From the city that I
didn't have any plan to go few days before, I was going to experience my 3rd
day in Mostar, thing that never happened before during this trip. Most of the
times I was spending just one night in each city and sometimes I spent 2, but
there I was going to spend my 3rd one. Normally I when I'm traveling using
Couchsurfing, I don't really feel comfortable to stay in someone's place for
more than 1 night, sometimes I stay 2 days, but hardly ever I use to send a
request for longer.
I try to put myself in my host's situation, once that I already
hosted others. When I'm staying in their places, I feel that even being excited
to meet me up and share this private space with me, having a intense exchange,
they lose in someway their privacy, they need to change their routines and once
you're hosting, normally you want to give your best to your guest and then
you'll spend a lot of energy on it. I would say that afterwards they'll
be tired, needing their own space, privacy, routine and pace back.
As a host I felt the same, I didn't use to accept requests for
long term. Always when I hosted someone I just had a room that I use to share
my private space with my guest and I had just one key that I used to keep with
myself making my guests being depended of me sometime, making me to be worried
about them as well. I love the experience of hosting and guesting, but I
believe that these experiences are so intense that sometimes it's necessary to
have a break. The way that I can define myself: A person that has moments to
feel good being around people, connected with them and exchanging these good
energies together. At the same time I also have the moments that I like to be
by myself isolated, in my solid and dry square.
This is the way that I am. I can be the most sociable person that
you could ever met, but sometimes the need some moments for myself as well.
About Mostar, I had some rules, I should respect the space of my
host, respecting my conduct code that say to me for not staying longer than 2
night in someone's place. We actually even didn't need to discuss about it,
what we are thinking at lunch was what we would have as dinner.
I'm really flexible for everything and that's how the exceptions
come. I just decided to stay one more night in Mostar. I felt so connected with
my host that I didn't really need to keep moving in this moment.
My plan was about to spend one night in each city, going to the south
as fast as I could with the intention to visit as many cities and countries as
I could, but in Mostar this mind thinking just changed. This was one of the
best lessons of my trip. I became so flexible that number of countries or
cities that I've been didn't really matter anymore. I don't really feel proud
of the fact I had the chance to visit over 25 different countries or hundreds
cities in my life until this moment. Sometimes I didn't even experience that
much something valuable and sometimes it was remarkable experience.
The kind of trip that you just stopped in a attraction and took a
selfie catching this building behind you smiling nicely and then updating it in
the Instagram, after you tagging the location and feeling accomplished after
dozens likes. Cool!
I used to do it often dude, don't feel offended, maybe I still can
catch myself doing the same. What I'm saying is that for me now it matters more
to get know one place better than travel crazily around just for likes that I’ll
receive for my Facebook check-ins. After few weeks traveling I just decided to
replace the days that I would spend in Sarajevo, the capital, in this unknown
city: Mostar.
Thing that I will never regret, you'll see later that Sarajevo,
the target of y trip, is a city that I didn't really visit, even being just
150km away from there.
My lesson about Mostar is the one that I wrote in the chapter
before, feeling like a local. When I said that I was feeling as someone from
Mostar, It's something like that I was walking in a local market looking for
cheap tobacco that my host told me to go there.
After walking few minutes around there without talking with
anybody because I didn't speak Croatian or Bosnian, I just gave up after not
seeing anybody selling tobacco right there.
Afterwards when I was having lunch with my host, she gave me key
tips in what I needed to do to complete my task with success. My goal was
buying tobacco in a black market in Mostar, not speaking the same language.
When I said black market, it means that the tobacco isn't controlled by the
government. It's like a farmer that produces its own tobacco and want to sell
it without paying taxes. Specifically this tobacco was from Serbia, once the
tobacco there is even cheaper.
Arriving at the market again I just started to talk with some
people that were working there using a single word: tobacco. Using this single
word, a lady that was selling clothes just started to speak Croatian pointing
me to a place that I should go but when realized that I wasn't understand a
single word that she was saying, she just grabbed my arm and walked with me
until the guy that was selling spices in a table. I just repeated the word
tobacco in front of him and he opened a drawer in his table and grabbed a
pack of one kilo and offered. I was like: Damn it, what I'm going to do with
1kg of tobacco. I used to smoke 2 - 3 cigarettes per day, spending in one month
around a pack of 30g of tobacco. One kilo would be definitely too much for me.
Using hand signals I just asked smaller amount, the communication
was working somehow and he showed a pack of half kilo that and using his hands
he asked 15 Bosnian Markas for it. I just had 14 Markas in my pocket and using
signals to explain it, we just made had a final deal ;) Half kilo of tobacco cost
me 7 Euros. I'm currently living in Germany and over here a pack of cigarette
from a popular brand is going to cost the same 7 euros. Just for comparison of
prices, over here 120g of tobacco costs about 20 euros, same price that I
insanely could buy 1,5kg. Thanks for the governments actions that tax more the
tobacco, creating some obstacles for its consumption. Once everyone knows that
the tobacco isn't the healthiest thing that you can burn and send the smoke
inside your longs.
Anyway this experience was another unique one that I had in
Mostar. I don't really believe that as a tourist I could find this cheap
tobacco and communicate with them without sharing any language in common. This
was just a special moment. I just finished this tobacco almost on year later,
giving part of it to smokers that I met overtime. Just for my host I gave maybe
15% - 20% of the total amount.
Mostar, my exception, breaking my own rules of limit time of stay
I could really feel connected more and more with this place.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário