Keeping this blog up to date has been a bit tricky from the beginning, so last week I decided to take the time to finally catch up with the writing. Then Albania happened. And after a week with limited internet access I’m now even more behind than before. Let’s not worry too much about that though, sooner or later I promise to catch up with reality :)
Coming from Albania, possibly the poorest country in Europe, I feel pretty ridiculous writing this post. But for the sake of chronology, I’ll do it anyways.
So, where were we? Right.
After getting a little too comfortable by the touristic coastline of Croatia, I decided to search out some more adventure. And all I had to do to find it was to cross the mountains that stretch along the sea. Just a couple of hours of riding away from the hotels and bars by the waterfront, I was presented to a very different Croatia. A poorer and dirtier one. One where I actually needed the croatian words and expressions I had learned, but not really needed to use, while rolling down the coast.
I spent the day going for the border into Bosnia & Herzegovina and reached it an hour of so before sunset. Since I was just gonna spend a couple of days in the country, I didn’t really feel like camping and was hoping that I would find some locals who’d let me pick their brains for the night.
And I did!
One at least. And I’m still smiling just thinking about it.
That night Karlo – the ultimate Bosnian macho man – delivered a one man show I’m pretty sure I won’t forget in a long time. I won’t talk too much about this, but at least I can pass on a few quotes from this pretty hilarious guy.
– The corruption is very, very good.
– Putin is king!
– I ask you. Be my girl?
To top the night off, I slept on the floor in the garage, next to Karlo’s gun.
Epic night, haha.
The next day I visited Mostar, one of the big tourist cities in the country. And it was nice. I guess.
It’s funny how things work for me while I’m travelling like this. When cycling I’m always going for the next goal – like Mostar in this case. And most of the time I’ve barely reached it before I want to go for the next one.
I knew it before, but it’s really getting more and more obvious that I don’t enjoy being in the cities nearly as much as I do being in between them. I mean. Seeing and walking over the old bridge in Mostar. Nice. But that’s it.
Spending the night in Karlo’s house in the middle of nowhere? That’s an experience!
However, I’m glad I got there, not least because of the road back towards Croatia being so incredibly beautiful. I followed a river I now can’t remember the name of, and it was one of those rides when you catch yourself about to crash into ditches just because you’re spending way to little time actually looking on the raod.
The way to, and the surroundings of Mostar, ment seeing a lot more people suffering than I’d been doing up until then. I still wasn’t used to, or ready for, passing old ladies digging through garbage for something to eat. Or kids simply sitting in the street doing nothing but staring at their feet. Not even begging for money. Just existing.
Of course this is something I’ve known is coming. And even though I do enjoy sunshine and clean bathrooms, this is exactly why I’m doing this trip. To see the world. And to see it as it actually is. However, I won’t deny that I was really caught off guard here. Again, I knew this was coming. But I didn’t know it was coming so soon. And it hit hard.
After a heartbreaking day back towards the Croatian coast, I had one of the best homestays so far on the trip. With the family who seemingly had the least to give. Determined to make me feel like one of the family, I was pampered with food, bread, hugs and probably the warmest welcome I’ve ever gotten in a house where I really don’t belong.
This was one of those nights that are simply too good for my mind to remember to take out the camera, and I’m sad that I don’t have a photo together with the whole family. However, I do have one of the bed the dad of the family ‘built’ me.
Where I late into the night fell alseep with a crazy mix of emotions swirling inside of me.
This was definitely my best detour so far, and after a morning of coffee, laughs and more hugs I returned to continue my journey along the coast.
When I got back there the sea was just as beautiful, and the ‘Caffe Bars’ just as many as when I left. The big difference though, was that now I actually knew what was behind those big mountains on my left side.
