I immediately loved the Cave when Gero first showed it to me. However, when he started to describe what he intended to construct I had a very hard time visualizing what it would look like. Once, however, the lower bunk construction began and I saw that the project could develop into a an interesting space I was very excited to help. Gero worked on the Cave daily and I helped out on weekends and a couple days after my workweek in Kocani. Gero next created a geocache site for the Cave on September 3rd, 2015. Gero's Cave became an official Zrnovci landmark on September 22nd when his Opstina counterpart, Blagoj Danev, gave him a sign which was created by a grant from the Swiss Embassy. When the stove and chimney were completed Selami Dinçtürk started construction on the upper bunk wall. With the assistance of Selami Dinçtürk and Yurdanur Ahsen Uyar the wall was finished. This completed the Cave project and the last batch of concrete was placed on November 8, 2015.
I found the cave while Ivan and I were running the zip line overhead and looked down to see an opening in the cliff. This was the end of November, 2014. Karen and I began working on it early February, 2015. Our first project was the little shelf behind the stove because originally there was nowhere level to set anything. Anything set down fell or rolled out. Then we formed the perimeter of the lower bed - bench and built up the rock work, capping it in concrete. I cut the wood boards and had a place to sit or lay, as well as a place to put things. Next we built the upper bed the same way, then the woodstove. Lastly Selami and Karen did the walkway and began the upper wall. During the whole process, any free time was used to chip out the steps.
