Bruno

Tue. April 3...Still enjoying Dubrovnik. Last night, after Mike, Kevin and I cooked a huge pasta dinner and drank a few beers, we started the long walk to Old Town to see about the night life - though we'd heard that the whole city was pretty quiet except for weekend nights. A few local girls who were coming back from an orchestra concert directed us to a local bar with cheap drinks. After hanging around there for a while the girls came in to join us. We were all chatting when we were approached by an old fisherman - a classic looking guy with his beenie cap cocked sideways, a dirty flannel shirt and an enormous, bushy beard - his name was Bruno. One of the girls explained that he is a very quiet man who has lived here most of his life. She had hardly ever spoken to him, though she informed us that he was close friends with her father. After a while, Bruno suggested that we buy a bottle of wine and accompany him back to his 'house.' Bruno's house was actually, and quite literally, a hole in the wall. It was a small one room apartment, about the size of an average homes laundry room, situated inside of the city wall, facing out to the harbor, where he'd lived the past 35 years. We drank and talked with Bruno until about three in the morning (which was actually about 30 minutes after I fell asleep sitting on his bench/bed.) He was an amazing character - he had everything he needed in his little home. Fishing line carefully balled up into three different sized orbs decorated the wall next to his guitar and one painting, an arial view of old town Dubrovnik. The girls had said that he did not speak any english, but Bruno suprised them when he excercised his broken but comprehensable english. Bruno was just quiet, but when he spoke it was precise and meaningfull. He explained to us that he only works when he needs to work, and that style of living had clearly treated him just fine. At the end of the night, Bruno gave Kevin the flannel off of his back. He hardly had enough possessions to fill his little home, but insisted that we take his shirt as a momento. Incredible. After that, I began the walk home and Mike and Kevin stayed with the girls a bit longer. After I made a slight detour by jumping a fence to jump on a giant trampoline with high inflatable walls for a while, I finally made it home and got to bed around 4:30. A memorable night, to say the least. 10-4 out.
-Sam