"I love this jungle city"

Sarajevo, December 27th.

We have to say goodbye for now. Matteo's love is coming to town, so he found a room in Baščaršija for both. It's a lovely hostel near Sebilj, ruled by the most alcoholic man in the world. As I am closing the door, I took a look at the living room. Empty bottles of Vranac, Sarajevo navigators, some wrinkled t-shirts, full ashtrays... rests of an intense week. (It's the beginning of a beautiful friendship, you know...)

It's cold, damn cold. It has been snowing from Christmas eve. We walked down the stairs, trying not to slip. We arrived to the crossroads between Splitska and Radnička. We hug and say see you later, call me when you're free. He took Splitska and I took Radnička, the opposite direction.

Ten minutes later, I am near my office, listening to some music. A yellow taxi passes by me, and I see someone waving inside. I take a second look and I see a mop of dark curly hair. It's Matteo, and he's waving at me. Inside a yellow taxi in Grbavica. I wave to him, while he's reading in my face: "What the hell are you doing here? You should be in Baščaršija now".

Five minutes later, I'm having a coffee in Caffe Centar. And I receive an sms which I still keep in my mobile. It goes like this:

" Don't worry, I'm not paying now. Cabdriver has to take his wife at home. I'll start to pay in Zagrebačka. I love this jungle city".

Samir found me laughing and ordered another coffee for him.


OST Šaban Bajramović - Đelem đelem

Fast food

We were sitting in a Ćevabdžinica in Baščaršija. We were obviously eating ćevapi with kajmak. When we finished, she took a crumpled paper from her jacket. It was a poem in Serbian. I need to study it for my exam tomorrow, she said. Then she started translating to me:

Wait for me, and I'll come back!
Wait with all you've got!
Wait, when dreary yellow rains
Tell you, you should not.
Wait when snow is falling fast,
Wait when summer's hot,
Wait when yesterdays are past,
Others are forgot.
Wait, when from that far-off place,
Letters don't arrive.
Wait, when those with whom you wait
Doubt if I'm alive.

Wait for me, and I'll come back!
Wait in patience yet
When they tell you off by heart
That you should forget.
Even when my dearest ones
Say that I am lost,
Even when my friends give up,
Sit and count the cost,
Drink a glass of bitter wine
To the fallen friend -
Wait! And do not drink with them!
Wait until the end!

Wait for me and I'll come back,
Dodging every fate!
"What a bit of luck!" they'll say,
Those that would not wait.
They will never understand
How amidst the strife,
By your waiting for me, dear,
You had saved my life.
Only you and I will know
How you got me through.
Simply - you knew how to wait -
No one else but you.

Then she asked me if I liked it. I just said Yes, it's very beautiful. She nodded and sighted.

This is from the old hard times, you know, she told me. Everything was dark, hard, scary. Even looking through the window. Not to talk about going out. If your mother went out for water, and it took to her 5 minutes more than usual, then all nightmares came to my head. All was sad. But everything had a meaning. Important things were measured and valued just how they worth. Now things are different. Everything is like fast food. Like ćevapi. Everything must be done right now. And love is not fast food. We don't know what it's important in life anymore. So we are confused and frustrated.

I didn't reply. We took a look at Sebilj. It was snowing again.

(Few days later I discovered that this poem was written by Konstantin Simonov in 1941. He was Russian. All that made me feel a bit disappointed. Few weeks later, Sarajevo celebrated its liberation by Tito's Yugoslav Partisans on April 6th 1945. The same year Simonov wrote the poem, the city was occupied by the Nazis that used the Croatian Ustaša government as a puppet. Then the image of the Russian poet in the war front missing his lover Valentina came to my mind).



Dedicated to you for all the inspiration.

OST Some Skroz song I like on Radio Sarajevo

Blue and Red

There are some things in life that you just cannot explain. I heard many times those are the best things that can happen in your life. I don't know if this statement it's true or not. I just say that they are things that are hard to explain.

For example, I like football. Very much. I know it's just a sport, a game like any other games in the planet. But if my team scores, I feel euphoric. A discharge of adrenaline travels all around my body. I feel happy for a second. And also if my team, Barcelona, loses like it did yesterday (4-1) against its biggest rival (Real Madrid) I can't stand my rage for a while. I feel sad. And then I realise that it's just 22 guys running after a ball. They are millionaires and they will still be millionaires today, they don't care about you and your frustration, said someone. And then my mind switches to some of my daily worries.

I saw this graffiti for the first time few months ago. It is just in front of Grbavica Shopping Center, which is next to my office. It's been a long time that I wanted to talk about it, and I think this is the best day. It's a good evidence of Bosnian sense of humour either. (Note: the pronunciation of Barca in Bosnian is similar to the original Catalan word Barça, refered to FC Barcelona).

There are 2 football teams in Sarajevo, both playing in Bosnian Premijer Liga: FK Sarajevo and Željezničar, also known as Željo. The FK Sarajevo plays in Koševo Stadium, the biggest one that hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics inauguration, its colour is red and it is more popular in the center and old town. Željo was founded by some rail workers in 1921 (in fact its name means "rail worker" in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian), its stadium is located in Grbavica and blue is its colour.

