where the hell am i?

so while sandie roams with the roma...i have traveled to all many of the same locations...but missed the romas.

i last posted in croatia. i loved it there. we spent some wonderful time on the island in brac. tasted some wine made in someones garage and ate lots of amazing fruit. we saw on the island growing wild kiwi, grapes, and lots of olives. on leaveing the beach one afternoon, sandie thought it would be nice to try some green olives. her face grimmiced...the same as when she tried this liquar called (i forget) that is made from grapes...tastes like vodka.

after croatia...i ventured to Mostar where there was a pretty grusome war. from my understanding the first wave of the war was serbs against bosnias...then it was the bosnians agains muslims. the town is divided. they say in the lonely plantet book that they are divided by the river but from speaking to the locals that is not true. its actually quite wrong. they do not mix though. i stayed with this interesting couple that are into yoga, a spanish woman and her boyfriend that is german. such an exotic mix.

i then headed off to sareyvo. i stayed at the same hostel as sandie. i had the adjoining room to some other traveler in my private accomidation...although i must say i was the one bouncing into his room while he was laying in bed, innocently reading a magazine. i went on the same tour. learned tons about the war. the following night i stayed with a bosnian. i met his friends and got their personal views of the war...which were even more enlightening. they were all in their late 20's and 30's. they were in the young adults when the war happened. they all had somehow escaped the war...through the tunnel. they also told me how most believe that is was AMERICA who had started this war. it had orignally started with mafia shootings in the city that progessed to war. but they all seem to universally feel that is was americans fear of communism that fuel and supported the war. they feel that america has full power of the failed UN, and power over NATO to finish the war in 6 days.

i then moved on to Kotor, Montenegro.

what a beautiful city. southern europes largest fjord. walled city with great food. just great.i stayed with a sea captian on break. i wandered the city walled ruins and then had a large lunch served by his mother. this is a serious sea town. he is from a long line of sea captians. it was really facinating to visit the museum about the history of the ships in the area. every man i met was a sailor.

i then took serveral buses to albania. what a pity. i really cant say i liked this country. first off, my book only showed 1 border crossing. when i got to the capital of montenegro...they said i could only get to the border by taxi. 25 euros=25km. thats ALOT! i laughed at them....but then remembered sandie had taken a taxi so thought ...well i guess i have no choice. so i agreed. go in the taxi and half way there...he needs another 6 euros to get to the ACTUAL border. ...ok. now 31 euros. this is to go like...almost no distance but scary turny roads. i get to the border...albanian tax 10 euros! then on the other side...i want a mini bus they ALL tell me NO BUSES...take a taxi.... 15 -20 euros. i tell them all to go to hell and find my mini bus. these are the people i dont like.

i stayed in albania 2nights. there is not much to see. the architecture is not interesting. the mayor of the city is apparently a bad artist and had them paint all the ugly communist buildings with stupid, obnoxious colors. its painful to see and not even humorous. there is A mosque.i visted the national history musuem which was interesting and learned about Skanderbeg who kicked some serious ottomen ass!

i was then stuck in the extremely unintresting archtectured city for 12hours because my host was very busy. i was sad. boston and albany has more history.

i then got a bus ticket to macedonia, where i am currently. i got to the border after 2 bus connections...then had to walk the border for 3km. that was actually beautiful in the mtns. sheep were grazing, and then i got to see TONS of the infamous albanian bunkers...then i realized wandering around freely that ..hey ding dong...remember LAND MINES!...i stuck to the road and there were no problems. :)

i got to the border and go a ride to the town i wanted, struga. this was a town 15km from the lake town of Ohrid. said to be the most beautiful placein macedonia.

i stayed with a peace corps volunteer and 3 guys from hospitality club. one brit, one bulgarian and one guy from holland. i spend a day with the brit and bulgarian exploring the lake and monestaries. it was quite lovely. they both had interesting quick witted personalities that was very enjoyable. i then hitched a ride with them the following day to skopje, the capital. where i am currently. we climbed a mtn to visit a treskavec monastary on the way and then they dropped me off. today i stayed with a security guard for the american embassy. we climbed a mtn that holds a 70meter cross. then had a large lunch where i tried lots of local cuisine.

tomorrow i am off to sofia, bulgaria...then kosovo and then belgrade...meeting sandie in translyvania. cant wait!