Croatia

I honestly didn’t leave Croatia with a real good sense of the place. There is tons of amazing stuff that I could have explored from all the recent fighting in the Balkans. I did see buildings that had been bombed and walls with bullet holes in them, but I didn’t learn as much as I should have.

After a week in Egypt, we had two really rough days at sea, and then five days in Turkey, followed by two more rough days at sea before we got to Croatia. I just didn’t have the time or energy to do the research that I needed to.

I had a wonderful time in Croatia though, really enjoyed sailing through the islands, and thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the place.

As far as Croatian culture, I didn’t pick up a whole lot. It was a lot like America in that people don’t smile and mind their own business. People weren’t interested to talk to us at all. There did seem to be a lot of café culture. The cafes were always filled with people socializing. It definitely has a European feel to the place.

I think that a very significant part of Croatia’s economy is based on tourism. Almost every other Croatian person I talked to started their sentence with “Well, during tourist season…” After the summer, the place seems to close up. Keep in mind that this is was just in the southern coastal region. I have no idea what it is like in the capital Zagreb or elsewhere up north.

The Green Peace’s “Rainbow Warrior” was docked in Dubrovnik the week that we were there. These guys are about has hardcore as hippies can get. They drive their little boat in between whales and the whaling boats that are shooting huge grenade loaded harpoons at them. Pretty Cool!

Borat

Our last day in Dubrovnik we caught the last showing of the Borat movie. It was pretty funny, but I really wasn’t sure if I was ready to go home after seeing it. The scenes with the college kids talking about slaves and the old cowboy guy talking about Muslims were pretty unbelievable. I remember Tyler looking over and saying “Do we really live there?”

Sacha Cohen is a pretty smart guy. It is just amazing that the Americans in the movie are ignorant enough to believe that a character like Borat could be real. They actually believe that there are places in the world where people drink horse urine, lock retarded people in cages, have sex with their sisters, and wash their faces in the toilet. I mean the Borat character is really funny, but the joke is not on Kazakhstan, it’s on America.

Back to Dubrovnik

The morning we sailed back we had some wonderful scenery with sunbeams pouring through the clouds. I think the picture of Aaron sleeping on the last morning sums up our trip pretty well.

Crank Calling the mv Explorer

Being on a little boat for long periods of time, we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. We would do stuff like tie our arms together and try to escape, make peanut butter out of peanuts, and drink copious amounts of alcohol. Between the six of us we drank over one hundred beers in two nights.

The night we were docked on Sipan, we noticed the radio mounted on the wall in the cabin. We were feeling pretty good and were eager to harass somebody. Of course we had to crank call our ship docked in Dubrovnik. Danelle was worried about losing her job, and claimed no responsibility what-so-ever.

Ivan instructed us on the proper protocol for contacting another ship, and got us on the proper channel for the area. Aaron was able to get the mv Explorer on the line. Bingo! After picking a new channel, we were talking with somebody official sounding in the bridge. He asked the name of our ship. “This is the Facial Disgracial” responded Aaron. I would love to see the place in the logs where they recorded the time and place that they were contacted by the “Facial Disgracial.” Haha! He asked to talk to Captain Roman Christonovich, but the captain was out in town.

The mike was passed to me, and I asked to talk to the dean on duty. He asked who I was, and I responded with a quick “Academic Dean Phil Hearn” in my most academic dean sounding voice. There is such a disconnect between the crew and the faculty that they couldn’t even tell a punk kid from Phil Hearn. Hilarious. We waited for about ten minutes, while some crew member was running all over the ship looking for the Duty Dean. I’m sure they were paging over the ship-wide PA system as well.

All of the sudden a voice came over the radio. “Hey Phil, this is Debbie, what do you need?” In my Phil Hearn voice I clarified, “This is Debbie?” “Yeah Phil, it’s Debbie, what’s going on?” It was silent for about five seconds, and then in my best high-pitched Pillsbury doughboy voice I blurted out, “Hey Debbie, this is the Pillsbury doughboy! I got some hot sticky cinnamon buns coming fresh out the oven. Oooh here comes the frosting! Oh the raisons are sooo yummy, so much cinnamon! MM HMM!” She let out a little surprised laugh and didn’t say anything. The doughboy went on for a few more minutes, getting pretty crass, and she eventually hung up.

Our last day in Dubrovnik, Taylor and I ran into Debbie in an ice cream store and it was so hard to keep a straight face. Crank calling is so immature but it is so much fun.

Sipan Island

The next day we made it to Sipan Island with enough time to see the sunset, which was fabulous. The girls made us walk around for an hour in search of a hot tub. Why did they think they would find a hot tub on an island where there isn’t even a restaurant? I don’t know. We did see a few people on scooters out. We got a random dog all riled up and it started mauling a fallen tree branch. After that it was back to the boat for the nights festivities.

