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Monday, August 23, 2010

Mostar Mannequins


It took me nearly three weeks to leave Sarajevo and start exploring other parts of Bosnia. I got really attached really fast and had a hard time leaving. I finally got further than just 30 minutes outside of the city and went to Mostar, planning on staying for a week and travel to various other surrounding areas as well as Croatia and Slovenia. Having my bag packed for a week, I took off. Mostar is a split city. One side Muslim the other Catholic with only a bridge to connect the two sides. During the war the bridge was destroyed, fifteen years ago. It was not re-completed until just four years ago. Needless to say, the tensions between the two sides are strong. Walking around, I did not feel more comfortable on either side and after some really bad encounters with people there, my week long trip lasted 4 hours until I took the last bus out for Međugorje.
This mannequin is from a bridal shop in a store front on the Muslim side of Mostar. It really made me laugh at the time because even the mannequins were destroyed, missing fingers, and having disheveled hair. It was kind of how I felt after only spending four hours there. Nearly everyone else I talked to loved Mostar. Perhaps I just had a bad experience or since I didn't go with anyone else I was more in danger. Whatever it was that made me feel bad energy, I left feeling much like this mannequin looked.

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