Just one exciting adventure after another…HAH, not even. Nope, sometimes an adventure is a lesson in making better choices!!!

First, I must admit to being horribly ill with food poisoning. And although I would like to pin the rap on a restaurant, I think it was my poor decision making. So you know, if you order a plate of local cheeses for lunch and cannot eat it all…do not, repeat “do not” place said package in your backpack, walk in the sun for 30-40 minutes to the bus stop….but I am getting ahead of the story.

Guess who is in town? In an adjoining village – Perast. A beautiful sea side location that is just lovely…ah you guessed Magic Johnson. And you would be right. So thinking, how nice it would be to say hello to a fellow American (yeah he’s not losing sleep over missing my trek there) I took off in the morning. Perast is tucked away and looks a bit idyllic. Yes a good word, idyllic – a bit touristy, a bit homey, and laid out very well. Not too big. But alas Mr Johnson was not staying in Perast, he was on his yacht. Regardless, it is now close to noon, it’s getting hot, and I need food. An adorable cafe by the sea (plenty to choose from) and the first one I came to…some cold water, a salad and the ominous ‘cheese plate’.

In the heat of the day, maybe a cheese plate is not such a good idea, and maybe even less of a good idea is taking the uneaten cheeses packed up in your black backpack. (Black backpack = very hot backpack with sun beating down on it). Done with lunch, I set off walking through Perast, then heading up the hill to the bus stop. I think I have mentioned a few times how nice and helpful Montegnegrins are. Unbelievably pleasant until one wasn’t. A man sitting in the shade, along the road out of Perast, when asked is the bus stop along here or further up the road? Replied “you are in my country, speak Montenegrin. Where are you from?” America. “You need to speak my language”. To which I was too tired to respond inappropriately but you know I was thinking it.

Found the bus stop, got on the bus, 30+ minutes back to the apartment. Then the cheese is in the fridge. The next day, had some of said cheese and hours later was sure I was having an attack of some kind. Middle of the night, up chuck, etc. By morning, thinking of all the possibilities of the wracking stomach and groin pain…the symptoms kept coming back to food poisoning. At that point, I am blaming the restaurant…but in truth, dragging cheese in the intense heat for an hour may have been totally my fault. Food poisoning is not funny or to be taken lightly. It is pretty serious. For a couple days, just unable to do much but suffer. I may never eat cheese again.

Better now. So off to a new adventure!!! A new found American, Becca from SFO and of late Madrid…is also ‘Schengen Shuffling’ here in Montenegro. We meet up and decide to take the local bus partway around the bay to a village called Prcanj to see a music festival. With that small bit of knowledge, we take off. How hard could it be?

We started at 6pm, never found the festival, home by 11 or so. 5 hours of ?? Well who had ‘A couple hours on the bus from hell’ on their Bingo Travel Cards????? Yes. Once we got on the bus, found out the bus driver was a disgruntled Italian driver whose feet only knew ‘faster’ and ‘jam on the brakes’….it was a trip NEVER to be repeated. Taking the bus all the way into neighboring city Tivat, we realized we could not get off the bus or we risk getting stuck somewhere so back in our seats on the bus back to Kotor. A tourist driver was in front of the bus, and clearly he didn’t meet the speed standards expected by our very own “Mario Andretti Kotor style”…oh the honking and the language! I was very curious to know what he was calling this guy. Anyhow, finally back in Kotor, found an outside bar and had a cold apple cider (hard cider). Much needed.

So lest you think it is all fun and excitement, a couple hours on the bus from hell will give you a dose of reality. A few errant mosquitoes made the trip far more exciting! Funny now, but last night…aaauuuuugggghhhh. And as soon as I ran across the street from the bus stop to buy mosquito repellent, the bus came! You just can’t make this stuff up!

Some amazing photos of this beautiful place. The mountains are hike-able. One of our fellow bus prisoners, Spero from Germany, had just done an 18 kilometer hike over one of the mountains and was taking the bus home. Very impressive. Nope. Content to just look. But wow. These mountains are simply breathtaking!

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