people like him need some rest and sometimes focus on other things life throws at us, which is perfectly understandable.

The live stream of the presentations from day one of the conference part of the fest is available here.

There were two projects presented on day one that I would like to mention. Both deserve all the attention in my view.

The first one is the borehole project in Ghana, presented by @mcsamm @missbitcoin-sv and @mynewlife. This is how Hive can save and improve the lives of many people and a perfect example of how powerful blockchain technology can be in reaching and lifting those in need. It is especially vital in remote places and places where people are left to fend for themselves and where there is a lack of development opportunities otherwise. What has been accomplished in Ghana is incredible! Thank you to people like @mcsamm and the Hive community as a whole! I am excited to see more progress there in the future!

The second project is located in Poland, Krakow. It is The Kingdom Without Limit! The founder of this magical place, @hallmann, told us all about it. The Kingdom is like Narnia for Hivians and others alike (who eventually join the Hivian ranks, haha!). It is a place to come together and talk about everything, a place to be creative, a place to play Novuss and other games, of course! It is a place for speaking Latvian, which I, as a Latvian, highly appreciate! And it is powered by Hive! Please learn more about this microcosm by watching Hallmann’s presentation, or if you happen to be in Krakow, don’t be shy about visiting them. If you are lucky, you might meet He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (Hive version) in their toilet!

_{One wonderful tradition @arcange has begun every year is the Fivefest award. Similarly to how we receive the badges from Hivebuzz for achievements from interacting on Hive, he has made a physical award for achievement of having been to 5 Hivefests. My dear friend and long-standing Hive witness @pharesim received his award this year! ^^}

_{And if you wonder why Roeland and Arcange are looking at me directly, slightly concerned? xD I was supposed to go up there this year as well, but a bug in code somewhere did not detect my last Hivefest visit. That is not a big deal since I will probably join @lemony-cricket next year when he gets his Fivefest award!}

_{Before traveling to Croatia, I had never been to a place with so many fruit trees. Certainly not so many varieties! In this photo, you see a fig tree! The figs in Croatia are the yummiest!}

_{In the afternoon, I decided to sneak into the gallery for a few glimpses of the exhibition. And wow! Ivan Meštrović had a unique style!}

_{Of course, a sneaky shot of Gandalf’s legendary grey cape!}

_{And off we went to a gala dinner, which I do not have any photos of. I noticed I spent more time interacting with fellow Hivians and forgot about the camera. I think it is a good thing sometimes.}

The Conference day 2:

The venue: Diocletian’s Palace

_{The next morning, the Emperor himself greeted us! During the speech, I smiled ear to ear because it was giving me my brother’s vibes, who enjoys jumping into various characters through DnD campaigns and other games often. That was fun!}

_{From Hive Greenhouse to Hive Dungeon. Let’s go!}

In the heart of Split lies Diocletian’s Palace, built around the beginning of the 4th century AD. Can you imagine something so far back in history? The Palace was the place of retirement for Roman emperor Diocletian. Believe it or not, he shared my love of growing cabbages, according to things I read on Wiki (well, in my case, attempts of growing cabbages, he must have been way more successful at it), and wished to retire there and cultivate a bunch of them there. Seeing how many things can be grown in the Croatian climate, it does not surprise me that gardening would be something even an emperor would indulge in.

Oh, and this massive stone cellar was used to film some scenes with dragons and Daenerys in GOT, too!

_{It was stunning there! How lucky to have @lordbutterfly to land this as the second day’s venue! Great job!}

You can watch the full live stream of the second day’s presentations here.

I was brought to tears a couple of times on the second day. Why? Well.

The first thing was the presentation from @arcange. This past year between the two Hivefests was not easy for him. He faced many challenges as his works for Hive got hacked, and some turned to anger and downright cyber-bullying. He lost motivation to work on new things, and this year, his presentation was about why he had not made anything new for Hive. It takes a lot of strength to open up to so many people in the room and those watching at home. It was powerful. Thank you, @arcange, for all you do and all the individuals you have helped and uplifted! Thank you for telling us your story, and I hope for many brighter days ahead of you!

The second thing was the documentary made by @mynewlife called Water Direct. I believe you can’t see it anywhere at the moment, and it also was not streamed at the Hivefest. According to Raf, it still needs more polishing. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone. All I can say about the film is that it is about the borehole project in Ghana, and I was wiping my tears even while Raf and Mcsamm answered questions after the documentary. And if anything, I consider stuff that can move me this way pretty darn great! So there, I hope you all get to see it soon!

_{All the presentations were lovely, of course! Here, we have Vaultec and a team presenting their VSC project. The Worldmappin team had interesting updates after the transformation from Pinmapple. There were inspirational talks from Crimsonclad, Starkerz, and others!}

We concluded the conference part of the Hivefest by enjoying the beer Saturday on Thursday since @detlev brought a giant stash of beer with him from Germany from a brewery of particular focus! Lem even sneaked the empty crypto beer can for his collection back home. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, eyyy!

