Najine čevlje sva pred blatom rešila tako, da sva jih pred izstopom iz šotora oblepila s srebrnim lepilnim trakom. Slednji nama je tako koristil kot galoše.
Ko sva ravno pospravljala opremo, je na nasad prišel lastnik in naju zalotil, vendar nama ni storil nič žalega. Zagotovila sva mu, da se bova hitro odpravila proč, pa nama je povedal, da lahko ostaneva tudi več dni, če želiva. Malce smo poklepetali in povedala sva mu, kako potujeva in kaj naju je pripeljalo do tega, da sva se to noč utaborila pri njegovemu nasadu. S tem se je še enkrat pokazalo, da stereotip o slabih hrvaško-slovenskih odnosih ne velja vedno. Ljudje so povsod enaki. Pomembna sta le prvi vtis, oziroma pravi odnos v dani situaciji.
Malo preden sva se usedla na kolesi se je vlilo kot iz škafa. Po pravici povedano sva se prav zabavala. Važno, da naju ni zeblo. Dežna oblačila so se dobro držala. Lepilni trak, ovit okoli najinih čevljev se je izkazal kot pravi biser proti vlagi in blatu. Koliko časa sva si prihranila, ko nama ni bilo potrebno čistiti blata iz čevljev, pa še prihranila sva jih malo. Preden sva dokončno krenila v klanec, ki naju je čakal, sva z nožem odrezala lepilni trak na podplatih najinih čevljev, da sva lahko normalno kolesarila. Lepilni trak je ostal na najinih kolesih skoraj cel dan. Tako sva tudi galošam podaljšala življenjsko dobo.
Peljala sva se po tej čudoviti pokrajini proti Bosni in vreme se je po nalivu začelo drastično izboljševati in zopet je postajalo toplejše.
Tik pred mejo z Bosno sva se z Azro zgrešila, saj ko sem se ustavil, da naredim nekaj fotografij je ona, zamišljena švignila mimo mene.
Pa ob cesti sem stal!
Ob zaščitni ograji! Ona ni videla mene, jaz pa ne nje. Ko sem nehal fotografirati, sem čakal in čakal, da pride za mano, a nje od nikjer. Sedel sem na kolo in se odpeljal nazaj, a je ni bilo. Odpeljal sem se naprej po cesti in ravno na mestu, kjer sva se zgrešila, se je začel strm spust, tako da je Azra med tem pridobila veliko prednost. Cesta je bila ovinkasta in nisva se mogla videti.
Tako sva, oba v strahu za en za drugega pedalirala in gledala naprej, kdaj se bova zagledala! Po pravici vam povem, da sem se skoraj uscal od straha, saj sva se približevala Bosni in predsodki so me popolnoma strašili. »Kaj pa če so jo ugrabili? Kaj pa če ji kaj naredijo?«
Kasneje, po petih minutah iskanja sem jo le zagledal na drugi strani zaliva in ker je bila preveč daleč, pihala pa je močna burja, je nisem mogel priklicati in ne dohiteti tako hitro, saj me je močan veter zaustavljal celo ko sem vozil navzdol. Ni me videla. Tako sem se odločil, da ustavim kak avto in prosim voznika, če se lahko zapelje naprej in reče Azri, naj me počaka, da prihajam za njo. Verjetno je bilo prav komično, ko sem mahal in skušal ustaviti avtomobile. Mimo mene je šlo kar nekaj voznikov, preden mi je nekdo ustavil – REŠILEC! Oba reševalca v avtomobilu sta me gledala kot tesla v nova vrata, ko sem jima ves zadihan razlagal, zakaj sem ju ustavil. Pa vendar delovalo je. Dohiteli so Azro in jo zaustavili. Edini problem je bil ta, da ko je videla Azra, da se ob njej ustavlja rešilec, jo je skoraj zadela kap, saj se je ustrašila, da se mi je kaj zgodilo.
