U.S. MARINES ENJOY PLITVICE NATIONAL PARK

PLITVICE LAKES, Nov 12 (Hina) - Among the usual guests, the "Jezero" hotel at the Plitvice Lakes National Park is accommodating American marines who will take part in a joint Croatian-American military exercise "Slunj 2000". #L# The U.S. military logistics have already arrived in Plitvice and Slunj, the Lika region (central Croatia), and some two dozen marines and senior officers have set up headquarters in the Jezero hotel. Hotel officials say the U.S. marines have been best guests recently, particularly because of their usage of extra services. For example, they say, the soldiers recently ordered a big cake, 35 centimetres tall, with "US ARMY" written on it, and two thousand other cakes, for which more than 2,000 eggs had been used. The American marines are enjoying the region's food specialities, doughnuts in particular, hotel officials say, adding the soldiers were not impartial to Lika's plum brandy. The U.S. soldiers are frequently being photographed beside the national park's symbol, a stuffed bear, at the hotel. However, they expressed wish to see live Plitvice bears, which is entirely possible as there are some 40 bears currently in the park, by some experts' estimates. (hina) lml