Miljet Island

We made it to Miljet Island after dark. We spent the night docked in a bay. In the morning, after some mimosas for breakfast, we went hiking. Croatia has to have some of the most beautiful coastline in the world. This was definitely one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. The island was pretty empty. Apparently the Croatian islands are the place to be during the summer, but after tourist season is done, there isn’t very much going on. We saw hardly anybody on any of the islands we visited, which was actually kind of nice.

Kolocep Island

We stopped briefly on Kolocep Island, where we did some swimming in the wonderfully clear waters of the Adriatic. We also found a dead squid and fed it to a dog.

Sailing!

There wasn’t a whole lot going on in Dubrovnik, so instead of heading up north we chartered a sailboat. It seemed kind of strange to spend our time in port by getting on another boat, but we were all sick of plane flights, bus rides, car rides, camel rides, etc. Being out at sea is our “happy place” and sailing would be an awesome way to see the islands.

We got up early our second morning and loaded up on supplies for our three day excursion. Pasta, bread, cereal, and a bunch of turkey and cheese were our main purchases, although we spent most of our money on beverages. After dropping a thousand Croatian Kuna at the supermarket, we headed out to meet our skipper.

The crew was me, Aaron, Tyler, Tayler, our friend Christina, and the resident director of our hall, Danelle. We were able to get the girls to come “yachting” with us by grossly exaggerating the boat that we had rented and underestimating how much of the bill they would have to pay. We told them that we had chartered a seventy-five foot yacht and made it sound as luxurious as possible. The boat turned out to be only 36 feet long and was definitely sail powered. The first thing that Danelle said when we got to the dock was “What the hell, that’s not a yacht!” It was definitely a cozy boat for seven people to live on for three days, but once we set sail there was no turning back.

Our skippers name was Ivan, and he was a burly Croatian sailorman. Aaron was already pretty good at sailing, but nobody else had done it before. Ivan got us all up to speed and it was tons of fun. My bruised tailbone was pretty painful, but I sucked it up like a man and had a great time.

Cliff Jumping

At a little café just outside the walls, there was a good spot for cliff jumping. A few kids had discovered it before we got there, and we promptly ripped off our clothes and joined in the fun. There was a big rock jutting out from the patio, and the water was plenty deep as long as you jumped out enough to clear the rocks. The drop was between 40 and 45 feet. I can measure altitude with my watch. I know I’m a dork.

I’ve never jumped cliffs before and it was such a rush! I didn’t hesitate, I just ripped off my clothes as soon as we got there and jumped. It looked easy but man do you get going fast! I smacked my tailbone really good and for two weeks after this I was not able to sit in a chair. It still hurts, but it is getting better. I decided to skip X-rays as I figured it would be in my future children’s best interest not to have a bunch of radiation shot at my pelvic region. A bunch of people on the ship had also racked their tailbones jumping off the cliff, so this was fairly common.

There was another ledge a ways up that was around 55 feet. My ass was all messed up so I didn’t do it, but there were a few that did. A guy named Fritz from CU Boulder did a flip off of it. That guy has some serious rocks. I don’t care who you are, somebody flipping off a cliff that high commands respect!

Bad things started happening when girls started going for it. The first girl didn’t jump out very far and missed the rocks by just a few feet. One girl broke an ankle and another got seriously injured and had to be flown to Austria for back surgery. Thankfully she is going to be alright and is walking around already.

Cliff jumping is a burly sport. It was tons of fun, but the consequences are big if you mess up!

Dubrovnik

Tyler, Aaron, Taylor and I spent our first day in Croatia walking around old town Dubrovnik. This is an amazing red-roofed city that is completely surrounded by a 75 foot stone wall. We walked the 2km around the walls and then hung out in the town. Dubrovnik is a very charming place and has lots of little cafes and shops nestled among its windy alleys. Perched over the Adriatic, it has to be one of the most picturesque cities I have ever seen. Look at the pictures! Dubrovnik got shelled during the war in 1991. There are a few buildings that are still leveled, but the rest of the city is really nice.

Bathroom Talk

One of the big differences between the East and the West is their opinions of the proper way to use a toilet. East of Istanbul, you will be using a squatter toilet. The bathrooms can get pretty disgusting. Take a look at these two gems, the concrete squatter coming from China and the porcelain one from Turkey.