You probably will think that fans from both teams hate each other. I thought the same till I saw fans from Sarajevo and Željo walking together to see the local derby at the Quarter Finals of the Bosnian Cup. During the match, hooligans from both sides compete to be the noisiest. They insult each other following the long tradition of Bosnian swearing. But when the game is finished, they leave the stadium together. Don't be surprised if you see a bunch of blue and red flags together in the trolleybus stop.

But it may happen that the any public transport is working after the match, due to that some hooligans destroyed once some tramways "celebrating" a victory. It's a hothead action we also saw in some other Western countries like the USA or the United Kingdom. In Sarajevo you might hear about some hooligans knocking a tramway down. What is very hard to find in the newspapers is the chronicle of a fight between hooligans of Sarajevo and Željo.

Blue and reds share a passion for a sport that probably they cannot explain either. But at least all of them understand one thing: they are only rivals in the stadium. Because football it's basically just a sport.

I think some hooligans from Spain or Italy should come here to see a Sarajevo-Željo match.



OST Zoster - Hercegovina

Ljubljanized! (17-20 April)

I had the great opportunity to go to the General Assembly of the European Volunteer Centre (CEV, acronym in French) that took place in Ljubljana (capital city of Slovenia) from 17th to 20th April. CEV is an European network of volunteer organizations all around the continent. I went there as the representative of SEEYN, new member of CEV. The main topic of the conference was Putting volunteering on the economic map of Europe. For that reason, the main speech was done by Lester Salamon, director of the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Civil Society Studies (USA). This institution works for the recognition of the economic weight of volunteer activities by the ILO. After a long day of discussions among their members, CEV agreed to urge EU countries and EUROSTAT to measure the economic value of volunteering. And it was great for me to be a part of this.

What to say about the city? Ljubljana is a beautiful quiet city, more similar to Austria than to a Balkan city. Coming to the tidy capital city of Slovenia from chaotic Sarajevo is the perfect way to notice it. "This is not a Balkan country, or at least we're somewhere in between the Balkans and Central Europe", a local guy told me. The city center is smaller than I thought, so you can reach everything on foot. And it is really nice to walk along the river, crossing the Triple bridge. Sitting on a terrace on a sunny Sunday and take a look at the castle. Then walk again to enjoy the coloured buildings and the wide squares. Everything is so beautiful and perfect that you have the feeling that you're in a fairy tale, waiting for some blond princess to appear in the balcony of the Town Hall. (The fact that it didn't happen to me doesn't mean that it could happen to you. Who knows. Everything is possible).


But if you're tired of this ideal and romantic atmosphere, then head to Metelkova. This autonomous social center is located on what used to be the Slovenian headquarters of the Yugoslav People's Army. There you can find seven buildings: art galleries, bars (a gay bar included), and also the popular Hostel Celica. This hostel won several awards basically due to its special origins: it was a former prison redecorated by some local artists. So you can live the unique and claustrophobic experience of sleeping on a strangely beautiful cell. But at least you're free to go out whenever you want, and enjoying the wide offer of drinks in Metelkova bars: you can chose among a can of Union or Laško beer. I strongly recommend this place because of its originality. Every detail on the walls calls your attention. Some of the people I was with compared it with East Berlin.

And if you have a car and a free day, don't miss the lakes Bled and Bohinsko. Just 40 minutes far from Ljubljana, Bled is another fairy tale place, with its church in an island in the middle of the lake. And the castle on a hill over the lake. Amazingly beautiful but too touristic for me. I preferred the pure air of sea-coloured lake Bohinsko. "This is the Caribbean", Nicola joked. (It was cold and rainy. I smiled, thinking to myself: well, there is something from the Caribbean that I miss now...).
Back in town we enjoyed the Saturday night life on a huge club in the center. Then you are aware of the Balkan halve of Slovenians: girls and boys dancing pop and turbo folk songs in Croatian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian... and of course Slovenian. An special suggestion from Lluch, the great discover coming from Barcelona: talk to the Bosnian taxi drivers in Ljubljana. "They are nice and funny, and we were talking about politics", he told me. By the way, that was at 5am after the party.

Lake Bled

Dedicated to all the nice people I met in Ljubljana, especially Lluch and Nicola. I'll be waiting for you in Sarajevo!

OST Some shitty country song on Radio Sarajevo

Postcards from my palace

I still think that this is a wonderful city. Full of life, full of hope.

I just needed some time to settle. Now I have some new energies.

First of all, take a look at the views from my new house over Alifakovać cemetery.

Because we worth it. Yeah.

Vidimo se sutra.


OST Some sevdah song which I don't know the name...

Mister Sarajevo (Becoming a local celebrity)

I was only a week at home, but I didn't waste my time.

First of all, I was with my family. I saw them after for the first time after 3 months. It really charged my batteries. Especially knowing that I'm gonna be an uncle soon!

I also saw some friends. You're great, guys. Thanks for being there for me once more.

