Bosnian Coffee

It has been a little while since our last entry. Afer weighing our options, we decided to go to Bosnia Herzogovenia instead of directly going to Italy. We can say it was a worthwhile experience. Our first stop was a small town called Mostra. It sits a few hours from Dubrovnik by bus and is suprisingly culturally and geographically different from Croatia. There are numerous mountains with lush greenery everywhere. Despite being ruled by many groups, the most influental has been the Ottoman empire. The food has a lot of Turkish influence including the thick coffee (Turkish Coffee) which i drank religiously every day at least once. Our vegetarian selection increased dramatically, we actually ate eggplant and spinach.
After being attacked once again by the hoards of old women asking us for accomodations, we found a place near the center of this town which is divided by a river. On one side resides the islamic community and the other side the Orthodox christians. The segregation occured post-war. Despite seeing bullet riden buildings, the people have adapted to each other and were very friendly.
Then we moved on to the capital, Sarejevo, which was another amazing experience. Although our accomodations had hit a rock bottom (sketchy bathtub that was actually IN the kitchen..gross), we really enjoyed walking around the "old town" as it was called. Cobblestone walkways, antique shops and tons of cafes....we also happened to be there during the Sarejevo Film Festival where we saw a few documentary films from Romania, Croatia and Bosnia. Another incredible experience was visiting "The Tunnel"...during the war in '93 between the Serbs and Bosnians. Apparently, the city of Sarejevo was surrounded by Serbian forces and was cut off from all supplies (food,water, electricity) and life was described similar to that of a concentration camp. After 3 years, the UN was given access to the airport which was made a safe base,however the people trying to cross still would be shot and killed. Anyway, the people of Sarejevo secretly built a underground tunnel, in which food,people and supplies were able to be transported. It was pretty unreal to see the video and the actual tunnel.
Afterwards we headed back to Italy, we stayed a few days in Florence, biked under the Tuscan Sun and visited a vineyard and then had a final day in Venice. Florence was really beautiful...we went to the Uzzi and Academia (Michealangelo's David)..walked around and had great Italian food.

The Pearl of the Adriatic

We just left the city of Dubrovnik-which by far, is the most beautiful city we have seen thus far...it is on the southern coast, and is encompassed by a fortress. During the many wars, especially during the Serbian aggression, it was sought after and for this reason, heavily bombed. It sustained quite a bit of damage, however it is crazy how well it has been rebuilt to near perfection. We had 4 days here-the first we spent roaming around the Old Town, which was inside these massive iron gates, and was a city of marble streets, narrow alleys, historic churches and statues. We sat at cafes, enjoying cappucinos and chocolate pastries right in the middle of this old scenic town. We walked so much everywhere, trying to make sure and hit all of the "must see" sights and since we were at the mercy of Tarak's compass (on his watch of course) and navigational skills (which is not much-although I have no room to comment at all), we probably walked a "few" extra circles trying to find places. The 2nd day, we took a trip to the island of Mljet where legend has it that Odysseus spent many years. We took a ferry ride there, and then rented 2 bikes and rode along these 2 beautiful lakes, visited an old monastery on an island in the lake, and then took the ferry back and watched the sunset on the Adriatic. The 3rd day, we roamed around Dubrovnik again, (recovering from riding bikes on cheap seats for several hours) and walked the city walls (which took 3 hours!). The place we stayed at was pretty funny..it was this Bosnian woman who initially attacked us (or I should say Tarak) at the bus station. Since he (of course) is so nice, he had a swarm of little old Croatian ladies with signs offering private accomodations. I (the rude one) glared at all of them, because we had not even had a chance to get all of our luggage, let alone, even step off the bus, before they were running up to us. Needless to say, no one was around me. Anyway, we waited for the crowd to thin, and then bargained with her. She, of course, kept talking to us in German and kept kissing and hugging me...we have no idea why..but she was enthralled with us, and (it can't back to bite me) I used to tell Tarak (back in the states) how good I was at German ("German student of the year" and sort)..and there I was, I couldn't even remember how to ask where the bus station was. My high school German teacher would die if he saw my pathetic attempt to recover my lost German (mixed with the Spanish I learned in Ecuador)....
Anyway, we had a fabulous time in Dubrovnik and Croatia!!

