Starshine

Bosnia

nobody@vox.com(Starshine) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:40:37 -0700

Sarajevo

I wasn't prepared for what I saw. The people all died in the same two year period. Grave sites were everywhere throughout the city of Sarajevo. Even while strolling through a public park I found several graveyards. I read they didn't have space left to bury the dead so they started burying them in the city parks. They are still resting in peace in the city center 15 years later.

I remember thinking during the war in Bosnia how ridiculous it seemed to me that the people were killing each other. All of them basically the same ethnically and when the Croats turned on the Serbs, fighting with the same religious beliefs. The Christians and Catholics going to war with each other is very confusing? They believe in the same god and pray with the same book for crying out load.

The country was a mix of Catholics Croats , Orthodox Serbs and Muslim Slavs living side by side. In 1990 Croatia and Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia. In 1992 Bosnia also passed a referendum for independence. I guess the Serbs saw things a little differently.

It's a long story about either civil war or just a war of aggression but the Serbs wanted Sarajevo for themselves and turned on the Croats and Muslims and started bombing the city. Reports began of ''ethnic cleansing'' where the Serbs were killing Muslim Slavs or driving them away in order to create an ethnically pure region. There were also reports of concentration camps and mass rapes. The Croats then turned on the Serbs and Muslims and everyone was killing everyone. I realize my historical recap isn't exactly detailed and probably not very accurate. The point is that it was a crazy war that destroyed so much life and for what?

The city was scarred. Like I said, I wasn't prepared to see all of the bullet and mortar holes and the graves and the overall energy of the city felt broken. It takes a long time to heal the kind of deep wounds inflicted on a city like Sarajevo.

Kenna and I heard many stories from different people about the war. Surprisingly, they had no problem talking about the horrors. There were so many horrors to tell.

While riding the tram in 100 degree heat, Kenna opened the window closest to our seat. A woman behind us started yelling at us. We couldn't understand a word so a young girl explained to us she was angry we had opened the window. Every single other window on the tram was open, even the window next to this woman. She wouldn't stop yelling and carried on for at least 10 minutes. We asked the girl to apologize for us and she said not to worry. She said the war had made a lot of people crazy and it was just part of life in Sarajevo. It was very sad.

We met a woman who ran a hostel across the alley from the apartment we rented. Her hostel was two blocks from the river surrounding the city which during the war was literally the front line. She spent three years hiding in her basement. A man would come to her home to deliver her food so she didn't have to leave. Sniper fire was constant. Her main mission during the war was hiding her teenage boys so they wouldn't be called to fight. She told us that she loves America. She said if it hadn't been for Clinton she would have died. She said that she waited for months hoping that a European country would come save them but no one did until Clinton stepped in and helped with the Dayton Peace Accord. I'm not sure how true that is because I thought it was an EU treaty but in her mind it was all because of Clinton. I miss Clinton.

I'm not sure how to explain what it's been like to travel this year as an American. Overall, I'd say that the world still loves the US and thinks of it as a paradise they can only dream about. But people from all over the world have something to say about George Bush. They may not speak a single word of English but they know how to say George Bush and they know the international sign for ''he sucks.'' It's been a relief not to be in the US during the election year. I can barely stand to hear the bits and pieces I get from other tourists. I'll hope for the best in the next year but I've honestly lost most of my hope after the last eight years. Now Iran...now Russia and Georgia and then the next war and the next...

I've talked before about the effort is takes to grow and evolve personally. It's a lot of work and maybe takes a lifetime, maybe many. It's no wonder that our collective evolution is slower than the slowest slow boat to China. There's too many of us and George Bush is the President of the world. What the hell are we doing? You can tell by this post that I'm staying really positive about the future :) Yay future!

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Montenegro

nobody@vox.com(Starshine) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:18:28 -0700

Dreams of Bond

I've dreamed of going to Montenegro, mostly because of the Bond film Casino Royale. I've spent so many years watching Bond films wishing I could travel to the all the romantic locations. It was everything I had dreamed it would be and more. Another beautiful country, infamous for being the newest country in the world. The region was part of Serbia until June 3rd, 2006 when they declared their independence. The economy seems to be taking off. I would highly recommend that everyone invest some money in local real estate. I'm sure you could quadruple your investment in a couple of years. This place is on fire.

We spent most of our ten days in Kotor, a small town nestled at the head of the deepest fjord in southern Europe.

Green

The first day we arrived we met Boris who drove us out around the coastline outside of town to a pension owned by his father. We had a beautiful room on the top floor with a balcony overlooking the water. It would have been perfect except for the lack of a fan or A/C in the 100 degree heat. Fortunately, the beach was across the road and the water was perfect.

Boris went out of his way and even helped us find a different room within the walled city when the heat got to be too much. He took us to a beach on the coast called Jaz with perfect sand and perfect water. The Adriatic is salty. You don´t need a raft to lay horizontally in the water. The salt content keeps you fully buoyant, feet up and everything. Pure bliss.