Besides, I started a bright career as a local media star. First of all, I was interviewed in a local radio emission, along with European volunteers who are in my city now. We all shared our personal experiences as a part of European Voluntary Service. It was funny to see that no matter what are you doing, where do you come from or where are you working, we all have been through the same states of mind in the same period.

Apart from this, I am glad because for the first time someone has dedicated me a post on his blog. It only could be one of my most loyal fans, Jose Luis from Carafur. The post it's called "Mister Sarajevo" and it's in Spanish. But if you can't read it, at least you can check the Miss Sarajevo clip he add there. This song was recorded by U2 in 1995, and it talks about a beauty contest held during the war in the besieged Sarajevo. In fact the winner was crowned Miss Besieged Sarajevo. And all of this happened in a place where the sound of mortars and snipers shots where the everyday soundtrack. Where crossing the street was risking your life.

Here you have another evidence of the bravery of Sarajevans. That was a time for beauty queens too. Now it's time to enjoy life. And Sarajevo knows how to do it.




(Thank you Jose Luis).

(Dedicated to everyone that lived in Sarajevo during the siege).

Brand new world

Don't worry, guys. I'm fine. I just was on holidays. But now I'm back in my belowed Sarajevo.

It's been almost a month since my last post and many things had happened in the Balkans while I was having a great time in Dominican Republic and Spain.

Denis, 16, was killed in a tram near Holiday Inn. For no special reason, some guys stabbed him among all the people that were there. It was around 3pm. That caused the biggest civil protests in Sarajevo from the war times. And that happened on February 9th, while I was walking around Madrid with my sister.

I was swimming in the Caribbean when Kosovo declared the independence from Serbia. I was happy although I had a hangover of the wedding the day before. I obviously didn't care about the rest of the world on that day.

I saw on TV how some Serbian nationalists burned American and Croatian embassies in Belgrade. I was having dinner with my parents, and my father asked me if that was the city where I live in. That's Serbia, dad, not Bosnia. He just nod and keep on eating.

It seems that many things have changed during the last weeks. I closed a cycle and I started a brand new one. Just like the Balkans: Kosovo's independence closes a circle that was opened with the Kosovo Albanians protests during the 80's and continued with the Balkan wars in the 90's.


OST Beirut - Elephant gun

(Dedicated to the happy just married guys, and all my friends from Alejandro Bass. I just love you so much. Now... ¿cómo lo hacemos?)

Farewell the ashtray city (for now)

I'm 3 hours in flying to Madrid. I'll be far from my belowed Sarajevo for 21 days. In the next three weeks I'm gonna live at least two wonderful experiences: be back in Dominican Republic, in the wedding of one of my best friends; and then see my family for the first time in 3 months.


But I will miss this city. For thousands of reasons: my friends (you know who you are), Basčaršija, Begova dzamija, Arts Academy, the trams, polako polako, some ćevapi at Hodzić, bosanska kafa, Sarajevsko pivo, a kapućino in the morning with Samir, saying Good morning to Lejla and Chiara, Dobro jutro radio, Grbavica, eating pastrmka at Lights, seeing wahabits praying at King Fahd's mosque, Ferhadija, walking along Miljacka, the lights on the hills, the chaos, the old men playing chess in the squares, Hotel Bristol, Alipašina dzamija... like a genius said once, I love this jungle city.


And this is my tribute to Sarajevo:


"If you play with the lines on the map of Europe, you will have to find Sarajevo. It is revealed where lines cross over the Balkans. First you draw a line from Paris, through Venice and then to Istanbul, the closest East that Europe knew for centuries. A second line starts in Northern Europe, goes between Berlin and Warsaw, through the Mediterranean, and then to Africa. These lines meet over Bosnia and Herzegovina. And, in fact, they cross over Sarajevo.


Here wars started and here they went on, while people loved and longed for love. Here merchants were selling goods from all over the world and life was close and distant to ways of the East and the West. It was Western for the East, and Oriental for the West. It is the life in Sarajevo".


From "Sarajevo Survival Guide" by Fama colective (1993), page 94.



OST Placebo - This picture

The Rulebook for the Bosnian football

Jasenko sent a link to Chica and I obviously read it... it is really funny!

And reading the post about this special and wonderful country called Bosnia i Hercegovina I've found another one that explains how easy is to have a Bosnian national football team which represents the diversity of the country... here you have!

General rules
The first team is consisted of eleven players. All three constitutional nationalities must be equaly represented according to the folowing rules:

The right and left winger must be of be different nationalites.
The playmaker must be of the same nationality as the goalkeeper.
The left wing back and the left winger cannot be from the same entity.
All kantons must have at least one representative in the first team.
No two players must have the same uncle.
At least one third of the players must be returned refugees.
The number of players with a beard must not be higher then the number of players with no hair. On the left side of the field there must be an equal number of players from all three nationalites.
On the right side of the field there must be an equal number of players from all three nationalites.
All three nationalites must be represented on the forward position.
The defence must have an equal number of players of all three nationalites.
The Goalie must be 1/3 Bosnian 1/3 Croatian and 1/3 Serbian.

