Biked to Backa Palanka, stayed with warm showers host Zoran and his visiting mother. Have I mentioned how amazing warm showers is? It has enriched our trip so so much! And re-instilled in me a deep sense of gratitude and awareness of basic human kindness. People have been so insanely generous with their beds and homes and food and energies. It is really remarkable. I highly recommend taking up cycle touring if only to feel the warmth of this insta-community.
Zoran had already been hosting our new cycle buddy, Fiona, so we merged there and were a trio for one night. He had a long old-style house with an open courtyard, garage/shed, grape-vines, flower beds, garden (which had been full of cabbage, peppers, onions, cucumebers--all of which he had pickled and served to us with dinner). He also served us a bean stew that had roasted over a fire in the back-yard for hours. He also had turkeys and chickens roaming and gobbling about. He is younger, maybe ~ 35, and had grown up on Vukovar (see earlier post on war-torn town in Croatia) and after the war and some service (compulsory) in the Serbian army, had decided to get a fresh start in a new place where he could garden and cook and enjoy life again.
His darling mother, with the warmest hands and hand-knitted sweater-vests (that her mother had made her) greeted us as warmly as if we were her own long-lost children. She also made the home-kitchen delicacy of pita, paper-thin layers of dough splashed with cheese and lard, rolled up like a snail and roasted in the oven to a crispy cheesy doughy level of divinity. We were lovingly force-fed a bit before allowed to leave in the morning (and it started a two-day recovery period for me where I needed simply bread and water to re-set my digestion).
Onto Novi Sad, stayed again with Fiona and our second Serbian hosts, Nenad and Natasha. Then the long-haul to Belgrade the next morning, our last day of cycling on this trip! Finally got some rain and feel numerous times into the mud. Esme (the bike) got caked then semi-washed in mud puddles many times. We pushed hard to get to Belgrade to meet Nate and didn't really stop for proper lunch or rests...we were pretty tuckered upon our arrival. That said, it was a great last ride, nice sunset while listening to Lucius and spent a lot of the ride reflecting on what has been a hard and amazing and intense and really special trip.
Soft landing last night with the wonderful Nate to welcome us to Belgrade. Ate lots of dark chocolate, went out for meat and more meat, caught up on all the life gossip and Somerville scene. Seems like life, as always, is marching on. It feels like we have been in a really splendid time-warp...biking slows everything down. As Bobby (who arrived today at 2 pm today--yay!!!) quoted Ross circa 2004 as saying: Backpacking is so full of intensity and hardship and planning and logistics that is really focuses you and renders you incapable of fussing over/engaging with your life. (This might be a Betsy quote). And I thought--how true!! As hard and intense and wonderful as all of this has been, I have had the sneaking suspicion that the really interesting part will begin when we try to come home and re-enter/re-create our "old selves" in our old home of Philadelphia. I love the blank canvas of coming back from a long trip---having gotten some space from it all and getting to really selectively re-populate your life. Like a very deep clean of the kitchen pantry.
It took us a full 3-4 weeks to settle into our bike-touring rhythm. And when we finally did, it was so so good! We are currently fantasizing about going on to Vietnam and Thailand in Jan-Feb. But, in reality, I think we will probably be ready to head home for the holidays and begin re-settling/creating our life in Philly. (After Wanakena of course:)
Now we have ~2 weeks of "normal" (non-biking) travel in Belgrade with Bobby and Nate, 2 weeks in Istanbul with my parents and then some much-anticipated time in Jordan with the lovely Alli Poirot who has promised us all sorts of Jordanian adventures.
If anyone from Mount Auburn has read this far: I MISS YOU. I am like that crazy person, who when someone casually asks me what I do, I can't stop talking about how amazing my last job was and how much I miss it and get misty-eyed. Just so you know, you are in my heart so deeply and presently.
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