I have a very short travelling bucket list, and one item on that list is to volunteer at a hostel. Ever since I stayed in a hostel alone for the first time in Mexico and realised it was a thing it’s been something that I’ve wanted to do. I also really wanted to spend a few weeks in one place, and properly get to know it. August seemed like the perfect time to do this, everywhere was getting a lot busier which isn’t my favourite thing, and hostels were booking up in advance which messes with my one or two days ahead style of planning. I’d had a busy first 3 months so 4 weeks of staying still and having a routine was very appealing. I originally looked at Albania and found a few opportunities on workaway. My criteria was:
- A town with something going on. Nice cafes to write in, nice restaurants to try out, museums to visit.
- Somewhere very close to swim each day.
- Can get to other places from it by bus, to explore more of the area.
- Hiking in the area.
- Good hostel vibe, social etc.
None of the places in Albania had all of these, so I was struggling to decide which to go for. In my indecision I arrived in Kotor for the first time. Here I found a place that had everything I was looking for, so I asked about volunteering in August and that was that.
Kotor is such an interesting place. It’s located on the inner most point of a strange double bay. It has a beautiful old town which is filled with cats and kittens, with legend being that the felines protect the town. Kotor has two museums: a cat museum and a maritime museum. I visited and would recommend both. It has a fruit and veg market every morning by the wall of the old town. Their figs were especially good. It is surrounded my steep black mountains. The sun sets down into the bay, and it makes the mountains look almost purple and as if they’re a green screen. They rise so suddenly from the water, they don’t look real. Up above the old town, around half way up the mountain, is an old fort with old walls going up to it on either side. These were illuminated at night by soft golden lights. If you swam at night you could float on you back and look up at the cliffs and gaze at the illuminated arc of the old walls. All reflected in the black water around you. It was always a wonderful way to end the day. Kotor was lovely and quiet in June when I first visited, but it was much busier in August. The beach would be empty first thing in the morning, but after that it became horribly busy. The water became less clear too. A weird thing about Kotor is the ever present cruise ships that silently arrive and leave in the night. These huge boats look so out of place, but they soon become part of the landscape. I still can’t figure out why Kotor is a stop for them, especially as it must be a pain to get to from the open sea.
I was there for two carnivals - one on land and one in the sea, with the floats being on little boats. They both ended in fireworks, and I do love fireworks.
Montenegro Hostel 4 U
The hostel was a party hostel, but I stuck by my intention for the month of relaxing and getting into a healthy routine. I woke up early each morning and did some exercise. I ran my first ever 5km! I’d do some yoga and then swim in the sea. I’d join Isabel, another volunteer, for breakfast and we’d make delicious porridge. Isabel and I alternated between the morning shift, changing the beds, and the evening shift, doing the ironing and odd jobs. When I wasn’t working I’d mostly relax at the beach, explore the old town, take out a paddle board or chill at the hostel. I did one big hike, and then never found the time to do anymore. I found that I really enjoyed helping out the guests with travel questions - giving them tips on what to do in Kotor, on where the best bakery was and the best places in Montenegro to visit. I met so many lovely travellers, and a few less lovely ones. But as I’ve been back on the road travelling south I only seem to have bumped into the lovely ones. I wonder how far I’ll need to go before I stop bumping into people that visited Kotor whilst I was working. The other volunteers were also, mostly, lovely. For the majority of my time working there were four of us, all girls. We went out for a couple of nice dinners together, and spent time working and chatting in cafes. I really did fall into a sleepy routine and the days passed quickly. I think I would’ve started to get bored if Tarsha and Alex hadn’t come and visit, but after they left I had less than a week remaining and it suddenly seemed like I had a lot to squeeze in! I didn’t do nearly as much as I thought I would, in terms of hiking, writing, planning, or online courses. But I got all the rest I needed, and I felt properly at home in Kotor. And those were my only real aims for the month.
The hostel wasn’t perfect of course, it was quite disorganised which made me feel bad for the guests at times. I felt that it charged too much money for the activities we put on, but the activities were fun - a family BBQ and a sunset kayaking tour. The staff room where we slept was always so messy and dirty, especially the bathroom. It was the type of dirtiness that meant even after showering you didn’t feel clean. The few nights I spent in Alex and Tarsha’s airbnb were a wonderful break from this! We had one volunteer who left but then returned who was a bit of headache. So whilst I was sad to say goodbye to Kotor I was definitely ready to be back on the road!
Being still gave me time to reflect on my future travels. I’m feeling really content and chilled out about it all. And excited of course. When I started my energy was so high, and I was so happy all of the time. I knew then that it was unsustainable, and I was nervous for a big crash. But instead it’s just settled down. This current level of contentedness is sustainable, so I’m no longer worried about it running out.