Mon 8th May 2017 – Mon 15th May 2017 - Written by Jordan
Video of the country : AroundEarth: Bosnia-Herzegovina
It is worth describing the mix of horror and solidarity that such countries can leave behind them. Among others, Bosnia was hit by war in the previous couple decades, and was left with impacts of bullets on pretty much every building in certain towns. Vestiges of war could be seen everywhere: from malls to apartments, each ruin was covered with holes or graphs, and both were communicating this terrible feeling of despair and this will for change. That’s in this environment that we started meeting people who would change the way Clement and I would embrace this trip.
It started straight at the border. It was the hardest time we had to enter a country: every document was checked, insurance issues brought us to negotiation, until the guard literally asked us to bribe him. Few laughs and a gentle refusal later, we had a casual conversation and left the place in good terms. That is how we entered Bosnia-Herzegovina, the country that will mark the beginning of the real adventures.
Roads were chaotic and country lands reputed for being mined sometimes. We were half scared half amused by the potentiality of seeing some explosions of the road sides, knowing that it would probably never happen. But that we were also well advised to never go step there…
In few hours, the GPS notified us about some waterfalls nearby. We decided to hit the place and had to afford 10 Marks as a cover charge. The heavy noise of the waterfalls could be heard even before getting down there. Around 20 people were massed at the edge of a small lake in which water was crashing. A 10°C-water… that we had no other choice but to jump in, despite the many hesitations. We indeed had to grab some close images of these and infinite rains.
With stoned muscles and empty minds, we went back to the van. The next step was Mostar.
We reached Mostar the next day. The place is a very touristic city with a beautiful Old Town. We stayed for few hours, since our real objective was to get lost in the country lands and also to reach Sarajevo, where we were hoping to hear about the refugees we were expecting to meet later on in Belgrade. Also, we were in a more and more urgent need of shopping groceries.
We noticed a hypermarket on the way to Sarajevo. We decided to stop and buy all the things we ran off: breakfasts, canned vegetables, fruits, pastas, sauce… while we were walking in an alley, a guy said “hi” to us in French. Almir was Bosnian, worked in Switzerland, and has lived many years in France. He was our first local and direct contact in a country. We shared a casual and funny conversation, but we did not expect him to wait for us at the exit, which he actually did.
Almir invited us for some visits, and we ended up following his black car, up to Ilidza, this pedestrian place known for its bars and large attendance. He offered us a coffee and told us a lot about Bosnia: here, people were organized, just as mafias were. Some places were dangerous and not recommended. He advised us to park under surveillance. People could kill each other sometimes, and some could also kidnap for organs trafficking. Then je brought us to the highest point of view of the suburbs, up to this castle from which the entire Sarajevo could be seen. From there, he invited us for a shisha with beers and taught us even more.
Years ago, before the war started, American military came and inflamed the existing tensions between Christians and Muslims in Bosnia. War was partly triggered by them, and since then Bosnia was divided in 3 Federations: Federation of Bosnia (the Muslim one), Federation of Croatia (the Catholic one) and Federation of Serbia (the Orthodox one).
We promised each other we would catch up again, then Almir left to join his girlfriend. Clement and I went to visit the city, crossed the beautiful Old Town, had a beer nearby, and went back to the van. Following Almir’s advices, we headed to the castle to park the van, since it was supposed to be safe enough for the night (the only risk being to be disturbed by some lovers who would come and share some moments far from others).
Despite the recurrent noises I could hear all night as cars were approaching and leaving the place, our night turned out to be comfy. As Almir mentioned about a pyramid (yes, a pyramid) to visit within 30 kilometers, we decided to head to Visoko and look out for it.
It was a bit harder to find than we thought, since it was a natural-looking pyramid, covered with forests, grass, earth and rocks. The guides over there mentioned that they were built by an ancient and unknown civilization 34 000 years ago. They were arguing with scientists, who were actually certifying that the pyramid was natural. According to Serbian theories, the Pyramid of Sun was built here to have its shadow aligned with the Pyramid of Moon, visible from the top, that we had a hard time to reach. Since it rained during the night, the ground was very slippery and almost dangerous. By grabbing branches and stepping on the rare rocks, we made it to the top of the mountain where we met two German guys, including one affirming the Earth was flat. We took time to meditate and enjoy the sightseeing. From here, it looked like hundreds of kilometers of Serbian lands could be seen. After loosing a pair of sunglasses and getting lost in the wood, we went back down to the place where we parked the van, used a shower (straight out of our bottles warmed in the sun) and enjoyed well-deserved beers at the bar in front of us.
We spent 3 days and 2 nights in Sarajevo. Without having the chance to catch up with Almir again, but knowing the bars and streets by heart after walking through all of them, we left in direction of Serbia. We were starting to think that Belgrade would be the next step, but something happened on the way.
When we thought we passed near trash bins, we noticed tons of clothes and shoes were abandoned there. Worth having a look…
It turns out everything was either new, either in good shape. We turned few cameras on and started recording the whole collection: from shirts to trousers, from shoes to dresses, there were here enough clothes to dress up several dozens of people. Since we needed a couple hours to grab everything that could be of a use, we also placed the sign mentioning our charity activity. Moments later, a red car stopped near us. Two ladies went off the car and shyly said hi. Then, they offered us more bags of clothes and shoes, and even toys and beds for children. They managed to explain that more things were waiting for us at their places, two kilometers from here, and that they needed few more minutes to bring them. We accepted to wait for them and kept going with the collect. When they came back with the remaining things they had, we felt all the frustration of not being able to thank them in a common language, but managed to communicate how grateful we wear. They left us here with the vision of their smiles and support. After approximately 2 hours of cleaning up the place, we loaded everything at the back of the truck, leaving high heels and the useless things behind. Heavier than ever, the van managed to move forward, as we were getting closer to the Serbian border.
– Written on Sunday 21 May 2017 at 5:30 PM (Day 32)