Moving on to the having fun part of the festivities - the boat ride was scheduled next. That, however, turned into a billiard/dart-playing gathering instead. The captain had determined that the seas were not friendly that day, and the trip needed postponing.

Ahaha! The photo above is the only photo I took that day! I was having way too much fun sucking at billiards and darts. Maybe in the future, I will acquire more experience in these games. I found them very entertaining.

It was last year in Rosarito we met @ssekulji for the first time. There, he told all of us about his passion for driving and racing and how a Hive-powered car came to be! This year, as we are visiting Croatia, Hivians were given the great privilege and an opportunity not only to see the Hive car but also to ride in it next to the man, the legend himself! How freaking epic was that?! It is not something you get to experience just whenever! So thank you so much, @ssekulji! You rock, and while the track might not have been perfect to drive the little beast of the Hive car on it, that probably was one of the highlights of this Hivefest for many! Just look at all the smiles of the people! It was priceless! Thank you and your partner again!

Speaking of capturing this speedy little devil, I was surprised to learn that my concerns about autofocus on my new camera were for nothing. Maybe they were Crimsonclad’s marvelous designs that helped to keep everything crisp! Either way, I had a blast snapping away and trying to catch the Hivians having the moment riding along in the Hive rally car, smiling to the point of pain in their cheeks!

_{I was so happy for @creativemary to have this experience! Her smile says it all! It was so cool! And it was so lovely to meet you at Hivefest!}

_{Yep, at points, the car was only on three wheels! Imagine it on the dirt road at even higher speeds!}

_{More smiley Hivians, please! Here we have @rivalzzz enjoying the Hive rally car! ^^}

_{And Crimmi had her turn! There was no way she was going to get skipped!}

_{Woah, this shot turned out so dynamic!}

_{Meanwhile, Arcange offered rides along the sea on his awesome motorbike, with which he traveled to the Hivefest multiple days!}

_{@steevc ready to go!}

_{And here we have captured a peek of a wild @detlev in the Hive car!}

_{Of course, you will rarely find @mynewlife without a camera or other device in his hand to film with. Can you tell what he is passionate about?}

_{And finally, before the tires gave out, @starkerz had a blast! The rally portion was sponsored by 3Speak! Thank you so much, guys!}

_{Yup! A new set of tires is needed asap!}

_{Arcange rolled out after the rally event had concluded. Are the red features symbolizing Hive on the bike, or is it just a coincidence? I forgot to ask. Hive MC!}

_{One last look at the track with the stunning mountains in the background, and on to the next adventure!}

The next adventure arrived in the morning with the rescheduled boat trip aboard the pirate ship Korsaro! Yarr!

The only sad thing was that some Hivians could not stay one more day after the fest to come on the boat trip. They had to go back home. But nature does nature things. The clouds chased us still the whole day, but the Adriatic Sea was calm. I still managed to get sunburned even with all that cloud cover like a dummy! I should know better by now, yet it slipped my mind.

On our way to the Blue Lagoon, we saw some islands with captivating coastlines. Rocky cliff walls greeted us as we traveled past them. Only goats, we imagined, could climb there until we noticed some people in some places. We saw a lighthouse and a monastery along the way. Some areas a month or so ago had been in the grip of fire, threatening local villages and burning down olive groves.

You can see the stark difference in some of the photos I have taken between the green and alive trees versus what’s left in other spots. The rain that arrived towards the end of Hivefest and after was very welcome and needed balance.

_{A pleasant sound of singing and bell ringing filled the air as we passed this monastery, seemingly in the middle of nowhere.}

_{What a devastation! I can’t even be mad about the weather we were experiencing. These islands were engulfed in flames from everything being dry during the hot summer months. Let it rain! Let the greenery come back and be reborn!}

And so we reached the Blue Lagoon and a secluded beach tucked away from the wind. Some of us went swimming and looking at the fish, and some went for a stroll around the peninsula to see some coastal caves and explore the local flora and fauna. Despite it looking more gloomy due to the clouds, the water was pretty warm still.

_{I loved this place. It felt so calm there, and I kept finding an extensive variety of edible plants and multiple types of juniper trees. I could spend hours there exploring everything my eyes can see. So much beauty and serenity!}

_{Just look at that! It’s figs, pomegranate, juniper berries, and other fruit I do not even recognize. There were olive trees all over as well.}

_{Finally, it was time to head back to Split and say goodbye to all the lovely Hivians.}

It was a great time together. I am happy I have committed to travel for this gathering and celebration wherever it takes us next. I have never been disappointed with my choice. Always the happiest memories and wondrous adventures! So thank you, everyone! I am honored to get to know you more with every visit.