Last Day in Mojkovac and one more outing with Bojana and Mičo

SUNDAY:

We were greeted again in the morning with rakija and our choice of peppermint tea, coffee or juice. Breakfast included a stew with pork, eggs with fresh ham, homemade bread and delicious homemade pickled cabbage. I would love to get some of Bojana’s recipes.

Later in the morning Mičo invited us to ride with them to the village where he grew up on a hillside about a half hour away. The land has been in the family for 3 generations. Several old barns and out buildings remain (some are usable despite being in poor repair) as well as a new small house Mičo and his brother built about 20 years ago.

We rode in their regular car which I was happy to discover did have seatbelts. Traditional-popular Balkan music played on the radio as the cross hanging from the rear view mirror swung exuberantly as we bounced up the grassy curving bumpy road up to the house. A group of large nonchalant cows blocked the road and lazily moved when Mičo honked and yelled at them. 

Once out of the car Jim and Mičo went to the barn where Mičo’s still for rakija is located to fetch a bottle of rakija. Jim said Mičo didn’t mess around with the bull lingering about. He picked up a large branch and shooed him down the hill. Meanwhile I was photographing the cows, enjoying the unique look and personality of each.

The views of the valley and surrounding hillsides were grand. Again I wondered about the stories associated with the houses and farms dotting the steep hillsides. 

Mičo told us the cows belong to a neighbor who pays them for permission to use their land for grazing.

Mičo ushered us into the little house where we sat around the kitchen table and toasted. This rakija, plum, was considerably stronger than the apple we had been drinking down at the house. I asked if he and Bojana sleep at the house and was unsure about his answer. They go there often on weekends but I think just for the day. Mičo reiterated that it took 6 hours to walk the sheep from this spot to where we had been the day before. Around the house they used to see a lot of wolves, boars, deer and snakes but no bears, but up in the summer pastures there were a lot of bears.

When we were done drinking Bojana placed the glasses back into the cupboard without washing them. I’m not sure if that was because there was no water in the house, or if she would wash them later before using them again, or if she figured the alcohol would kill whatever germs might be lurking on the glass. We have run into this elsewhere as well.

We strolled through the sloping field (still covered with wild flowers both dry and blooming) behind the house. Bojana pointed to various plants and told me what ailments they were good for treating. They also pointed to a large area once used for growing potatoes and veggies. When Mičo checked out the spring on the hillside he was surprised to see it was dry. We then walked down their road a little ways and sat on a big rock, mostly in silence, enjoying the beauty around us, then we headed back home.

Mičo’s brother and family live in Slovenia. I asked if Mičo had ever been tempted to leave Montenegro and he emphatically said, ‘never’. He feels they have a good life where they are even though they don’t have lots of money. They have the 2 houses, land, good food and community. He works as a custodian at a local school and she works at a factory in town that makes gloves. The most difficult thing in recent years has been having the kids so far away. They long for the day when they return.

In the car on the way home I offered them some M&M’s I had in my pack. Bojana took a few, then when I offered more she declined. I insisted and urged her to take more. I said in Serbian with a laugh, ‘I am being Bojana’. She thought this was hilarious because it is so true. She was always offering us more food and drink.  

While sitting around that afternoon I gave Bojana and Mičo the rest of their gifts, the best one being a mug with photos I’d taken last year from our visit with them and our time with Kristina and Dušan in Chicago. They both loved it and jokingly tried to claim it for themselves. We also gave them wind chimes, candy and a couple other small gifts. As is always the case, Bojana went to the other room to find a gift for us in response and gave us a duvet cover. Mičo then asked which rakija we would prefer to receive, apple or the stronger plum. We chose the apple. Jim thinks Mičo was disappointed we did not choose the plum. In any case he gave us a wine bottle full of it to take home.

In the late afternoon Bojana served us a traditional potato-cheese dish as well as peppers and onions with a tasty sauce, and more of the yogurt-milk. Danka arrived soon after and we sat around the table while she ate, then moved to the couches where we drank coffee. Danka turned her cup over when she was done in the traditional way, then later looked at the coffee dregs to see her fortune. We haven’t seen many people do this during our travels but it used to be common. We gave her a card I had made for her with I photo I took last year at one of our favorite monasteries. I translated the message into Serbian for her. We also gave her some candy and showed them the copy of the Serb World magazine that has some of my photos and travel writing in it from previous trips to Montenegro. Even though they can’t read English they asked if they could keep it and I said yes.

When Danka left to go home she invited us to stop by for coffee later. Jim, Bojana and I took a leisurely stroll through the big field behind the house, stopping to greet various cows along the way, then went to Danka’s. She lives alone in the big house except in winter when she goes to Bar. We sat around her table in a room that appears to serve as kitchen, dining room and bedroom. She pointed to the photo I’d given her of her and Bojana. She had placed it in a prominent position among several other photos. She also pointed out a framed diploma that her husband had earned as an expert chess player. 

She served us coffee as well as a delicious cheese pastry. We were still full from dinner but to be polite we are a piece. She urged us to eat more but I simply couldn’t. A young teenage girl arrived and was introduced as Danka’s grand-daughter but we later learned she was a neighbor. She spoke a bit of English and translated some for us. As we were preparing to leave Danka showed us a very tidy bedroom and pointed to it as if to say that we could stay there. I’m not sure if I interpreted her gesture correctly but I think so. We hugged and said goodbye and headed back to the house.

We sat together chit chatting for a while, then, not wanting to keep them up late since they had to leave for work the next day at 7 we thanked them, hugged them and said our goodbyes. Bojana said she would leave out breakfast for us in the morning, and that it was fine to leave the door unlocked when we left.

Next morning we were greeted by the rakija bottle and shot glasses waiting for us in our usual places. Bojana had left covered plates of cured meats, cheese and freshly made sesame-cheese rolls as well as mint tea. We were in a quandary about how many rolls to take with us. She had left no instructions to take any but we were pretty sure she would be offended if we didn’t take some so we took a modest amount. Of course later she wrote and said she wished we go had taken more.

We said goodbye to Djaki the dog one last time. Every time we went outside or arrived at or left the house we would go pet Djaki and talk to her. She is starved for love and seems neurotic as a result of living her life with so little affection or freedom. Seeing Djaki chained up outside on a very short lead is the hardest and only bad part of staying at Bojana’s and Mičo’’s. She is dirty, maybe never bathed? They feed her each day but as far as we could tell that is the only attention she gets.  They seem to never talk to her. I don’t know if she ever gets a walk or if she is ever unchained. I know that Bojana and Mičo have no idea that dogs need more than just food. This is not unusual treatment of dogs in the villages. It is painful to witness Djaki’s plight but we don’t feel it is our place to try to judge or educate Bojana and Mičo. I keep hoping that when Kristina moves back to the village she will suggest better ways of caring for their dog.

I don’t want to end on such a low note because aside from seeing Djaki chained up and neglected the rest of our time was fabulous. We were treated kindly and our hosts were generous beyond measure. And it is a treat to be welcomed and appreciated by not only our hosts but also other people in the village. We feel extremely grateful to have been able to make repeated visits to Mićo’s and Bojana’s and to get to know everybody better each time.

As we drove down the driveway we came across Danka sitting outside with an older couple. We stopped the car, got out, took some photos and said goodbyes one more time. We said, in Serbian, see you next year. Danka laughed and placed her hands on her heart and said, ‘if I am still alive.’ That could be said by any of us, regardless of what age we are. 🙂❤️

Photos: Breakfast, Ride up to Mičo’s village, pictures from the old village. Last 3 rows, photos from around their house, including dear Djaki.