On the road to Medjugorje

(note: another long missive... I can't seem to get in the routine of writing short and sweet... but then, that is the joy that is me :)

Anyway, again, I start with the food (I really don't have food issues.. it's just interesting to describe all these new experiences... bear with me :)

Friday, June 13, we at lunch at one of our favorite pizza places, Mea Culpa. I decided to try something different, pizza fruit di marre… pizza with seafood: shrimp, mussels, crab. Imagine my surprise when they brought out a pizza that was staring back at me. Five big shrimp, beady black eyes focused on me. Cathy and I laughed so hard I think we might have disturbed the other patrons in the alleyway café. After dinner we decided to treat ourselves to dessert at Dolce Vita, because of the stressful week we had had. Dessert for me was a light cake with custard and fresh cherries, peaches and strawberries, along with a cappuccino. Cathy decided to go with ice cream and I swore I would never speak to her again if she choose vanilla.

Friday night there were showers that lasted into the morning Saturday. This was the day of our big trip to Medjugorje. It was a two and one-half hour bus ride, mostly along the Dalmatian Coast; the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. We passed by cruise ships in one harbor that were gigantic. We were traveling with nine other people; a young and old couple, I think from Australia (by their accent); an older couple from New Zealand and a father, mother and daughter from Ireland. Cathy struck up a conversation with the New Zealand couple, as she had just visited there not too long ago to see her son.

We passed a 500-year old tree on the way; a pedestal had been placed under one of the limbs to support it. It was hard to see the tree from the van, but it was impressive nonetheless. We also passed the Fici Islands and Mjlet National Park. We’ll be visiting the park next Friday as part of the Art/Environmental field trip.

The first rest stop was in Neum on our way to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Along the way we saw beautiful areas of coastline, fertile valleys with orchards and farms, well irrigated, fishing traps for mussels and oysters. The guide told us the farmland area was called the Croatian California. We went through the city of Melkovic which is about 100km from Sarajevo. From there we traveled west to Western Herzegovina and towards Mostar. In these areas Croatians, Muslims and Serbs have been living together since the war. It was interesting to see the rebuilding… many second floors of homes were open, no windows, just clothesline strung inside to hang their laundry. The land was mountainous, rocky. We saw a few cemeteries; crypts above ground most likely because they could not dig through the rock to bury the dead underground and because the land might flood. There was one mosque on the way; what looked like a brand new building in the middle of farms and fields.

The vegetation was sparse, gnarled old trees and an occasional flowering plant. The area was, however, known for its pomegranate trees. I noticed as we would leave each town the there would be a sign with the name of the town and a red diagonal line through it. No “Venture back to Victor soon” signs out here.

The morning continued to be cloudy, a little gray and drizzly, even as we approached Medjugorje. We left the main highway for more of a secondary road. No guardrails, just a narrow strip of pavement, enough to fit a lane of traffic going each way. Oddly, once we arrived and found a small café at the foot of Apparition Hill so the guide could give us background, the sun came out. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay out. Our guide’s name was Julianna Stoic. We found out a little later that her family is one of the original 200 families that lived in Medjugorje before the vision. Her cousin is one of the children that saw the Virgin Mary. Now there are about 4,000 families.

Julianna told us the story; it’s something you can read online if you Google Medjugorje (I put a link below), so I won’t go into all of it here, but she did say that the fact that we were all in Medjugorje was not an accident or even our own choice; it was because we were supposed to be there. I can honestly say I did not feel the power or spirit or any living altering experience while I was there, but I did sense from our guide the incredible belief and faith that she held. Perhaps that was my message I was supposed to receive.

http://www.medjugorje.org/overview.htm

After you leave the narrow road, there is a short climb up a steep hill of paved stones. That in of itself was slippery and intimidating; Cathy and I looked up from the base of Apparition Hill and decided not to attempt it. Even on a sunny day, with dry weather and ground, it was treacherous. The rocks are jagged and uneven, interspersed with patches of red clay dirt. Mix that in with the rain overnight and that morning and we decided our limbs were not quite fit for the journey. The only disappointment (and I had forewarning from someone at the college) was all the little gift shops situated along the stone path, before you arrived at the bottom of the hill. Cathy wondered what the Virgin Mary would think of those.

We watched as some of our group made the trek up the hill (God bless them, literally). There are bronze plaques staged along the way so that you can pray at each, following the signs of the cross. From there you could also see across to Cross Mountain where a huge stone cross was erected, in further tribute. One of the words that Julianna translated for us was mir, peace. I found it highly ironic, because after we attended the Croatian mass at St. James' church and had lunch, lit candles at the church and waited for our tour guide and driver to return home, in the parking lot were three elderly ladies, fighting over a package of some sort. Pushing, yelling, hitting each other… like little kids. Again, I wondered if they realized how bizarre that looked, given the lay of the land.

It was a long day; finally arriving back at the gates of Old Town around 6:30, but the scenic drive and hearing Julianna tell the story of Medjugorje was worth the time.

As we walked through Old Town to get to the restaurant and meet the students for dinner, we stopped to take pictures of a wedding at one of the churches in Old Town. The bride and groom stood at the top of the steps and threw candy to the crowd, while a small band serenaded them. It was very festive.

Sunday was our own day of rest. We decided to venture to the west of Old Town in search of a real grocery store. I became the sole search party as Cathy wanted to rest. I was thrilled to find a real store with grocery carts and scanners... although neither of us could read a word of Croatian on any of the packaging. The language does not lend itself to even fuzzy interpretation; there's just no reference to understand it.

We decided to forgo the hills and stairs and took a taxi back to the apartment. The driver was whipping around a corner and up a hill and I asked a question just to make conversation; "don't talk to me while I'm driving uphill," he said nicely.

Well, today is another day; our student seems to have settled in and I don't think she'll be going home, so we should be here for the duration. As much as I'm enjoying the culture and surroundings, I have my moments of homesickness as well.

for now.. hugs and mir.. annette