Dubrovnik

Last night I sent my blog from the bus from Rijeka. I felt cold, and hungry, and alone. I had no idea what was going to happen to me, where I was going, how long it would take, or what I was going to do even when I got there. After I sent of last night's blog, the lights went out in the bus, and I was able to see outside the windows out over Croatia's jagged coastline. The clouds were parting, slowly shattering like glass allowing the moonlight to penetrate, and the first stars I'd seen since Jerusalem shown brightly in the night sky. The already piercing blue of the Mediterranean mixed with the moonlight, and lit up the waves like neon, catching the moon in them. As they exploded onto the black rocks they came up bright white, and sparkled. I felt at ease watching them, and was reminded of summer nights in San Clemente that looked similar. I caught a few moments of rest, and my frozen fingers began to thaw. I was feeling much better, although still unsure about where I was going, or what was going to happen.

The bus ride lasted for almost exactly 12 hours. In those 12 hours I had gotten very little, if any, sleep. Everytime we stopped, I had to find a way to ask the bus driver which city we were in, in order to make sure I got off at the right one. No one seemed in a hurry to get anywhere, which made me all the more agitated about the length of the journey. It's such a different concept of time over here, it seems. Don't people here have schedules to keep, or places they have to be at certain times? It seems like when people travel here, they plan for it to take days. Transportation is very rarely scheduled everyday, let alone every hour like back home or in the UK.

However, I did get to Dubrovnik, and almost as soon as I got off the bus, I was approached by a little old lady who was apparently trying to ask me if I needed a bed for the night. I'd remembered a couple experienced travelers whom I'd known in the states said that in some of these countries, staying with these little old ladies was the best way to go. I accepted her offer, and she had me follow her a little ways to her home. It consisted of one room with two beds, although from what I'm gathering, I think this is just a guest house, and she sleeps elsewhere. At least that's what I'm hoping. She's a very nice old lady, however she freaks the crap out of me, and just plain gives me the heebie jeebies. Her name's Mile (pronounced Meela), and she's gotta be in her late 80's. She has very few teeth, and likes to feel my hands as she laughs in my face. She's got these stumpy, craggly troll-like fingers, and the only words she can speak in English she says constantly as if she's playing a game with herself to see how many times she can say them in a given time frame. "Ok no problem, Super! Super! Bye Bye!" She says over and over again, as she holds my hand and laughs. She's always trying to feed me really odd, gross food. She poured me some water when I arrived which was, I'm not even kidding, murky brown and yellow. I almost started to drink it without looking, but it was the giant hairball floating at the top which first caught my eye and I, politely as I could, set the poison down on the table, whilst trying fervently to keep a smile. We haggled over a price for 2 nights, and eventually settled upon 100 kuna a night (which I believe is roughly 25 dollars a night), and then she showed me around making sure to show me each thing 500 times, and shout the words English words she knew, and laugh. After she had gone, I went out myself, and explored the city. The first thing I looked for was the castle that I knew was here, supposedly right on the coast near a beautiful beach. I was surprised when I had arrived, and didn't see it, but upon following signs and walking for quite some distance, I finally found it. The old woman, unfortunately seems to live pretty far away from this beautiful place, although I'm pretty sure finding a place closer would be a lot more expensive, and as of right now, I'm situated more in the local area it seems, which might be kinda cool. Also, who wants to miss out on this adventure, trying not to be poisoned by a sweet old lady's hospitality?

I walked all through the castle, and marveled at it's beauty sitting right up on the shores. The sun was out, and the birds were singing, boats were sailing. It was absolutely wonderful! I laid out for a while on one of the rocks near the shore, right next to one of the giant towers of the Croatian Castle. When I'd soaked up enough sun, and explored the walls of the Castle, I made my way back to Mile's house, stopping along the way at a local restaurant for some lunch. When I got back, Mile had prepared me some more yellow water, a loaf of bread, a bowl of cookies, some apples, and a plate of something under a napkin. Curious, I lifted the napkin, and there stood an assortment of pickled fish heads staring back at me. The smell alone was enough to startle. "Good Lord!" I cried out, wafting the smell away, and returning the napkin to its original state. I drank some of the water from my water bottle which still had a little left in it, and poured out the water she had given me into the sink, so she'd think I drank it and thus not have her feelings hurt. I wasn't sure what to do with the fish heads, they stank up the room, but I didn't want her to feel bad, so I just set them aside, as far away from me I could get them. I laid down on the bed, and took a nice long nap. It was so good to sleep, I almost forgot about the smell of rancid pickled fish.

When I woke up, I found some American programing on one of the 5 Croatian channels she had on her 30 year old TV, and watched Friends, and some made-for-TV movie. For dinner I ate the apples and loaf of bread she laid out, and a couple cookies for dessert. Today was a pretty good day, and very much needed.

However, the thought is still on my mind of how I'm going to get out of here again when the time comes to do so. I visited the bus station earlier, and found out all I could about international travel here. They gave me the number of the tiny local airport here, they have no train station, and then the only bus that helps at all goes through the middle of Bosnia. I called the airport, but the cheapest flight out runs about 700 US Dollars. I called my dad, and got him in on the search as well, but he couldn't find much better. So it seems to be my best option to travel by bus through Bosnia to get to Hungary on the other side. No one could tell me if I'd be able to get another bus once in Bosnia, but the idea is to take the bus from Dubrovnik to the Capital City of Bosnia (I can't remember the name), then from there take another bus into Budapest, Hungary. I estimate the trip (if it works) will take about 16 to 20 hours. That's a long time to spend on a bus, and another full day gone. However, that may be the only option. It seems I kinda backed myself into a corner down here in the Dalmatian Coast, so far from the rest of where I wanted to go. I guess I just didn't realize these countries were so big, and things so far away from each other. Rookie Mistake.
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