I swear, I lived

This trip for me has been about experiencing everything I possibly can, and over the past few days, (with apologies, but also thanks, to One Republic), I owned every second that this world could give. The song has been in my head a lot.

From the fear of being run off the road by crazy Serbian and Bosnian truck drivers, to the amusement of being handed a menu completely in Cyrillic and trying to order, to the happy “dober dan” greetings and responses from bemused locals as we ride by, to the disappointment-turned-relief for the shop owner who almost refused to give us water but then said okay, to the enjoyment of the stunning views of the Bosnian countryside, to the friendly honks and waves of cars passing us, to the angry honks of trucks trying to pass us, to the sweltering 40°C temperatures on 15% gradient climbs on dirt roads that our GPS claims are paved, to the fresh mountain breezes as we zip down through tiny villages, to the pleasant sound of a gurgling river that we follow for 50km almost to its source, to the kids who say “hello macho!” as we ride by up a climb, to the amazing rich and tasty cevapci, burek, and salads, to the mystery meat (some kind of bird roasted on a spit, I think?) we somehow ordered accidentally at the restaurant in the middle of nowhere in the mountains with no menu and owner who knew no English, to the cycle tourist we saw on the road in Serbia and stopped to say hi and it turns out we knew him from WarmShowers, to the amazingly friendly Serbs and Bosnians who ask where we are from and where we are going and whether we need help with directions, to the high school kids at the table next to us at lunch giggling and stealing glances at us, to the ringing of Christian church bells followed by the Muslim call to prayer echoing through the cities, to our aching legs and butts, to our crazy tan lines, to picking up a beer 2km before we get to our guesthouse, to the sound of crickets chirping at night, …

All of this, in just the past 3 days! And I can say that from all of this, with the ups and the downs, I swear, I lived! I have tried the past few years to live by the philosophy (inspired by Zen Buddhism) that pain is inevitable, but suffering is our own choice. This trip has really forced me to live that, because if you let the uncomfortable parts get you down, you miss the amazing wonderful things always happening around you.

Okay enough blabber, here are some photos.

Sunflowers in Serbia

The menu in Cyrillic. Ćevapči again!

Bosnian countryside. Some of the roofs have some kind of reflective coating that glistens in the sun at the correct angle.

Goof balls (we were kind of lost here, happily lost at this point, but a bit less happy when the pavement disappeared)

More Bosnian countryside

My lunch companion… Pretty sure this wasn’t the mystery meat, but who knows?

Meat burek for breakfast? Sure, why not? Would have been amazing with a fried egg on top…

The view from our aptly-named guesthouse, PanoramA, in Bosnia

Although on average, the highway infrastructure is quite poor, there are some new construction projects to improve the roads and add tunnels in many places (I think some of these infrastructure projects are partly funded by the US?? Someone correct me if I’m wrong; definitely some have EU signs next to them, so the EU funds a lot, probably more than anyone else). Unfortunately they don’t think much about cyclists, but at least there is a sidewalk to walk on, and the tunnels minimize the climbing through the mountains.

Steve cycling through the Bosnian mountains

This looks like a happening place!

We see farmers making haystacks all over Bosnia. From what we understand, they are to feed the livestock throughout the year.