I must recount the details of this peculiar day before my memory becomes cloudy.
I woke up at about 9 AM and started the day shortly after. My first priority was food; I was starving and hadn't eaten since the night before.
I found a supermarket and found chocolate pudding and Pepsi. Not the best lunch I know, but I wasn't interested in a bread and cheese repeat of the last two months. I sat on a bench outside the grocery store eating my "lunch."
I wandered around old town for a bit and then ran into the Woman in Red (the woman working at the hostel). The town is just as beautiful in daylight if not moreso.
Old town walls and fortifications.
This was taken from outside the town walls. The fortress is in the background on the mountain.
One of many many churches in Kotor.
The fortress. It's a little hard to see... it blends in with the mountain.
Fortifications next to the southern gate. The city is surrounded by water on two sides (like a moat) and on the third side, the city is backed by a mountain on which the fortress stands.
(I have some awesome photos of Kotor already. I intend to put them into a bubbleshare album, so stay tuned. I'll post it in a few days.)
And here the play begins. Now I must introduce you to the cast of characters.
The Woman in Red:
The Woman in Red is Bosnian. She walks quickly and confidently everywhere she goes. Fifteen years ago, she was on holiday in Montenegro when Bosnia was bombed (again). She could not return home and was left with nothing. She spent the next 15 years rebuilding the clothing shop she had lost in Bosnia. Her latest whim was to open a chain of hostels around Montenegro. Since I have been to so many (Hostelworld tells me 60) she is hanging on my every word even though I feel like I don't have anything to say.
Her plan is to open a hostel in the 4 or 5 main tourist cities in Montenegro. Once she does that, she will start following her guests. By that I mean that she intends to keep track of them during their stays in Montenegro. In the winter, she is planning on starting to provide cultural activities opportunities: sheep herding in Kotor, olive oil making in Ulcinj, fishing in Budva. The ideas are good, but seem a bit lofty. But I don't know. I can see her accomplishing these goals. It seems like she has he connections and manpower necessary to get it all done.
A-Man:
The Woman in Red's friend is a "stylist", but you wouldn't know it to look at him (or to smell him). He wears orange capris, an old white polo shirt, navy socks with a white rim, and a very large, very orange fanny pack. This fanny pack seems to act like his purse. I've seen him pull cigarettes from the big pouch.
I can't imagine any self-respecting fashion designer looking like this. I call him A-Man for his white baseball cap with a red A on it (not to his face of course, but I don't know his name, so I have to call him something). Apparently, he's something of a celebrity, having been in films and worked in the fashion industry.
Pero:
I can't help but think of a dog whenever I hear his name (perro=dog in Spanish). And he is something of a lapdog to the Woman in Red. He eagerly does her bidding. He moved from Beograd, Serbia to Kotor, Montenegro when she asked him to. He is a really nice guy, always offering to make me coffee or start my laundry in the machine or give me info about anything I want.
The Owner of the House:
The Woman in Red is renting a house in which she plans to start another hostel. This house is nice, but far from the old town. The owner is a psychologist who works at a hospital in Hamburg, but I have a hard time believing that. This man met us in shorts and nothing else. I suppose that might have been ok if the shorts weren't of the sweatsuit variety and didn't have holes in the wrong places. He also had this major mole on his right arm sprouting a multitude of hairs. I would guess that the mole was 1 1/2 inches long and 1 inch wide. I am talking about a serious mole here. He kindly brought us cold water in dirty mugs. As nice as it was (him bringing the water), I couldn't drink it. Just looking at the dirt at the bottom of my cup made me kind of sick.
George and his sister:
I rather like George and his sister, but they still deserve some explanation, particularly George. (By the way, his name isn't really George, but the Serbian version of George. I'm just not sure how to spell that).
George is really interested in talking to me, which is fine. His English is fairly good, but still requires me to listen carefully. At least once every sentence, his eyes flare up. They get really wide and almost round, his eyelids completely inside his skull. Can a person's eyes actually threaten to pop out of his head?
George's sister is more or less just there. She occasionally joins in the conversations, but mostly just sits there and listens.
They are from Nis, Serbia and as far as I can tell are working at the hostel.
Act I: In which the girl is trapped
I was trapped. I was asked to visit the new hostel and couldn't easily say no. I had nowhere I had to be and no plans, so what could I say? I was more or less indifferent to the idea, so I went along with the Woman in Red and Pero.
Act II: In which the girl feels out of place, awkward, and out of her comfort zone
The afternoon was spent waiting for the locksmith, visiting the Woman in Red's rented properties, and talking to a diverse group of people (from Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro) who could all speak to each other and only rarely let me in on the conversation.
But I had to listen very carefully to all conversations, just in case at any point someone starts talking to me. I wasn't listening for English words. The situation was incredibly awkward for me. Everyone except A-Man was making an effort (although I think he just doesn't speak much English).
I just kept thinking all afternoon that this was the most bizarre day ever. The Woman in Red kept telling me that I was only seeing a part of their normal day. Their normal day begins at 7 AM and ends somewhere around 11 PM.
Act III: In which the girl is finally freed
Finally, George and his sister, A-Man, Pero, and the Woman in Red left, leaving me alone with the three other guests. And here I am at a restaurant with free wireless drinking bad coffee (I feel guilty sitting here for an hour if I'm not going to buy anything).
I'll see what happens, but I'm supposed to go with the Woman in Red to Budva tomorrow. I originally accepted because I thought she was offering a ride (saving me 3 euros), but based on recent events, I am more than a little worried that she is going to want me to go with her on more business outings. Honestly, I'm not interested, but I feel like I'm being rude if I tell her that.
To be continued...
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