And what about the Bosnian football league?
The home team wins by default.
The home team reserves the right to beat up the referee if rule above has not been met.
The team that wins 2 away games in a season and still returns to home with all its players is automatically crowned champion.

New rules: conditions to enter in the European Union
At least one third of the players must be homosexual;
At least one third of the players must be left handed;
All players must cooperate with the Haag Tribunal.
Those players who are staying in a foreign country can not be in the first team.


(Thanks to Uncyclopedia guys. It is really funny! And Sretan Rođendan, Jas!)

Some bored Norwegian guys in Kosovo

As you know, in few days Kosovo's Assembly will declare the independence of this UN-administred territory. If you live in Beijing or New York, you probably don't care about that. But things are quite different if you live in Balkans. So let's make a brief summary of how are things going in these days.

The first round of voting on Serbian Presidential elections took place in January 20th . The winner was Tomislav Nikolić, the candidate of the ultranationalist Serb Radical Party, four points ahead of the current President Boris Tadić, from the moderate Democratic Party. Next Sunday, Serbia has to decided among 2 opposite ways: the pro EU Tadić or the pro Russia Nikolić. As Tadić said yesterday in a live TV debate: "Serbia is at the crossroads. We are faced with a choice, either the European Union or isolation", referring to Nikolić's idea that Serbia should drop its candidature to join the EU if this one back Kosovo's independence. The Radical leader argues that "with its position Russia has so far prevented the United States and the European Union from taking Kosovo away from us".

Kosovo is considered the historic motherland of Serbia. The main myth of Serbian nationalism is the battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389, when a coalition of Bosnian and Serb troops lead by Prince Lazar were defeated by the Otomans, and it was the beginning of the following 500 years domination of both territories by Istambul. Milosević's famous speech in Kosovo Polje in 1989, in the 600 anniversary of this defeat, stated that "we are ready to fight again". Today, Kosovo is totally different from that territory Serbs were defending from the Ottoman invasion. The main ethnic group is Albanian, with around 90% of the population.

Kosovo's Assembly, dominated by a ethnic Albanian majority, is expecting the results of Serbian Presidential election to declare the independence. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said the this declaration is a matter of days, and even fixed it on February 7th. EU members agreed on the deployment of a police and justice force in the territory after this declaration. Some Italian troops will arrive to this territory within following days.

People in BiH is anxiously expecting the post-independence scenario. The extremely original political system of the country is not the best frame to guarantee political stability, with its 2 almost sovereign entities and a weak federal level ruled by a foreign High Representative. Public institutions in Bosnia are based on an ethnic cryteria, dividing power among Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks. Politicians like Milorad Dodik, Prime Minister of Republika Srpska (the Bosnian Serb entity), take profit of this complex context threatening that if Montenegro or Kosovo could be independent, the Bosnian Serbs can also organise a referendum to separate from BiH and either join Serbia or be independent. Statements like that made the war ghosts come back to BiH, if they really had ever left the country.

So now you can understand why tension is one of the most used words nowadays in Balkans. I think the video you can see below will at least make you laugh a bit. The song was first recorded in 1999 by Bob Rivers, a DJ from Seattle, who recorded a cover of Kokomo by The Beach Boys with the aim of making fun of the world police role that his country had in unknown places for most of the Americans. In 2002 some Norwegian soldiers in the UN mission in Kosovo decided to make a clip of it. It obviously offended public authorities in Serbia, and this guys were brought back to Norway in the blink of an eye.

Anyway, I think it's funny. Enjoy it. And take a look at the lyrics if you need them.

... i Hercegovina (February 25th-27th)

Every story has a beginning. And this one started one month and a half ago, in the Dalmatian coast. But this time it has nothing to do with Split. The place was Crikvenica, near Rijeka, and the excuse was something called On-Arrival Training. There I met other volunteers from many parts of Europe (mostly France) who are "working" in the Balkans. For 5 days we share laughs, songs, beers, feelings... and more. We said See you soon in different local languages with lots of kisses and hugs.

The second part of this story took part last weekend in the sunny capital of the sunny Hercegovina, called Mostar. (Yeah, right, the one with the bridge, that one). One Belgian girl called Charline (aka Chica) hosted another Flemish (Pink Martijn) in Bosnia, a French crazy girl living in Serbia (Amélie), 3 more Frenchies living in Macedonia (Tonio, Pero and Juliette), and an Italian (Francesca) and an Spanish (me) living in Sarajevo. All these bastards mixed with Hercegovian and Bosnian people, like the great Jasenko. A Balkan EVS cocktail.

We all arrived on Friday night to Chica's place and we had a great party there. The world is so small: I've met there Biljana's best friend, who was working in my office till 2 months before I came. We all sleep in the house, 11 people. Great "communistic sleep", as Martijn would call it.

Saturday morning, time to know the city. First we went to the Partisan Memorial, the monument for the dead yugoslavian soldiers in the Second World War. It's a strange hybrid of a cathedral in ruins and some sort of socialist architecture. Unfortunately, the local authorities don't care about it and it is in a deplorable condition. Besides, youngsters come there to drink and have fun without caring of the trash they leave. A shame. Anyway, it worths it: you can see the whole city below you.