Ko sem končno prikolesaril do nje, sva se skozi tisto glasno burjo, na cesti začela dreti en na drugega, zakaj se toliko oddaljujeva brez opozorila in nisva morala verjeti, kako sva se lahko tako neumno zgrešila. Povedal sem ji, da sem stal čisto ob cesti, obrnjen s hrbtom proti njej, ko sem slikal razgled pred spustom. Nisem mogel dojeti, kako me ni videla. Povedala mi je, da je imela sončna očala na sebi, kapuco močno zapeto in zaradi močne burje ni slišala ničesar okoli sebe.
Ko sva izpljuvala vsak svojo jezo sva za trenutek utihnila in takoj zatem bruhnila v orjaški smeh, vesela, da se je vse lepo iztekla in da imava sedaj le še eno anekdoto za pripovedovanje.
Z nasmehom sva se pripeljala v Bosno in v Neum, pa v dolg, vnovičen klanec, tako da so se kilometri seštevali zelo počasi.
Pot je na tem delu res čudovita. Pokrajina je veličastna, le ko sva se peljala mimo oznake za konec Neuma, naju je spreletel srh, ko sva videla, da so na njej še vedno znaki metkov.
Malo naprej, spomenik padlemu vojaku. Ko je umrl je bil star toliko kot jaz.
Ko se voziš po tej cesti in prečkaš Bosno, je to prečkanje zelo kratko, saj si čez slabih deset kilometrov zopet na Hrvaškem. Pred ponovnim srečanjem s Hrvaško mejo se cesta zopet spremeni v dolgo spuščajočo se ravnino in pokrajina je lepa, čista, nedotaknjena. Prava paša za oči.
Takoj za mejo sta se zopet oglasila najina želodca in poskušala sva se nekje ustaviti in pojesti, vendar sva želela to storiti pod streho, saj sva pričakovala, da bo zopet začel padati dež. Nisva takoj našla primernega mesta, vendar ko se je to zgodilo, sva bila prav vesela.
Šla sva mimo prodajalke školjk in jo prosila, če bi se lahko za nekaj časa ustavila pod njeno streho, da si skuhava kosilo. Družbo ji je delal njen mož Nikolo.
Bila sta vesela najine družbe in sta nama šla zelo na roko. Skuhala sva si kosilo, kasneje pa je gospa Ana skuhala kavo in skupaj smo si jo z užitkom privoščili. To je bila za naju prva kava po skoraj dveh tednih, tako da sva ob klepetu in srkanju črnega tekočega zlata kar žarela od veselja.
Ana in Nikolo sta nama razlagala, koliko se razlikuje življenje na njihovem območju ter v notranjosti Hrvaške proti Severu. Povedala sta, kako tu vlada prava beda in da je bilo na tem območju med zadnjo vojno precej kritično. Pogovarjali smo se o mnogih drugih rečeh. Tudi o tem, kako nevarna je cesta, ob kateri smo sedeli. Vozniki tu so enostavno nori, saj ob ravninah močno preizkusijo moč svojih motorjev, kar je včasih lahko usodno. Razložila sta nama, kako jima kdaj pa kdaj povozijo kako mačko oziroma kako turisti odlagajo svoje »ljubljenčke« na cesti in potem mnogi zabredejo k njima, v njuno varstvo.
Lepo sva se jima zahvalila za enkratno družbo in se odpravila dalje proti Dubrovniku, do koder naju je ločilo le še kakih štirideset kilometrov.
eset kilometrov kasneje je moje kolo »utrpelo« prvi »gumi defekt«, ko sem malo preveč napumpal zadnje kolo. Brez problema sem menjal zračnico in krenila sva dalje.
Kakih petnajst kilometrov pred Dubrovnikom sva postavila tabor pa odličnem mestu, dovolj blizu ceste, pa vseeno dodobra skrito.
Razgled je bil ponovno veličasten, le zopet so se pokazale neprijetne sledi ljudi – smeti.
READ THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION BELOW
7.10.2007, DAY 13 - Trough Neum, towards Dubrovnik
Like we predicted, the night rain soaked the land and transformed it into mud. The rain did not stop during the night and it continued to fall trough the morning. As the matter of fact the rain increased from 6am until our start. We saved our shoes from mud by applying a silver adhesive tape on them before getting out of the tent. It worked like overshoes(galoshes).
