Off to Ploče

Day 3: August 5th, We left Dubrovnik in the morning and drove the hour and 15 minutes Northwest to Ploče. Turns out you actually have to drive through Bosnia in order to get there.

Jason's family actually lives in a little village called Baćina, just outside of Ploče. Uncle Dominik and his sister-in-law, Vesna made these amazing eel dishes, which is a delicacy there. One was grilled and the other cooked in a stew. They were served with polenta and bread and all of it was SO good. We ate with Vesna, Dominik's brothers Ante, Viktor, and Uncle Tommy, Aunty Patty, Dominik's wife Karen, son Anton, his friend Jason E., the Kusalos, and a bunch of friends. It was quite the welcome lunch.

After lunch we went down to the beach. The beach is a cement strip on the cove/ port at the base of the village. You lay out your towel somewhere and jump in. The water was freezing. While down there, Anton's aunt (Jason's cousin) Mira joined us - 65 years old, round little woman in her bikini, she dove in with a whoop. Hilarious and lots of energy. She was shaking hands and kissing cheeks while treading water.



We went back up to the house to get ready for the village party - complete with Tshirts for the event. The party was huge. Goran, a villager, helped put the party together. He was warm and generous, loved that we came to join the festivities. We had Ožujsko Beer (one of the best selling beers in Croatia) with the amazing homemade seafood risotto, grilled mackerel, and bread.

The mussels in the risotto were actually plucked from the ocean walls by the men of the village while the women cooked up the incredible meal. The risotto was served up on huge platters upon long tables with the bags of bread laid out. You just grabbed a small plate and scooped up a helping from the platter, each person for themselves. It was SO yummy.

The party went on all night and the biggest thing was a very famous Croatian singer who came to perform. By 10 PM, the guy was loaded but still singing his face off at midnight. It was a treat getting to hang out with the locals since it's not something that we would ever get to experience if we were just tourists. I did get a lot of double takes which was amusing. Most of these people have probably never seen an Asian person aside from pictures. They were probably so confused as to why I would be at their party.

While at the party, we also met Viktor's son-in-law, his wife, Matija - a lanky 20 yr old cousin standing about 6'4", Dominik's other sister Zenka, brother Zoren the playboy, and Anton's friend, Anton Barbir who happens to be the CFO for Ožujsko Beer. Generally, I noticed people were really tall, not just the men. I came to find out that genetically Croatians have the tallest genes in the world. After being there for a week, I believe it. Jason has a 16 year old cousin who is already 6'6". He plays basketball of course.

We lasted until about 1AM at the party, long enough to see Vinko finish his drunken set while men lit flares to celebrate. By the time we left, beer bottles littered the ground. They didn't seem too concerned about setting out garbage or recycling cans so I feel bad for whoever has to clean that up.