After the Memorial, we just keep on walking to see the city in the Bosnian way: easy easy. Stopping here and there for a coffee.

Mostar is divided by the Neretva river in 2 sides: the croatian (catholic) and the muslim. Close to the river, where the frontline was during the war, you can see the scars of the war. Many buildings are still in ruins. But in some of them you can still feel the old splendour, like the hotel in the muslim part. I must say that I like very much the sense of humour of the people in this town: we saw some funny graffitis like "The aliens distroyed the bridge" or "I work in black and I spend the money in white".

Some curiosities for my Spanish reader's: one of the biggest squares of the city is Španski Trg, remembering all the Spanish soldiers that died in Mostar during the war. And you can also find some places like El Manjo. Note: in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian "nj" has the same sound of Spanish "ñ".

In the afternoon we finally went to the old town. This place doesn't seem real. You see the cobblestoned street with the tiny old houses, painted in different colours. There you have lots of craftwork shops, perfect for the lots of tourists. And of course the amazing Stari Most, the old bridge. When you are on it looking at Neretva green water, you feel like time can just stop and everything will be perfect. And I also can't believe that people really jumps from this 24 metres heigh to the river. So I have to come back to see that!


Next to the bridge there is a stone where it is written "Don't forget '93", refering the year where the bridge was distroyed. I won't forget it.

At the evening, we went to Abrašević, a youth center, were it was a 70's party. Disco music and youngsters dressed like Tony Manero were dancing and kissing each other in a very free sharing way. Then we went to another club to see Let3 concert, a rock band from Rijeka. What to say about these guys? They are the craziest band I've seen in my life! The concert was amazing, we enjoyed it very much! And of course we made a lot of Hercegovian friends that were jumping with us since the first riff came from the guitars.

Sunday was a day for relax. Martijn and Jasenko left in the morning, and the French council went to the climb club to practice a bit. So Francesca, Chica and me went to Blagaj, to see the Dervish house there. Beautyful and peaceful place, the perfect one if you need to disconnect from the rest of the world. These dervishes were clever guys.

Our trip finished in the train station, where we met all the Frenchies back from the climbing sessions. See you soon, guys. It was amazing. We have to repeat that. Definitely.

BONUS TRACK:

Intensive course on Balkan way of life in only 5 hours: from Mostar to Blagaj and back

We took a cab in Mostar to start this adventure. As soon as the driver realised that I was Spanish, he asked me if I liked football. Then which is my favourite team. My city's one, Elche C.F., I replied. I know, it is in 2nd Division now, he said. Wow. Then he told me that he went to school with Meho Kodro, former striker in Barcelona and Real Sociedad and Bosnian national team coach nowadays. Wow again. But still the best was yet to come. I like Barcelona, he said, because Real Madrid was Franco's team and Barcelona was the team for the people who wanted democracy and social rights. Wow, wow and wow.

Since there was no cabs in Blagaj, we stopped a car and asked the driver if he was going to Mostar. Then we agreed a price and we got into the car, a Volkswagen Golf 2 (like 1 out of 2 Bosnians). Mustafa, the guy, was talking about the history of the fortress, smoking a lot, laughing, and sometimes looking at the road. Just sometimes.

OST Somewhere beyond the sea (in a strange instrumental way on Radio Sarajevo)

Finally, Split (January 11th-14th)

Today I've received a postcard of Granada, and then I've decided to write about my weekend in Split. I know that for most of you this is a nonsense, but it is not.

I went to Split to meet Guada, from Buenos Aires. My friends already know that fact, so if you are looking for gossip I'm afraid this post is going to disappoint you.

I took the bus from my dear Sarajevo at 9pm and I was supposed to arrive to Split around 4:30am. But sometimes miracles happens, so I got there at 3:30am. Great. For the first time in my Balkan life, a bus from Bosnia is not only arriving at least one hour late but even one hour before planned. It is not the best day for that to me, since I don't have a place to stay that night, and Guada was coming from Ancona (Italy) by boat at 7am.

So let's make night tourism. I was walking around the tiny cobblestoned streets of the old town, the Dioclecian palace. I strongly recommend to everyone to do that: the Roman buildings are just beautiful with the moonlight.

For more than an hour I didn't see any living being in that part of the city. Suddenly, some drunk guys singing probably in their way back home from a club. I felt good, that's finally a normal Friday night scene.

Around 5:30am I've found a bar opened and I went there. A capuccino and a good book (Sarajevo Marlboro) woke me up before I've picked Guada up 2 hours later.

From that moment, things were quite different. Time went by easily walking together around the city, having some Croatian beers, eating some pizza, talking for hours and hours. Sitting on a bench in front of the Adriatic, what a great sensation. Letting the Dalmatian sunshine in. Looking at the fancy houses and palm trees of Miami, as she named the promenade.

We said goodbye on Sunday night. Thank you for this really nice weekend. See you soon, who knows. Somewhere, someday, somehow.


OST The Wombats - Let's dance to Joy Division


Bonus track:

Top 5: Život je lijep u Splitu (Life is beautiful in Split)

1. "Tanto quilombo para esto" - Guada, reality bites. (I'm not gonna translate it).

2. On Saturday night, we've found a bar called La Linea (The line). As soon as we were opening the door, around 40 eyes were fixed on us for more than 10 seconds. The longest ones of my life.

3. Eating Sarajevan ćevapi in Split. We found it by accident, I swear.

4. The waitress in the restaurant on Sunday asking me: Are you German? I'm not German, I'm actually traumatised.

5. The non-existent bus back to Sarajevo on Sunday at 9pm. One more night in the coast, great! But travelling the morning after really worthed it: the Dalmatian landscapes are amazing, as the views of Neretva river from Mostar to Sarajevo.

Being a communist

- I am actually a communist, honey, she said to me.

She was dressed in leather, like she was ready to ride a Harley. Between the long leather jacket and the leather boots, you could imagine her knees under her jeans. Her lips were in red, a bright red.

- Well, I am not a communist, I replied. By the way, how old are you?

It was last night. We've just watched "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" by Hitchcock at Kinoteka, and we were walking down Ferhadija street looking for some place to eat ćevapi.


- I was a child in the last Yugoslavian times, but I can still remember some things. My mother worked and earned good money, as my father. She brought me a toy when she was back home every single evening. We could go wherever we want with our Yugoslavian passport without a visa. In summer we sometimes went to the beach and to spend some days there. Some friends of us bought houses in Dalmatian coast so we just paid visit to them and we had a great time all together. We had a good house, a good car. Tito was a dictator, I know, we all know about that. But now people would like to go back to these times. We had a good life, all our needs were covered.

I gave her my most sceptical look. She ignored that and keep on talking.

- The war crashed all that life. Now everyone that is lucky enough to find a job works from dawn to dusk, and they need a loan from the bank even to buy a computer, or a second hand car. I don't know anyone who spend the holidays in the coast anymore. Every single person in this country needs a visa to go abroad. It is almost impossible to study in a college abroad. So now people blame the war, but not Tito. We think that he was a good president.

Now my feet are trying not to slip in Baščaršija frozen streets. Some souvenir shops sell Tito red t-shirts with slogans saying he was the best.


(Dedicated to you, honey).


OST The Pretenders - Don't get me wrong (Radio Sarajevo)

You must see: 10 minuta (10 minutes) by Ahmed Imamović

This week has been a mess. Some cha-cha-cha-cha-changes: I've decided to move to another flat, running away from my psychopath landlady, I have a ticket back to Spain and another to Gema's wedding in Dominican Republic. Basically, it's that. I didn't have time to think about updating my popular blog, or in the few free moments I've had I was too tired and lazy to write in this beautiful language.

I have many subjects to talk about: I still didn't write the weekend in Split's chronicle (January 12th-14th), or about the Sarajevo Anarcho-Punk festival that took place last weekend.

Some other fresh news: tomorrow I'm seeing again the sweet dudes I've met in Crikvenica (Croatia), at the on-arrival training that was last December. But the most important thing is where will I meet them: in the capital of the Kingdom of Hercegovina, Mostar! I can't wait to see the Stari Most (old bridge) and I hope Chica Banana will take us to a minaret to see all the city, and especially Neretva's green water! I also hope I will survive to the lifestyle we had in that training: sleeping 2 hours per night and drinking an industrial amount of beer! On Monday you will see if I've managed to survive or not...

That's all, folks... more details of my Bosnian life in next posts...

Now I want to share with you an excellent short film about Sarajevo recent hardest times. It is called 10 minuta (10 minutes), by Ahmed Imamović. In 2002 it won the Best Short Film Award in European Film Awards. Just watch it. (Grazie mile Matteo for telling me about the film. I miss you bastardo!)

Follow the city lights

First night in Sarajevo. Chiara and Samir picked me up in the airport and take me to my hill. It is cold, really cold for me. I left my palm trees city this morning, it was 20 degrees. Too hot for November actually. The thermometer in the arrival hall of the airport showed me how hard will my next days be: -2 degrees. Too cold for a palm tree.

The red taxi parks in front of the house after around 20 minutes of small talk to Chiara. Samir was quiet all the way to the house, seated next to the driver, looking forward trough the window. He apologises, I'm not feeling well, he says, so I'm not going to work tomorrow. See you on Monday then.

Chiara opened the door of my house. I left my luggage and she explains everything about the house to me. Here is the kitchen, this is the boiler, you turn it on and wait around 10 minutes to have warm water, look, this is the TV control, yes it's this. And this is your room.



After all the tour around the house, we are back in the living room. Then I look at the window and I said something like, wow, what a great views. She just nods her head and smiles.

Few minutes later, I'm looking for my camera as she's saying See you tomorrow. I went back to that window in the living room and I took this photo. So this is it, just a bunch of lights, just a bunch of feelings. This is me now staring at the window, following the city lights. Sarajevo is under my feet, waiting for me to discover it. I can't wait for tomorrow to walk its streets.

Sunday morning, 6am in the morning. As I am going out from some club, I see the lights on the hills. I remember then the picture I took two days before from my living room. Now the tiny sparkling spots are surrounding me everywhere I look, on the sky and also on the hills. Look, the stars have fallen from the sky, some drunk guy said.

If this is possible, it's only possible here, I think to myself.

A girl in a red dress nods her head next to me and smiles just before getting into a cab.


OST Cold War Kids - We used to vacation

Sarajevo Marlboro: last drag before going to bed (3 of 3)

I know what the speed of light is, but we haven't learned about the speed of darkness yet.
Dino from Zenica, twelve years old, temporarily at school in Zagreb.


"You should go Africa maybe, where love never dies; it's like a fairy-tale. You know how the story goes: by chance, two people meet and fall in love, they get married, have children and live happily ever after, or, at any rate, until death finally casts them asunder. This is a cliché most of us believe in from puberty onwards; it doesn't take account of reality. Young girls read about the cliché in romantic novels. Parents make hopeful plans with a view to their children having fairy-tale lives. But real life isn't a cliché, and that's why it almost never works out the way you imagine. But don't look back in anger or you'll only end up thinking love is God's idea of a joke".



Miljenko Jergović, "Bosnian Hotpot" in Sarajevo Marlboro, page 35



(Dino, you're really an artist. Such a great photo. Hvala puno!)

Sarajevo Marlboro: the one after lunch (2 of 3)

"At first there were only two kinds of people in Sarajevo - metaphysicians and robbers. The latter believed in a concrete future while the rest of us believed in a promised future, the one we'd promised ourselves upon realizing that we were different from the killers. Each new massacre gave us new hope in our suffering, and a belief that the horror was about to be stopped, if only because it had gone way beyond the boundaries of good taste. Nobody could believe that things would get worse after Miterrand's visit. He'd seen the devastation and therefore he understood. And if you understand - you'll help us. When he left, the robbers put up the prices, and the Chetniks burned the city hall and all the documentary knowledge in it. It was a sign that the truth was not worth very much".




Miljenko Jergović, "The Letter" in Sarajevo Marlboro, page 142

Sarajevo Marlboro: first cigarrette of the day (1 of 3)

"When I was digging a grave for Salem Bičakćija, who was killed in the road by a sniper, an American journalist came to interview me. [...]

Then the idiot asks me if I'm ready to die now in Sarajevo. I told them that I've thought up hundreds of ways to stay alive, and I like all of them. Each one reminds me of the joys and pleasures of my life, because nobody's happier than me when I escape a shell on my way here to dig graves in this beautiful spot for the unlucky ones. I know that the dead used to celebrate being alive too, and that they just happened to lose a life the way some people lose a pinball at the end of the game, having scored a hundred points a hundred times - you could have scored more, but... you didn't. Life is only valuable because you know you have it. Death always finds you unprepared, without tangible proof that you ever lived. Perhaps you weren't much good to yourself or to others. Isn't that why your wife and children cry at your funeral? Because they have a sense that you foolishly squandered your life, like a chicken that refuses to die even after you've chopped off its head".


Miljenko Jergović, "The Gravedigger" in Sarajevo Marlboro, pages 80 and 82

A sad day

I woke up late, very late. Just time to have a shower, get dressed and go down the 53 steps that are between my hill and the real city life.

It's a sunny day, a warm one. It seems that I brought some sunshines from Dalmatia. Along Zagrebačka, a bunch of cars are moving slowly like every morning. In Grbavička, taxi drivers talk about the weather and the football matches of the last weekend. Ibrahimovic was great against Udinese, one said as he took another drag from his Drina.

The market is already crowded, as usually. It looks like you can collect all the old stuff you have at home, take a carton and put everything on it. All that you need is a packet of cigarrettes, in case you smoke, and patience. Sooner or later someone is going to ask you the price of the iron you got as a wedding present 30 years ago.

As I am late, I go to the bakery to buy my breakfast. I know that eating some chocolate bread roll it's not the healthiest way to start the day. But who cares about that when you're late.

I open the door of the Grbavica Centar Mladih (Grbavica Youth Center), the one that leads to the Caffe Centar. As every morning, I say Dobro jutro (Good morning) to Ajla, the waitress. She replied just Ćao, the Balkan version of the Italian greeting, as she is cleaning a table. She knows that I'm gonna have a capuccino, so she brought it to my table with a shiny smile.

As I am putting some sugar on my capuccino, I realise that something is different today. There is something strange in the air today. The music. Yes, the music. Instrumental music, sad one. Suddenly Pavarotti. There is no trace of the everyday rock or pop songs, or even Mexican rancheras or bachatas by Aventura. Instead of that, Lacrimosa on the Caffe Centar big speakers.

I finish my coffee and I go upstairs. I said 'Morning to my colleagues. Radio Stari Grad is playing a Requiem. Then the soundtrack of Once upon a time in the west. We made some jokes about the music. Please change it or I will jump out the window soon, I said to Chiara. She switches to Radio Sarajevo. Same melancholic stuff. I think to myself: something happened this weekend as I was out of reality in Split. Something really bad.