While putting away our equipment, the owner of the land came and saw us, but he was OK. We told him we were going to leave soon and he said we can stay as much as we need if we want. We had a chat together, told him about our trip and why we camped on his field. And with that it showed how Slovenian-Croatian stereotype about bad relations isn’t always the case. People are the same everywhere. The important things are first impression and the attitude toward the person you are in contact with. Just before we sat on our bikes it started to rain like crazy, but to tell you the truth we had fun. The important thing was that we were not cold. Our rain clothes was doing us well. The silver adhesive tape wrapped around our shoes turned out to be perfect against mud and water. It saved us a lot of time, because that way we did not have to clean the mud of the shoes. Before going up hill we cut the adhesive tape from our shoes, so we could cycle easily, but the tape on our bikes stayed the whole day so we spared the overshoes a bit.
We were cycling pass this beautiful region towards Bosnia and the weather was also getting better and warmer. Just before the border with Bosnia Azra and I missed each other, because while I stopped to take some photos she passed by and did not see me. And I was next to the road, but she did not see me and I did not see her. When I stopped taking photos I waited for her to come, but she didn’t. I cycled back, but she wasn’t there, so I went forward. A long and steep descent started where we missed each other and that is why Azra gained on speed. The road was devious and we couldn’t see each other.
And so in fear both of us cycled forward hoping to find each other. To be honest I almost pissed myself because we were getting close to Bosnia and the prejudice feelings came up: What if she was kidnapped? What if someone hurts her?
After five minutes of searching I finally saw her on the other side of the bay, but she couldn’t hear me calling her because she was too far and I could not catch up with her because the wind was blowing too hard and stopping me.
She didn’t see me so I decided to stop a car and tell them when they drive pass Azra to tell her to stop and wait for me. It probably looked funny when I was waving, trying to stop those cars. There were quite some cars passing buy but the only one that stopped was THE AMBULANCE. They were looking at me weirdly while I tried to explained to them why I stopped them. But it worked. They caught up wither and when Azra saw the ambulance stop in front of her, her heart stopped because she thought something has happened to me.
When we finally found each other we started screaming on one another why we had to cycle so far apart without any warning and we could not believe how we could missed each other in such a stupid way. I told her I was right next to the road, taking photos of the view. I couldn’t understand how she didn’t see me. She told me she had sunglasses and a hat against the rain on so she couldn’t see much or hear because of the wind.
When we finished throwing our anger out we kept quite and than started laughing , happy everything turned out OK, and so we had another story to tell others.:)
We came to Neum in Bosnia with a smile and came upon a high hill so it took some time to cycle up. The road on this part was really nice, the landscape was magnificent. The only things that scared us a bit was a sign for Neum that still had signs of bullets shooting trough. And a bit forward there was a monument to a fallen soldier. He was as old as me when he died. When you cross to Bosnia on this road you find yourself back in Croatia again in about 10 kilometers.
Before entering Croatia the road changes in a long straight plain and the landscape is beautiful, clean and intact. Heaven for the eyes.
After crossing the border again, we became hungry so we tried to stop somewhere under a roof just in case it rains. After a while we found a nice place.
We went pass the shell seller and kindly asked her if we could stop under her roof for a while and make some lunch. She was accompanied by her husband Nikolo.
They were happy to help and glad they got some company. After the lunch Mrs. Ana made us coffee and it was really nice because that was our first coffee after two weeks. We talked while enjoying the coffee. Ana and Nikolo explained to us how life was different there from some other parts of Croatia. They told us it was hard to live there and that it was really critical on this area during the war. We also talked about how the road close witch we were sitting was dangerous. The drivers there go crazy and their their cars to the fullest witch could be fatal in some cases. They said it happens that some cars run over a cat or they just drop their pets on the road and so those poor creatures find shelter with them.
We thanked them for a nice company and went towards Dubrovnik witch was about 40 kilometers away.
10 kilometers later my bike had a small tire problem, because I pumped to much air I to it. I changed the inner tube without a problem and off we went.
About 15 kilometers before Dubrovnik we found a camp that was really nice, close to the road but hidden enough. The view was again very magnificent but the unpleasant trash that people left behind were again a distraction.
0 comments:
Post a Comment