One thing that I have not been able to come to grips with is the lack of toilet paper. Some bathrooms have a little hose that you are supposed to spray yourself clean with. In India, there is just a faucet and bucket in the stall. You are supposed to wipe with your left hand and then wash it off in the bucket. The left hand is ‘dirty’ and if you touch anybody with it or use it to eat it is extremely offensive. In Egypt many men had inch long finger nails on their left pinky finger for cleaning themselves. I try to be open minded, but this was just too much for me.

Many of my friends have really struggled with the squatters. Taylor says that his legs and ass muscles are so tight while he is trying to squat that it is physically impossible to go. I took great pleasure in heckling him from outside the stall while he was failing to get the job done. If you are on the balls of your feet, then everything gets tense. Like Fat Joe says, you gotta “Lean Back”. As long as you are on your heels, it’s all good.

Turkey and the EU

Turkey has been trying to get into the European Union for a long time. It has been a long drawn out process, as Europe is reluctant. Right now, it is unclear what will happen, and this is one of the most important issues in Turkish politics.

If Turkey was allowed into the EU, there would be an economic give and take on both sides. Europe is worried about a flood of Turks into their countries when the boarders open. Turkey will soon be the same size as Germany, and would have considerable power in the Union.
Turkey would be the first Muslim country in the union. We had an inter-port lecturer from Lebanon on the ship before we got to Turkey named professor Barghoti. He passionately believed that the only reason that Turkey is not being invited into the union is because Europe is racist. I’m sure this is part of it as countries like France, which has racist reputation, are already struggling with immigrant Muslim communities from northern Africa. One student on the ship from Spain has seen first hand in her country these large communities of Arabs that refuse to assimilate into society.

I brought up in lecture that one of the main marks against Turkey is its treatment of the Kurdish people. Professor Barghoti got really pissed off and went on a tangent about how every time Turkey meets the EU’s requirements they raise the bar again. He said, "Today it’s the Kurds, and then they will bring up the Armenians, and then the next day it will be the weather. The bottom line is that the EU is racist, and that is the only reason Turkey is not being let in." I do not agree with his position at all. Turkey has some serious human rights problems, and putting the Kurdish conflict and the Armenian genocide in the same category as weather is pretty offensive.

This is one reason that it might be good for Turkey to be in the EU. They would be held accountable and human rights violations would not fly. They are trying to clean up their act, and the situation would only improve.

Geographically, it does not make sense. It is called the European Union. It seems silly to invite middle-eastern countries to join. Who next? Azerbaijan? Russia?

Culturally it would be very significant. It would help bridge the gap between East and West, two groups of people that historically do not understand each other. I understand how sensitive Europeans are to their cultural norms. They have a certain time they eat lunch, certain routines, and they like things how they are. For them to embrace the East would be very hard. It would be a tough decision.

Turkey is an example of the secular, Muslim, minimally democratic society that America dreams for the Middle East. I think that support of Turkey’s entrance into the EU is in America’s best interest. The way I see it, the Middle East is in a tug of war between the westernization of Turkey, and the Islamic fundamentalism of Iran. America definitely would rather see the Middle East go in the direction of Turkey.

I am torn on the subject and to me the cultural consequences are the most important. This would knock down a huge barrier between these two groups of people. To me this decision reflects the trends of globalization in general. I have been exposed to some very special cultures on this trip. Even in very remote places I have almost always found some sort of export American culture and it makes me sick. Some places should be kept sacred. Turkish entrance into the EU would cause a huge flux of cultures in both directions. This spread would take away from the uniqueness that makes these different countries so special. On the other hand, this kind of mixing would also create understanding among these different groups. The lowering of barriers due to globalization has caused many different societies to become economically and culturally intertwined. As people become invested in other cultures, blind nationalism declines. The lessoning of tensions and increase in understanding are steps toward peace. As steps like this are taken, more and more people will identify as global citizens. If Turkish entrance into the EU and globalization in general is a step towards a more peaceful and tolerant world then maybe it is worth cultural losses.

Carpets

Out in the streets I was looking for some lunch and was invited into a carpet shop. The salesmen got me tea and we discussed family and travel for a while, and then he brought out the carpets. After about 30 minutes I ended up buying a Kurdish rug for 60% of the price he wanted. I felt really good about myself, thinking that I got the better end of that deal. I’m sure that he was feeling really good about himself, because he still royally ripped me off. It was pretty amazing how people in Turkey could rip you off but leave you feeling like a champ.

Istanbul

I spent my last day walking around Istanbul by myself. Istanbul is a fascinating city and one day was not nearly enough time. This was the first western city I have been to in over two months. It was comforting and strange at the same time. The old cliché that Istanbul is the gateway between the East and West is definitely accurate. It was a bizarre thing to hear the call to prayer echoing throughout the city while restaurant patios were packed with people drinking beer. This is a truly dynamic city that is packed with amazing history.

