Bosnia Bound (Day 86)

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Had a pretty lazy morning here at Villa Valjalo. Ate a quiet breakfast out on the patio before heading to the local internet cafe to bang out a few blogs as I often do at the end of my stay in a city. My bus to Mostar did not leave till 5pm tonight so I had most of the afternoon to just relax in Dubrovnik, or I should say in Lapad since I didnt make it too far. Mostly just layed out by the pool and read and took care of a few organizational details for the next part of my trip. Fortunately, there were some others from the hostel off to slow starts so I had some company up at the pool which was nice. Just sat around and enjoyed each others company in the cool pool.

The bus ride up to Mostar is pretty interesting. You have to do 3 border crossings just to get into Bosnia. First, you enter Bosnia, then you go back to Croatia, then finally back into Bosnia for the rest of the trip. Actually I should say Bosnia AND Herzegovina as my host in Mostar would remind me later. The scenery is pretty stunning on the way up and held my attention for the 3 hour ride. As you get farther into BiH it's pretty clear that it is not like anywhere else you will travel to in Western or Central Europe. Mosque minarets poke up everywhere and the damage from the war is pretty evident.

My host Gogy picked me up in his car at the bus station shortly after I arrived and we went over to a small restaurant in the Old Town to have a snack and a few beers. The food was quite good. Minced meat sausages in a pita with onion and some sort of curry sauce. Yum. It was very interesting talking to Gogy (born in Croatia) about BiH independence, the war, the differences between Bosnia and Herzegovina and more. I thought it was funny when he told me that often when he goes to conferences they will ask for the representative from Bosnia to stand to speak and he will refuse until they say the representative from Bosnia AND Herzegovina. Making it a point for myself to use the full name from here on out. I have to say the people here have been quite kind so far. Some guy noticed I was a bit lost at the bus station and allowed me to use his phone, gave Gogy the directions of how to find me in Bosnian and then invited me over to sit with him and his friends at their table until Gogy arrived. Then the waitress gave us a couple of free beers just as a welcome gift for me. Small things but they are certainly appreciated.

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