Day 26...Bosnia's Cultural Experience

Day 26, July 10th:

Where in the world is Mostar, Bosnia?  Well I could help you find it on a map now!  Before I begin telling you about my spontaneous adventure to Mostar, I want to tell you a little bit about how SAS has impacted me yet again.  Before I began researching this trip, I didn’t even know that Croatia was a country.  I knew that Bosnia existed, but I never would have been able to tell you where it was in the world.  I was always horrible at memorizing stuff for geography class in grade school; therefore, I was very unaware of other countries, their locations in the world and of their cultures and languages.  In just Croatia alone, I have already become more aware of their role politically, economically and their importance in the Adriatic area.  I never would have guessed that Bosnia bordered Croatia and I never even knew that Montenegro was a country. 

It is the little things in life that make you realize your place in the world.  This trip has already made me want to learn more about foreign countries and I actually don’t mind purchasing items that were imported from the US.  The various currencies in each country are very cool to observe physically, as well as notice how the locals treat their currency.  For example, in the United States, most Americans hate pennies; however, we always give perfect change and use uneven prices.  In several of the countries we have been in so far, the prices are set at even prices and they don’t add a sales tax either.  It is very nice not to have our pockets full of random coins from each country.  One downside to even prices is that the locals hate giving change.  The locals believe that, since the price is even, you should be able to provide the exact amount for the good or service provided.  They especially hate giving change to bills much larger than the purchase price (some will even decline your purchase if you don’t have close to the correct amount). 

In Bosnia, for example, they use Marks for their currency; however, every price displayed was in Euros.  The unique part of this is that when you ask someone how much something is they will tell you the price in Marks, Euros and Kuna because they will accept all three currencies.  If the store had prices fixed to each item, it was in Euros, not Marks.  I bought a sticker in Mostar for 2 marks, which is the equivalent to 1 Euro and 8 Kuna.  I paid the clerk in all three currencies. Of the previous mentioned currencies.  To her, it didn’t matter how much they received in each currency.  I even received change in all different currencies as well.  Daniel, for example, even received a US and Canadian coin as change.  Very interesting!

Danielle, Daniel, Lacey, Clark, Mindy and I woke up around 6:45 and began our journey to the bus station around 7:30 after breakfast on the ship.  The bus departed Dubrovnik around 8:00 and took about three and a half hours.  We actually went through border customs three times on the way to Mostar: we entered Bosnia, re-entered Croatia, and re-entered Bosnia.  There actually is a narrow strip of Bosnian territory that crosses into Croatia and meets the Adriatic coast; therefore, we passed through customs three times in about one hour time.  We didn’t get our passports stamped at any of three places on the way there.  :(   On the other hand, the countryside of Croatia and Bosnia was absolutely stunning.  The highway the bus drove down provided constant views of the sea while we curved around all of the hills and mountains of the mainland.  The sights of the islands just off the coast were so amazing!  This bus ride was really great because it allowed us not only to visit another country, but also to view more of the rural uninhabited countryside and see the natural beauty of the Mediterranean region. 
Once we arrived in Mostar, we were greeted my millions of beggars and hospitality services trying to get you to give them your money.  It was insane! All of us stepped off the bus and began walking swiftly out of the way so we could actually orient ourselves in the city.  We began walking down the largest street we could find and hoped it took us to the main part of town.  The street didn’t take us directly to town, but it gave us a look at the remnants of the war that took place from 1991-1995.  There are skeletons of dilapidated buildings on every street packed full of machine gun bullet holes.  There are many signs in the windows of stores, on the dilapidated buildings and on the light poles with pictures and stories of random people who died in the war.  It is a pretty depressing town and it makes you realize that we take a lot of things for granted in the United States. 

We then made our way to the main part of town and stopped for lunch at Orata Orijenta.  I had a hamburger that was placed inside a freshly baked pita bread shell along with a regional spicy ketchup like condiment.  The ketchup was more of a pickle relish consistency than that of actual ketchup.  I really don’t know how else to describe it.  It was actually really good.  The hamburger was only 4 Marks and the Coke was 3 Marks.  For those of you not familiar to the Mark currency, it is roughly double that of the Euro; therefore, I had a hamburger and Coke for roughly 3.5 Euros or $4.20.  How can you beat that!  We began to realize very quickly that the prices in Bosnia were very cheap to what we Americans are accustomed too.  We then immediately began a shopping spree to spend all of the money we just took out of the ATM for the day.  Danielle and I pulled out 50 marks each and we really had to try to spend them all. 

Another neat aspect of Bosnia is that they have a lot of locally made products, especially bronze vases and plaques, wooden items and local jewelry.   The stores along near the Old Bridge also sold a lot of war memorabilia and military patches from around the world.  Daniel and Clark both purchased brass bullets that were drilled and made into pens.  You could just feel the insecurity among the locals as if they were reliving the war that day.  They all seemed to be very proud of their culture, but feared that it may be taken away again someday.  It was a very unique feeling. 

I purchased two ice cream cones for 1 Mark each ($0.60) and a glass bottle of Coke for 2 Marks ($1.20).  Nothing was very expensive.  I also purchased many gifts for those at home, so I can’t spoil the surprise.  It was a really neat experience.  After stopping to take a look at the Old Bridge, which was destroyed during the war, we headed back to the bus station for our return trip to Dubrovnik. 

At the bus station, one of the beggars was still there with her two small children.  This lady asked me 5 times for money!  It was really irritating me this time, but to top it off she had trained her little kid to come squirt you with his sticky juice from his juice box if you didn’t give her money.  I felt really sorry for the kid, but someday he might do that to the wrong person!  It was really irritating me!  The kid squirted his juice all over Danielle.  Many evil stares later from everyone in the group, she left with her children as three bicycle cops pulled up to the bus station. 

The bus arrived around 17:30 and returned to Dubrovnik at 20:45.  Since we were riding the bus, our dinner consisted of peanut butter filled pretzels, various candy bars and cookies from a convenient store along the way.  What a great meal!  We returned to the ship and called it a night.  What a day and what a cultural experience!  I was very happy that I went because I know that I never would have had this cultural experience in Dubrovnik or in the USA.  I finally asked the customs officials on the way home to stamp our passports, so now I have two more stamps: Croatia and Bosnia!!!!  Yeah!  I am still floored by this day trip and everything we saw.