Day 20 -- Dubrovnik

Charlotte: Today we went on an excursion to Dubrovnik, one of the southern most cities on the Croatian coast. Dubrovnik (pronounced DOO-Brov-nick) was damaged very heavily in the war in the 1990’s, and while much of the city has been restored, it will not soon be forgotten. Upon arriving we went straight to DESA- Dubrovnik. In its self description, “DESA (pronounced DAY-Shuh) is a non-governmental, humanitarian and peacekeeping organization, founded in 1993, aiming to stimulate and develop various activities in order to help a women and her family in the war and post-war period.” Their vision is to “develop civil society that uses available local resources on the principles of sustainable development, in which the leading role will be given to the women as a peace-maker, as n advocate of the tolerance and dialogue for building the better co-existence in multi-ethnic society, as well as the bearer of the positive changes in the family and local community.”

This group was originally made up of displaced women who had fled to the city of Dubrovnik. They felt that the city would be spared by war because of its rich history, and also because of the protection provided within the cities walls. Unfortunately they were wrong. The city was the scene of heavy destruction.

These women originally came together for comfort and to share their similar cultural backgrounds. They were trying to find normalcy where they could and that is when their mission began and they started working together and finding resources to help educate and create peace. DESA has had a very significant number of projects their projects called the “Return to Life,” in which these projects specifically focused on the cultural and economic developments of Dubrovnik-neretva county that were implemented during the war and still to this day. These projects include:
Project Silk- renewal of traditional heritage of Konavle
Project Rural tourism in Konavle
Project renewal of the traditional costume from the island of Mljet
Project Women’s entrepreneurship in tourism

The products of many of these projects can be purchased at DESA and a portion of the profits go to continuing the education and projects DESA is a part of. Many of us bought their beautiful hand made silk scarves, hand made lace table runners and a variety of other treasures.

Our speaker at DESA also informed us that the building that they are currently in was once used as a quarantine location for ships before their crew or animals could enter the city. Every one coming into the city by ship was required to be quarantined for at least 40 days, because that was the general incubation period for any number of diseases that could be spread within the population of the city. This may seem like a strict policy but it saved the city of Dubrovnik from experiencing the plague and other disease outbreaks. They were very much ahead of their time.

After the meeting at DESA we went on a short walking tour of Dubrovnik and we were given the afternoon to explore. Many of us walked the walls of the city and shopped at the local market places. Dubrovnik was a very beautiful city with lots of history, but it was hard to take all of it in due the number of tourists from three cruise ships that were in their port today. We've been somewhat spoiled so far on this trip; every place that we have visited has been very undercrowded and free of other tourists.

Day 19 -- Biokovo Nature Park

Colin: Today we went on an excursion to the Biokovo Nature Park (Nature Parks in Croatia are distinguished from National Parks in that there are logging, herding, and hunting activities allowed in the former, but not the latter). Biokovo (pronounced Bee-OH-ko-vo) is 196 km² in area and ranges from 200m to 1,762m above sea level. It is known for its biodiversity and the cultural significance of its small villages and highland pastures with semi-permanent stone shepard houses. Biovoko plays an important part in the history of the Makarska region. In 1962 the region was hit by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that destroyed many of the high mountain villages causing much of the remaining population to migrate to the coastal area and give up their herding lifestyle for one of fishing and eventually tourism. War, natural disasters, and economic betterment are all majority reasons for populations to migrate and we have seen examples of all three of these as we have traveled through Croatia.

Biokovo, like Plitvice Lakes, is an important natural wonder that may form a likely economic draw that will increase tourism with closer EU integration. However, as with all such endeavors, a careful balance must be struck between accessibility, marketability, and sustainability. Hopefully this can be achieved.

Our traditional Dalmatian dinner night at Topici (pronounced Too-PEE-Chee), which is generally held on the last Sunday we are in Makarska, was held tonight because of weather concerns (big surprise there, huh?). Everyone dressed in their best (see the two pics in the final post) and had a wonderful night full of food, drink, song, and dance in an "almost" traditional Dalmatian style. I say almost traditional since a couple of the more musically inclined members of our party (who had been dying for weeks to get their hands on a guitar) borrowed one from the traditional band and proceeded to lead us in a "sing-along" of current (and not so current) popular American songs to the great amusement of everyone including the band!