I spent most of my time in Sultanahmet, which is ‘Old Istanbul’ built on top of the ancient Byzantine settlement. The first place I visited was the Blue Mosque. This is an amazing building with beautiful curves and six sharp minarets. The colors of the structure are wonderful.

Outside the Blue Mosque is the Hippodrome, and area that was the center of political gatherings during the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. In front of the mosque is the Obelisk of Theodosius. The large granite piece was inscribed in Cairo around 1450 BC and was moved to Constantinople in 390 AD.

Down the street from the Blue Mosque is the Aya Sophia, one of the world’s great buildings which has a fascinating history. It was built by Justinian in 537 and was the greatest church in Christendom until the conquer of Constantinople in 1453. Mehmet the Conqueror converted the amazing church into a mosque, stamping the authority of Islam. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to see Christianity fall to Islam in such a grand fashion. And then to top that, in 1934 Ataturk secularized it and made it into a state museum! One of the grandest structures of Christianity fell to Islam and then ultimately to secularism. Ataturk was a pretty ballsy guy. I can’t image that turning one of the world’s greatest mosques into a museum went over very well. This is representative of the huge transformations he was responsible for that made Turkey what it is today.

Walking into the Aya Sofia is breathtaking. The ceiling is amazingly high and there are no supports. It just seems to float above you. The pictures do not do it justice at all.

Later on I went to the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar. At the Spice Bazaar I came across ‘Turkish Viagra’ pastries. A man in a white doctor’s coat came out of the shop for the hard sell. "Make you strong for long time," he said. "How long?" I asked. "Two hours." I told him that wasn’t long enough, that I needed four hours of strength. "Eat two then." I didn’t end up buying any but I took a picture anyways.

My Experience with the Kurdish People

So far I have only written about the strange people we met, but let me assure you that the Kurds were extremely friendly to us. They were some of the warmest people I have met on the trip. I have never felt so welcomed to a place that I so obviously did not belong. The Kurds seem to have a bad name, but they are truly wonderful and gentle people. I definitely sympathize with their situation, and I think it would be great if they could have their own country some day.

Sadly, I do not think that Kurdistan will exist anytime soon. The Kurds are very peaceful, and they do not want to fight. They just want to talk in their own language, work their land, and be left alone. Having their own state is not very important to the Kurds that we met in Turkey. If they are given a country as a result of the war in Iraq, they would not be strong enough to defend it.

The PKK is ‘fighting’ for independence. They might have had some power in the 90’s, but they aren’t doing much right now. The PKK is doing more harm then good to the Kurdish cause. Their stupid random bombings don’t accomplish anything, and in the post 9/11 world, there is very little sympathy for terrorists. The PKK is ruining the name of the Kurdish people.

Similar to the situation with Islamic terrorism, the majority of Kurdish people do not condone the PKK. They do not believe in violence, and this is a false representation of them. Back in Istanbul, there was an open distain for the Kurds among many people that I talked to. One man said that if I wanted to see a disgusting part of Istanbul I should go to the district where the ‘dirty Kurds’ live. Many people refer to them as terrorists. This made me pretty sad, seeing as how nice the Kurds were to me. They were far nicer than anybody in Istanbul was. I don’t see a solution or an end to the Kurdish problem in Turkey any time soon.

Mardin

The next morning we hopped on a series of minibuses to get to Mardin. The whole bus of people almost died once in a head on collision, but other than that the three hour ride was easy. We switched buses in the town of Midyat, and on the second leg I was asked by a Kurdish man to hold his five gallon tank of gasoline.

Mardin is Southwest of Hasenkeyf, right on the Syrian border. It is a very charming place that is built on the top of a hill. When we arrived, we hiked up towards the top of town, and got tea next to a mosque. The view into Syria was absolutely breathtaking. It was crazy to be looking down into the Mesopotamian planes, where civilization began. I really didn’t think that I would be seeing Syria any time soon.

On our way down to find a place to stay, I stopped on a baklava shop. The man who ran the place was morbidly obese. He got completely winded leaning over to cut a piece of the pastry out of the tray. It pained me to see him struggle to wrap up it up put it in a bag. Baklava had obviously ruined this mans life, and I was glad that I would be cut off when we left from Istanbul.

After dark we headed up back up the hill. There were some ruins at the very top that we wanted to see. We wound up small passageways sandwiched between houses. When we got above the buildings, we found our way onto a dirt road that seemed to be going to the top. There turned out to be a big barbed wire fence stopping us from getting to the ruins, but we found ourselves above a pretty cool mosque. It was a little sketchy being up there in the dark, but whatever. I snapped some cool pictures before we climbed our way back down.
The next day we hopped on a flight back to Istanbul.