I ask Lejla, Hey, what happened, why all this sad music on the radio. An helicopter accident in Macedonia, she replies, 11 Macedonian soldiers died whe they were coming back home from their mission in Bosnia. The helicopter crashed yesterday due to dense fog, she says. Don't try to change the station, Lejla says, there is the same music everywhere, it's a sad day.

So that is the reason why every radio station is playing the perfect music for a funeral.

I'm surprised and touched. I have never imagined that all radio stations could change their planning for that reason. They even weren't Bosnians.

Once more, I think that things are different here as some violins are crying on Radio Sarajevo.

Happy New Year! (again)

To all the Orthodox people in Bosnia and also to all the Orthodox people of the rest of the world!!

May your wishes will come true this year!!

Enjoy yourselves!


(To everyone that doesn't know that... in the Orthodox calendar the New Year starts on January 14th... but since I went on Split on Friday and I finally came back yesterday, I post it now! )

103 Dalmatians

After a grey foggy week, the sun was shining again in Sarajevo. But I am sure that it's going to come back soon, and all that I will see from my window is a grey veil. And nothing else than that.

The airport of the city is working again after 5 days. People has a different look in their faces, they look nicer, they look brighter. But for how long?

That is why I am going to the coast tonight, to have some fresh air. I am running away from the pollution floating in the fog. I want to see how Split looks in the winter. I want some Adriatic vitamins to fight against post-holidays depression.

So phone me if you want some sand from the beach.

See you on Monday, guys. Have a nice weekend.

OST Arctic Monkeys - Fluorescent Adolescent

Happy new year!

To all Bosnian Muslims and also to all Muslims around the world!

May the force be with you this year!

(Happy new year also for the rest of the people I know... To whom they don't know, today is the first day of the Muslim calendar...)

(Thanks Suada for being my cultural advisor... hvala puno!)

Sarajevo explained to my mum

Dear mum,

Don't worry, I'm fine. Sarajevo it's a great city, for many different reasons. First of all, there is no war anymore here. Yes, you're right, there was a war in Bosnia, a horrible and cruel one, and this city suffered the longest siege on modern history. From 1992 to 1996, the Sarajevans resisted the daily shelling and shooting from the hills that surrounds the city, occupied by Serbian soldiers and paramilitars. But things are different now.

I think you still don't know where I am, so let's talk about geopolitics. Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Hercegovina, which was part of Former Yugoslavia. The country is placed in the South East of Europe, in the Balkan peninsula. Yes, you're right again, this is just in front of Italy.

Now let me tell you something more about this beautiful city. I've read that Sarajevo is like a bird in a nest, as it is on a valley surrounded by mountains and hills. Since I've just experienced the end of the fall and the winter, I only can say that the weather here is cold. But people here insists: hey man, wait for the summer, you will know then what is really hot! Until this moment arrives, I will enjoy the snow and fog, so usual in this cold season.

What to tell you about the food? I find it very tasty and also heavy: all is made with meat and there are many different kinds of pies. Don't worry, they also eat a lot of vegetables, with meat of course. Fish is not cheap here, since it seems not to be the favourite Bosnian meal. And the desserts, they are so sweet, like arab style ones.

Sarajevo was also named "the other Jerusalem" due to the mix of different religions that lived historically together in the city. Here you can find Muslims, Orthodoxes, Catholics and Jews, and if you walk around the city you will find mosques, orthodox and catholic churches and sinagogues. After the war things changed. Now the population is not so mixed than before, and Muslims are estimated to be around 80% of the Sarajevans.

People here speak Bosnian, as Croatians speak Croatian, Serbians speak Serbian and Montenegrans speak Montenegran. Amazingly, they all can understand each other pretty well. But not me. Not yet.

The way of life here is quite similar than Spanish one, if we forget about the snow. People is usually friendly and take things easy. They spend hours and hours in a café talking and making jokes about everything. I think this is one of the reasons to explain why I feel so adapted to this city.

Once more: THERE IS NO WAR HERE. This is not Kosovo, either. This is Bosnia. Here you can find everything you find in another city in the world: shops and shopping centers, parks, cafés, pubs, restaurants, cars, taxis, buses, hospitals, stadiums... Don't worry, I'm great here.

OST Radiohead - Thinking about you

Two months ago...

... I was flying from Madrid to Viena with a bunch of feelings and expectations in my head. My last destination would be Sarajevo, in the heart of the Balkans. Few hours later, I've landed in Bosnia. I remember that I was smiling like a child with a new shiny toy in his hand. A toy that is going to last at least one year.

But when all that started? And why am I here, in Bosnia?

Well, we could say that all started exactly one year ago. On January 7th I quited my job and I've decided that I will be a volunteer in the European Voluntary Service programme. So I started searching randomly by places, countries, cities... and I've found the perfect place and the perfect project for me: Sarajevo, crossroads between East and West. And the project: working in the Secretariat of a network of Balkan NGOs called South East European Youth Network (SEEYN).

But Bosnia? Sarajevo? Is there a war there? For further information about this special place, keep on reading this blog!

OST Gloria Gaynor - I will survive (Radio Sarajevo)