Soren, who is driving around all over BiH for a Belgian bakery (sadly not in my direction this time) took me for some kilometers until we reached the junction that leads to Trebinje, a small city near the border to Montenegro.
While I was taking my backpack out of the trunk, he saw a van driving by and miraculously stopped it by giving the driver a sign. Then he asked if the guy, who's name was Miran, was going to Trebinje - and yes he was! Never got a ride like this before :D"
So that was the mood today - until I got to Trebinje. Miran dropped me just at the border of the old city, so I thought I might as well have a quick lunch there. But you know how it is when you're hungry: suddenly all the places only serve drinks.
When I finally found a way too fancy hotel to spend my last 7KM for an onion soup, I was already kind of grumpy for no very obvious reason - maybe it was the heat, or the fact that I had felt quite sick again when I had woken up in the morning.
The whole eating process took about an hour, then I started walking a kilometer or so out of the city to reach a junction. I couldn't resist the shadow there, even though it meant that I was less visible; I though the warn west would do it's job. But it didn't.
Cars kept passing by, and lots of people were signaling me that they were locals staying in the city. So after some time I gave up my shady place and walked a bit further - cars couldn't really stop there, so I continued walking until I reached a traffic light, and behind that, a bus station.
But people still didn't stop.
Then a car from the other side of the road came to stop in the middle of the bus station, blocking all the space. Great. The guy sitting inside, apparently waiting for someone, didn't get my hateful glances.
Then another car, now from the right direction, came to stop behind the first car. Trying my best smile, I asked the guy who got out if he was leaving the city - he shook his head. Great.
Now I had two cars standing in this shitting bus stop and really didn't know what I should do. I don't remember when I had been in such a desperate and annoyed mood. I just wanted to go home, have a shower, and get a decent night of sleep.
But in the end, after one hour that felt like a week, a car stopped - for me. I don't give a shit where he was going and just got in, trying my best to be a happy conversationalist. Slobodan luckily didn't speak a lot of English anyway, so there was not so much to talk. I think it was about 2pm by then, which doesn't sound too bad, but I still had a border to cross and lots if serpentines to conquer. You can imagine how I wasn't really excited when he stopped to have a coffee with me - not speaking a word of English.
Politely I declined the invitation and hoped he'd finish with his coffee quickly. We started some kind of conversation with google translate, and he apparently tried to tell me that it would be better for me to continue hitchhiking from the place we were at instead of going with him, but I only unserstood that when I was burning in the sun some kilometers further up the hill.
There was a bus station, yes. But there was no cars. At all.
Great.
Out of frustration I had a banana and some berries growing around me and my bus station, and considered my next steps. I could either stand here and count the number of cars driving in the wrong direction, or I could start walking up the hill and see if I make it to the border, which was about 5km uphill.
Of course I went for the second option - I remember thinking that I'd at least earn my surely big frustration-dinner that way. Sweating all over and with an annoyingly hurting back I turned around from time to time, when cars were actually going my direction.
I swear, I already saw myself walking across the border, but after "only" 15 minutes of hiking, Miro in his red Volkswagen, as I had seen them a thousand times while standing in Trebinje, stopped. He had a "don't drink and drive"-sign dangling down from his backmirror, so I trusted him immediately.
He didn't speak English either, but drove me across the border to Montenegro, where the guards would've waved us trough without even checking my papers, but Miro insisted to have my passport stamped. Who knows what this will be good for in the end haha.
Sadly he would only drive me until a junction after Vilusi, the second small settlement after the border. Cars couldn't really stop there, and I also didn't really want to stand anywhere, so I simply followed the road. One way or the other I'd arrive, right? And it was only 33km to the next gas station anyway!
Occasionally turning around when I heard cars going my direction, I walked an estimated 2 kilometers until I decided that I would find any better curve. When I had put my backpacks down I expected the worst, but again after less than 10 minutes a car stopped.
Dašan inside seemed nice, until he started talking about German girls and Montenegrin guys and caressing my legs. What the fuck dude. It took me four "NO! NOT OKAY!"s until he finally got it and then acted like nothing happened, asking me if I like Montenegro.
Well, I would've, if you hadn't ruined it from the beginning, stupid prick.
I knew I wouldn't succeed in explaining the bad impression he had made about his country, so I just signaled him that I wanted to be dropped at the bus station in Nicšić.
As you know, buses are not part of the deal, but in this moment I really didn't feel like I could make the 70km that were left until Žabljak. Instead I got a ticket for 6€ (wtf?!) and a Cappucchino at the bus station, which lifted my mood for a short time, because the guy actually put chocolate syrup inside :)
This being the worst hitchhiking experience so far, I am now more sad and disappointed (and a bit disgusted) than frightened or shocked. I hate to write about incidents like these, because I don't want you to worry (hi Mama), but on the other side, sadly, this is really part of the deal.
Anyway in the end I arrived in the Hiker's Den in Žabljak, had an awesome shower and found some nice people to cook with. Tomorrow we'll go for the higher peak of Montenegro. Yay :)
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