Happy Birthday Tarak!!

This entry is a day late, but yesterday was Tarak's birthday (Aug. 22nd)...I'll leave the age out, as I can only imagine how depressing it must be to have those sort of numbers...j-k.
I thought I would actually finally put some of my photography handiwork (or lack there of) as I dedicate this entry to his birthday!! I thought I would put a few pictures of Tarak's favorite activities in Croatia...Number 1, by far, which should not come as any surprise, is taking pictures. That particular picture is in a fortress in the island city of Hvar, overlooking the sea. The other two are of course relaxing on the beach and enjoying some Gelato!! We spent his actual birthday, a great majority in transit (poor thing)..we took a bus (630am) to Hvar, then a ferry ride to Split and then a 5 hour bus ride...but we finally made it the most awaited and beautiful city of Croatia.....Dubrovnik!! We went for a stroll in the old town, and had dinner overlooking the sea.
Some facts about Hvar Island...apparently, it gets the most amount of sun of any island in Croatia (2724 hours each year!!)..it has become an international tourist hotspot...the town is surrounded by a castle with marble streets and beautiful beaches. The island is also amazingly green, with tons of lavender patches (they sell it EVERYWHERE on the streets), rosemary and everybody, of course, has their own wine. We tried this dessert wine called Prosecco..which was really sweet!
Well, we will write more from Dubrovnik as we will be settling in for a few days, we are considering for the last week to either travel more in Italy or check out Bosnia or Serbia...any thoughts??

Croatia: Italy's Cancun!!

Well, it's been awhile since our last post, but we've been keeping busy. We only spent 2 short days in Venice riding the ferries and walking through the old towns but it was absolutely gorgeous. We found a quaint little restaurant off the island of St. Marcus and had a great dinner (a huge improvement from carniverous Ecuador).
We left for Croatia and first arrived in Opatija...we initially had heard that Croatia would be a far more affordable place than Italy...NOT TRUE!! Little did we know that August is PEAK tourist season...the Italians flood in with their swimsuits alone and soak up along the beautiful coastline. (If you look on the map, Croatia is literally all coast, and consists of 1,150 islands!!). Anyway, also add on a bunch of Germans to the mixture and the prices go way up...it reminded us of Americans invading Cancun during spring break. It's quite strange, there are only superexpensive hotels (no hostels or any type of budget hotels) and "private acccomodations". You basically stay in a room of a family and they charge you way more than you would think for 1 room...but that's ok..we have gotten over the shock of the expenses and have seen some remarkable sights and stayed in some nice places.
In Opatija, we did some hiking, exploring of the coast and made a trip to Plitvice National Lake Park. This is a UNESCO site and has over 150 waterfalls and was breathtaking. We then set off to the city of Zadar, which dates back over 3,000 years and has considerable history. It has been under Italian, Austrian, German and Hungarian rule..and despite being completely bombed in WWII, it has been fabulously rebuilt. A really cool site was a place called the "Sea Organ" where organs are placed near the sea, and with wind, it makes relaxing sounds, referred to as the "Symphony of the Sea". Also in Zadar, we stayed at in the guesthouse of a very nice local family..they invited us to eat and drink with them...and man, everyone in Croatia has their own grapes and makes their own wine. They kept bringing out different types of amazing wines and Cognac. Another find, were the local cheeses..Pag cheese in particular is quite strong and very good..made from sheep's milk and olives..as soon as we heard no refrigeration necessary, we bought a nice chunk. Currently we are in the coastal town of Split (another UNESCO site as it contains one of the most impressive Roman ruins in existence) , and will be heading off to Hvar Island by a local ferry. (P.S-the 1st picture is the sunset along the coast of Zadar, at the sea organ, the 2nd is the scenic overlook on top a cathedral in the city of Split, 3rd is in the Plitvice National Park and finally of course in Venice).
We'll try to add more pictures in our trip photos sections soon!!

Whales,Birds and Butterflies

Tonight is our last night in Ecuador. We can’t believe 5 wks have passed us by so quickly. Our next stop is Venice, which entails a painful flight back to Miami followed by a layover in Frankfurt prior to our arrival in Italy.
Our last week has had its ups and downs…The downs included a day of (Tarak) vomiting and diarrhea which soon passed. It was crazy, the next day I was starving for some apple cinnamon pancakes. I think I’ve dropped to my all time post high school low of 170 lbs. Since then, Sharvari has been doing her best trying to fatten me up. The ups included a few days in Puerto Lopez. This coastal town is mostly a fishing village and a nice beach (if they’d keep it clean). Many parts of this town reminded us of India with cows, dogs and pigs roaming freely the streets and beach. The weather was nice and pleasant with cool ocean breeze. The best part of our stay was the humpback whales. We learned they recently made their way up from Chile to the coast of Ecuador looking for little lovin’ (mating season) and warmer waters. On a 20 person boat, we set off for about an hour into the Altantic ocean before we caught sight of these incredible animals. Even with the Dramamine, dried ginger slices and constantly looking into the horizon, there were some rough moments for Sharvari aboard the ship.
After Puerto Lopez, we spent a half day in Old Quito which is an UNESCO world heritage site and then went to the cloud forest of Mindo. We only had one day to spent there so we packed it in with all we could do. We woke up around 5 am this morning and went on a guided tour looking for birds. We must say bird watching is an art. Trying to find these fast moving creatures with binoculars can be very frustrating. Our guide would get all excited and point to some bird..let us clarify, point somewhere within a thick patch of forest. So, we would bust out our binoculars trying to quickly find it..however he would already have located it with a telescope for us to see, as we of course are zooming in on some leaf. We saw some really pretty birds and got some good shots of toucans. Lastly, we went to the Mariposa museum and saw butterflies through their life cycle. From being an egg, to a baby catapillar to a cocoon and then onto a mature butterfly. We even saw one being born (rather hatch from the cacoon) and the craziest thing..there was amniotic fluid!! Anyway, we’ve had an awesome time in Ecuador, but now we’re off again. Gelatos and pasta…here we come!!!

Adios Otavalo!

This is our last week in Otavalo…We’ve saturated our minds with Spanish and now are looking forward to our trip to see the humpback whales. The remainder of our volunteer experience hasn’t been all too exciting. We’ve been given the responsibility to see all the newborn babies who room in with their mothers. So basically, picture a room full of mostly indigenous women (or we should say girls-since some are even 14!!) and then, in walk in us two. We basically look through their charts, examine the newborns and try to do a lot of teaching and anticipatory guidance. Since a lot of these women are on their 6th kid or something crazy (by the age 24), they could probably teach us a thing or do about breastfeeding. An interesting thing we learned is because of the diet of the indigenous women, their breast milk is super nutritious and the kids are always huge. Of course, when we see them in clinic, it’s easy to know when breast feeding has stopped. The kids are scrawny, usually have “bechos” (parasites) and basically live on a diet of arroz, maize and all kinds of gross meat.
Besides the hospital and the language school, we basically just chill out in the town. A few of the panerias (bakeries/bread shops) and heladorias (ice cream shops) know our faces. Because of the lack of vegetarian selection, we end up making our own sandwiches, which are pretty good.
Here are a few pictures of the infamous market of Otavalo. We’ve gotten some good stuff and our bargaining skills rival those of the locals (not really). We’ve mastered the art of first asking “Cuanto questa (how much))?”…and then whatever answer they give, we furrow our brows, look at each other and shake our head sadly and say “hmmm…Muy carro (too expensive” and then (usually) Sharvari (it’s because I have no shame in bargaining) after a long pause, basically offer them $2 and then walk away like we don’t care (but we do)…they’ll usually stop us with a more reasonable price.
Adios amigos!….our next stop, Puerto Lopez and a city called Cuenca!