Mostar, Bosnia

I'll be quick here as I want to explore, but I've arrived safely is Mostar, Bosnia and let me tell ya... this is a world of difference between Crotia.

Remnants of the war are everywhere. Remains of bombed out buildings and massive cemetatries dotted the route as the bus entered Mostar.

I'm staying at Majdas Rooms for the evening and taking the early train to Sarajevo. That train, by the way, is renowned as one of best train rides in Europe with some unbelievable scenery. I'm looking forward to that.

Majda picked me up at the bus station and we had a bit of scare on the way to the hostel. We were stopped at a red light and a car came up next to us. 4 normally dressed men were inside, and the man in the passenger seat flashed a badge and pointed to a spot to the right-front of the car. Automatically, we assumed that they were stopping us. Visions of secret police flashed in my head.

Majda started pulling to the curb and the car honked, and the man pointed again, a smile on his face. Both of us had no idea what was going on.

The light turned green and the car simply went in front of us, and sped along the road. They weren't pulling us over... they just needed right of way. I'm pretty sure they were laughing about it.

30 minutes later, Majda was still a little shaken up over it.

Once we got to the hostel, Majda gave me the lay of the land, recommended where I spend my afternoon. Majda's mother came out with the welcome plate of local delicacies, which was Peksimeti (fried dough with sour cream and plum jam) and Boem (which is a local cream cake). Both were delicious. She was incredibly informative, and even went into the history of the war and how it affected her family. She was here for the 1st wave of attacks when the Serbs were attacking both the Croats and Bosnians. She relocated to various european countries. Her parents were here for the 2nd wave of attacks on Mostar when the Croats turned on the Bosnians, after the serbs has left. Her parents were forced out of this very flat I'm writing this blog entry. After the war, someone else had laid claim to the apartment, and only after court preceedings, were they given back the flat.

I didn't want to press her too hard about the war, as it's obviously a very touchy subject. I asked her if there is any anomosity between the Croats and Bosnians in the area. In business, Bosnians and Croats work hand-in-hand. There is some division and still some ill feelings when it comes to family and friends, and who you associate with. For the sake of her own well-being and perhaps sanity, Majda tries not to think about any sort of division, and tries to live her life.

As with the hostel in Dubrovnik, where 'Papa' sat down with me for 30 minutes and gave me a history lesson about Croatia, sitting down with Majda do get her personal perspective was incredibly rewarding. This is something else I wanted from this trip, and my expectations have been exceeded.

Another good thing about coming to Mostar is that I get to meet up again with Anthony from Arizona. He had left his passport at the hostel Dubrovnik, and somehow managed to get into Bosnia. I have the passport with me. I have absolutely no idea how he did this... my passport was checked 3 times during the 3 hour bus ride. I'm looking forward to getting the story later when I see him.

I shared a room with Tony, Chris (from NZ) and Karla (from Austrialia, but living in Madrid) two days ago in Dubrovnik. Funnily, I'm sharing a room with all three of them again tonight. Chris is travelling with his guitar, has a massive repertoire of songs, and even plays a mean mouth harp.

Alright... this post turned out longer than I thought (and I had to rewrite a portion because the internet froze up). Time to explore Mostar.

Next post should have details of my afternoon in Dubrovnik yesterday. I visited the old city. Amazing.

Til next time.