According to the Schengen Agreement, which brings together countries from the core of the European Union since 1985, people and goods can pass freely across the borders of the countries involved. Border controls are history within Schengen borders. Croatia is not yet part of the agreement, though. Migrants from Asia and Africa who come over from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, do their best to cross the border of Slovenia, which is part of Schengen since 2007. A good stretch of the border between Croatia and Slovenia is to the north of the Istrian peninsula. There is a growing number of stories about migrants in Ćićarija, a thinly-populated plateau that stretches from mountain Učka above Rijeka to the Adriatic coast of Slovenia. The rugged region is nigh perfect for unencumbered border crossing. Even barbed wire, which was installed by Slovene authorities at the height of the migration crisis several years ago, is hardly a threat in the wilderness. Migrant smuggling is rife in the region, and the police is well aware of the vibrant trade that brings together a number of Balkan countries. There are thus ever more police cars along the Mirna river north of Motovun. There is ever more gossip about the trade, as well. For instance, a suspect resident of the municipality got caught by the police a short while ago. But there is little to learn about migrant smuggling from the local media, for news of this sort could not but harm tourism, the only remaining economic trick in Istria, Dalmatia, and the rest of Croatia since the country’s independence in 1991. So far, the best source of news on the subject is gossip. Good old gossip, that is. Used to it from dire times in the previous century, which span imperial Austria-Hungary, fascist Italy, and socialist Yugoslavia, Motovun inhabitants are learning fast. And I cannot but praise them for their ancient skills. At this day and age, gossip beats all the media, including the World Wide Web, by quite a margin. Hooray!