Monatsarchive: Juni 2018

It’s noon in Bosnia. You are driving on a winding two-lane road several hundred meters above the Adriatic. Our only goal will be the western shore. Does life get any better than this? I think not.

Originally I had planned to climb this, until I saw it and realized how much time and effort it would take. I stood next to a dumpster on the sidewalk and looked at the cross for a while, just in … Weiterlesen →

We have lined up with our clean swabs to dab at the moisture on Christ’s knee and calf and then annoint ourselves with the result. This statue is miraculous. Science cannot explain how water can condense on smooth metal in … Weiterlesen →

Drivers in Bosnia as well as Croatia seem to regard speed limits and signage as perhaps well-intentioned suggestions rather than rules to be followed. This morning I was doing 55km in a 50km zone and was passed at speed by … Weiterlesen →

The church is packed. I happened upon a mass in German, which is fitting (coincidental? inspired by God?) I guess. If I was here with Patience we would have dipped our fingers in the holy water, and she would have … Weiterlesen →

I think knowledge versus entertainment is the dialectic I’ve been thinking about recently. At the oceanside restaurant there was seating at shared tables. A Philippino-American woman compared notes with a couple from Singapore who enjoyed Mostar. „What is there to … Weiterlesen →

In all this no help was to be had from the Yugoslav Embassy, which was still royalist, though Ambassador Simić and his small staff had declared themselves for Marshal Tito. Formally respected, they were in fact more insignificant and accordingly … Weiterlesen →

I am delighted to see the Adriatic again, and at the same time Split is absolutely dominated by the passengers from these behemoths. The streets are all full of tourists. Businesses exist for the tourists. Restaurants and bars charge several … Weiterlesen →

The hotel is a converted car dealership in a light industrial area, up a pot-holed access road between warehouses and shipping companies. The only people I have seen so far are the receptionist and a cleaning lady. Mine has been … Weiterlesen →

The Šaran pit

Guardian: Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur who acts as a watchdog on extreme poverty around the world, has issued a withering critique of the state of America today. … Americans now live shorter and sicker lives than citizens of … Weiterlesen →