There is a huge field next to the beach that's used as a parking lot. The Stones played a show there and the government is going to pay Madonna 20 mil or something to play as a way to promote the country. I guess you have to pay well to get someone like Madge to play a show in a beach parking lot in a country with only half a million people.

We met a Serbian waiter that took us out to a Turbo Folk club. Turbo Folk is the local music sung by porn goddesses. It's not very good and either was the conversation. The guy wasn't our friend for long after he explained how Albanians and n*ggers smell bad. It was my first exposure to the racial, religious, or whatever conflict that's bashed this part of the world. The guy had fought in the war and was a real Serbian nationalist. I carefully explained to him that Serbs smell bad too, that I had sat next to several on the bus. He claimed that Serbians had never hurt anyone but that Bosnians and Albanians went around killing people??? I decided I should refrain from asking him about Serbia's whole ''racial cleansing'' thing.

Okay

While leaving the bar the cops showed up unexpectedly and started searching everyone. They weren't nice about it either. They threw the men up against a car, kicked their feet apart and patted them down thoroughly. The women were treated a little more gently. The cops also searched the entire club, turning over seat cushions and looking on and around all the tables. They meant business. The guys we were with said the cops used to search bars all the time but that they hadn't seen it happen in a long while. Luckily we got out unscathed.

After a week in Kotor and the surrounding areas we headed up into the mountains of Montenegro to Durmitor national park. It was such a relief to feel the cool mountain air. The mountains were peaceful. I loved being surrounded by A frames and ski area signs. We spent some time walking and hiking through the woods and were so happy to curl up with blankets at night. It was a relaxing few days for us before heading to Bosnia.

For all of you travelers, I would like to suggest Montenegro as a destination. There really is no reason to go anywhere else in Europe, the country has it all.

Durmitor

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Croatia

nobody@vox.com(Starshine) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:32:59 -0700

Dubrovnik

The spot

Petals

Are you trying to kill me with cuteness

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More from the last few months

nobody@vox.com(Starshine) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:44:51 -0700

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Macedonia

nobody@vox.com(Starshine) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:11:39 -0700

Lake Ohrid

I was walking in the hills looking for a church perched above Lake Ohrid when people started shouting at me in Macedonski from their house. I yelled back that I didn't understand and they waved for me to come over. There were three, sitting on their terrace overlooking the water, eating tomatoes and cucumbers and drinking local whiskey. They motioned for me to sit down, fixed me a plate and poured me a shot. I was just walking down the street! The man, his sister and their uncle spoke some words I could understand and after we struggled to communicate for a bit the man called up to his 15 year old daughter to come translate. They were all so sweet and I was surprised at how readily they invited me into their home. The whiskey was strong. I don't think I've ever tasted whiskey in my life. The girl spoke English very well and we sat and talked through her for about an hour. The uncle invited me to come to Montenegro to stay at his house and said he would drive me around the Balkans. I couldn't believe the generosity, at least not until I had spent more time in Macedonia. Come to find out the people are just like that here. After finding the small 13th century Church of St. John Caneo I wound my way back down the hills to the waterfront.

While walking along a man dressed like a guide on the Mark Twain Riverboat cruise at Disneyland struck up a conversation. I stopped and talked to him for a while and his friend from a nearby cafe joined us. After ten minutes the man took a call and said he had to pick up some clients in his water taxi, would I like to come? Of course I would. We cruised along the coast to a beach side bar and instead of stopping we kept on along the coastline to watch the sunset. We toured some caves and he reached into a hole to show me bats which he seemed to think of as friends. He asked if I wanted to hold one of the bats. Uh...let me think about that for a minute...NO! I was offered whiskey which I tried to decline but after much harassment, accepted. He told me about a friend who lived in a cave nearby and had for the last 35 years and asked if I wanted to meet the Macedonian David Crusoe. Okay? We pulled up near a big cave opening and he called out when a man appeared looking just like David Crusoe. The man waved and my friend told me to take his picture so I did. We finally went back to fetch his paying customers, five friendly 20 year olds from the bar and headed back to town. All of this in one afternoon.

I have a multitude of similar stories and I grew to love the country because of the openness.

We left Macedonia headed for Montenegro and decided to avoid Kosovo and head through Albania. We spent only one night in Tirana. I wasn't really feeling the love in Albania until we were headed out of the country waiting for a bus at a cafe in a town near the border. Three women in their fifties sat next to us and asked where we were from. One of the women lived in NYC and was just home for a visit. Within five minutes she offered to drive us across the border into Montenegro. She called her brother in law who picked us up in his Mercedes and drove us the hour across the border to a town called Ulcinj. The woman took us to lunch and helped us find a place to stay. We thanked her profusely for everything and her response was that she didn't have much money but people who have no money have big hearts and people who have a lot of money have injured hearts. Is that a Mother Teresa quote?

Later that night while out to dinner, the waiter was struggling to explain the menu so he asked his English speaking friend to translate. When the man found out we were Americans he sat down and decided to tell us all about American politics. After a long discourse on the US justice system he invited us to stay at his house and offered to drive us around to the many beaches and go out on his speed boat. We politely declined and decided to head up the coast to Kotor the next day. Montenegro!

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