Day 18 -- Mostar, Herzegovina

Charlotte: Today we made a day trip to Mostar (pronounced MOW-star) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Security at the border was more lax than what I thought. Basically a BiH boarder officer loaded our bus and checked the passports of only a few people and hardly glanced and others and then we were free to enter the country and did not even have to show passports upon reentry of Croatia.

Once in Mostar we had a tour guide show us the city. We saw the street that was front line in the war in 1993, saw the famous bridge that was destroyed during the war and later rebuilt, visited a traditional Bosniak mosque, and saw an authentic Turkish house. We were then given free time to explore the city and do some shopping in the beautiful cultural markets.

Colin: Mostar is still a divided city in many respects. After the initial assault in Croatia by the Serbian controlled Yugoslav Army in 1991 wound down and a stalemate ensued, the Yugoslav Army moved into BiH to "protect" the rights of ethnic Serbs living there, and helped them to establish the semi-autonomous "Republika Srpska" (pronounced Serb-skuh) which was opposed by an ethnic Croat and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) alliance. This alliance broke down and fighting broke out between these groups over who would control the remainder of BiH. Mostar, a traditionally Croat & Bosniak multi-ethnic city, was one of the centers of this fighting which lasted a year. The current city government is a Croat-Muslim coalition that is held together by a combination of EU and UN support and pressure. This apparently is true of much of BiH which we found has a currency, the Convertible Mark (abbreviated KM), that is fixed at 2-to-1 to the Euro (based on the 2002 exchange rate between the German Mark and the Euro before their adoption of the Euro), making it artificially stronger than the Croatian Kuna (abbreviated Kn), which is a free-floating currency. This meant that some of the savvy shoppers in our group were able to get some very good deals when negotiating prices between U.S. dollars, Euros, Kuna and KM since many of the merchants in the local bazaar took all four in exchange!

Day 16 -- Split

Charlotte: This morning we took a trip to the Institute of Adriatic Cultures. Currently the University of Georgia’s agriculture department has a grant though the USDA to help Croatia develop their pomegranate and kale farming. We toured their wine lab and their olive oil labs. It was very interesting to learn about wine testing and olive oil testing for the best ones. This institute has olive oil and wine making down to a science and they inform the Croatian people how to better their plants for production. Most of us had never been to a facility like this and it was very beneficial for us because we could taste the Croatian olive oils that we may want to take home as gifts.

We then departed for Split (pronounced SPLEET), where we visited Diocletian’s Palace. Split is a very fascinating town because it is almost all surrounding the palace. The part of the palace we visited was the basement however; many things were built up as it was during the era that it was built. The palace was very beautiful and really gave us an idea of how these people lived. After our tour we went and walked around the palace explored Split, this town’s economy is driven by tourism and has a lot of very cool shops and restaurants. Split also has a university and it was a very vibrant city to visit.

Colin: Our last stop for the day was the gallery, and former home, of the famous Croatian sculptor, Ivan Mestrovic, whose work we had become familiar with during our travels through Croatia. An anti-Communist, he refused to return to Croatia after WWII, however, before his death in 1962, he sent 59 of his works to Croatia and willed his estate in Croatia to the "Croatia people." This site is now a museum of his works.

Day 17 -- Day Off #1

Charlotte: Today we had a free day for excursions and other activities. Several of my classmates and I took a charter boat trip to the islands of Hvar and Brac. We spent an hour on the island of Hvar (pronounced HA-Var) were we saw the small island town and walked around. Then we went to the island of Brac. Brac (pronounced Brach) was the most beautiful island we have been to on the Croatian coast. We spent three hours here in which our group spent almost the whole time sun bathing and enjoying the gorgeous views of the coast and the mountains. Bol (pronounced Bowl), the beach on Brac, was also very interesting for its peninsula/beach. The beaches here are all stones and depending on the time of day and the current the direction of the end of the peninsula/beach can change. We also saw some kind of supermodel photo shoot on the beach while we were laying out. We then took the chartered boat back to Makarska. Our classmates who stayed behind in Makarska enjoyed the day on the beach and rented paddle boats with slides on them.

Day 15 -- Makarska

Charlotte: This morning we went on a walking tour of Makarska where we saw the main square, the Rivera and became acclimated with our city that we will be spending our remaining time in. Upon completion we went to a meeting with the mayor’s office were we discussed local issues.

Currently there have been several protests in recent weeks on a new proposal to close the delivery ward of the hospital here in Makarska. Closing of this hospital will have serious implications for pregnant women in Makarska and the surrounding areas. The nearest hospital is in Split a little over an hour drive with out traffic from Makarska, with tourist travel during the busy summer months this travel time could increase dramatically. Do to country wide budget cuts money has to be cut, but protesters are urging the local and country governments to find money to cut else where. Currently the minister of health has partially withdrawn some of the closings but no definite decisions have been made as to weather or not the delivery ward will be closed for good.

Today we also went to talk to Dr. Ivanda a director of the school health program in Croatia. The school health program is a full scope program that monitors each child in a variety of ways. Every summer each student is evaluated based on an outlined battery of tests. Each grade is generally tested for something different, testes can include things that test their motor skills, cogitative skills, and physical needs, as well as possible learning disabilities. Children that have been identified as learning disabled (i.e. Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, ect.) are then given the modifications and help that they need to be successful in school. This yearly evaluation is also the time when school aged children are given their up to date immunizations.

Dr. Ivanda also explained that Croatia has a very low teen pregnancy rate. She stated that this was because children between the ages of 12 and 13 are given a comprehensive sex education class in school that talks about contraceptive methods and students know where to go to get contraceptives. She also stated that sexually transmitted infections were not a problem in Croatia. I am unsure if she mean that these low STI rates were because of the comprehensive sex education or not but this is not a problem for them.

Overall I think that the United States can learn a lot from Croatia's approach to school health. If we took the time to evaluate students each summer before school starts in the fall we might be able to better identify learning disabilities or other factors that may make success in the classroom difficult and give us time to help children over come or help compensate for the issue.

I also think that we should take not of Croatia's view on comprehensive sex education. they do not have the problem of teen pregnancies and STI's like the United States.

This afternoon we spent the day exploring the city on our own and met for dinner at the Roma Restaurant.

Day 14 -- Off To Dalmacija

Charlotte: Today we departed Mali Losinj, one of the northern islands, and headed south to Makarska (pronounced Mah-CAR-skuh). It is a small, beautiful city on the southern coast of Croatia, just down the road from Split. We spent almost all of the day traveling, but at least the drive was interesting. In order to leave Istria and enter Dalmatia, you have to pass through a tunnel that had to be at least 2 miles long. Those of us that play the "hold your breath until the other side" game didn't last too long. Once we were on the other side though...wow. I am so happy that this is where we will be spending the next 8 days of our trip. The Dalmatian roads we took along the coast offered some breathtaking views of the Adriatic.

After a few more hours of driving, we finally reached Makarska! We unloaded all of our luggage, waved goodbye to our faithful bus driver Franjo, and slowly checked into our apartments on the outskirts of the city. Once everyone was settled in, we regrouped at our new base of opperations, the restaurant Roma, and had a wonderful dinner. I already have a feeling we're going to enjoy this city.

Ben: We did spend the majority of today driving, but aside from the breathtaking views along the roads, we encountered one more thing that I believe is worth mentioning: the Croatian drivers. I've had some pretty close calls in my life while driving, but nothing compared to what I witnessed in Croatia. The coastal roads in Dalmatia are very narrow and very windy (and windy too - sometimes the wind coming off of the mountains is so strong they have to shut the roads down). There were countless cars and motorcycles that zoomed past our bus on these roads at just about the worst possible moments, narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic by mere inches. If only we had been filming, we probably could have sold the footage to Hollywood for some new high speed chase action movie. It was very intense.