So for those of you keeping score at home: I was right. As soon as we got to the coast and saw all of the beautiful cliffs, all of the small towns, the fjords (as a slight aside, “fjord” is easily becoming one of my favorite words), and meeting some of the people here, I didn’t want to leave. I was honestly surprised about how many adventures we were able to pack into our brief three days along the coast.
On the Coast, Day 1: Saying “Goodbye”
Tuesday morning we woke up in Niksic and said our goodbyes to Pastor Stan and Vicki. They graciously let us stay in their home for three days in between working at camp and traveling to the coast. I could easily have spent another month there (at least) working with the ministry, doing follow-ups with the people we worked with at camp, helping Pastor Stan try to create sustainable business practices for the people in Niksic, or just helping Stan and Vicki with the renovations around their home. I really hope I get to come back in the relatively near future.
We departed around 8:30am for the coast. Most of us (The English, Americans, Danish, and Montenegrins) packed into a small bus as well as an overfull car and headed southwest. Our first view of the coast came from the top of a cliff overlooking one of the small towns. The view was breathtaking and nothing less than what we have now come to expect as “normal” for Montenegro (seriously, this country is gorgeous). After taking a couple of pictures, we piled back into the bus and traveled down the mountainside. After another hour of travel with a couple more stops to get out and walk and take pictures, we finally arrived in the coastal city of Kotor.
Upon arrival, we all piled out and jumped off a pier to cool off before exploring the town (the AC on the bus either didn’t work or was non existent). Half of us decided to climb up to the fortress, which I felt like I was tricked into doing. I was told the view was fantastic (which to be fair, it was, don’t get me wrong), but to get to said view we had to climb about a million and a half steps, and when we weren’t even near half way up we all looked like we’d just escaped a POW camp. We all were all soaked in sweat; our faces were brighter than the tomato I ate for lunch, probably dehydrated; and the top layer became optional. Once we got to the top I cared more about just being done and resting than the spectacular view that was sitting in front of me. There is probably a metaphor about faith, works, and our walks with Jesus in there somewhere, but I’ll let you sort that one out. After we rested for a bit and took an adequate amount of pictures we headed down the side of the mountain to meet up with the rest of the group so we can go to the beach.
Once we got to the beach and after we spent a good amount of time throwing around a volleyball, sharing a few drinks, playing a card game, and just hanging out with some good friends, it was time to say a second hard goodbye to our English, Danish, and Montenegrin friends. Our local contact Nina then took us to the small coastal city of Herceg Novi. After dinner we decided that tomorrow we would try to hunt for our lunch and go with Nina to go octopus hunting in the bay. We all got incredibly excited by the opportunity.
We then explored a bit more of town as well as the waterfront. I was able to talk to Nina a bit more about the culture and the people. She talked about how the big sport along the coast is water polo, which makes sense, but what surprised me was that just like how everyone has their favorite soccer or “football” club, everyone here as their favorite water polo club. And they are just as passionate for their water polo team as they are with their favorite soccer club. We also got to talk about Montenegro as a country, and what I found interesting is that there is no bad blood between Montenegro and Serbia, which would seem to be the exact opposite case of most of the political between Serbia and other Balkan states. In fact, what I’ve noticed is that a lot of people who live in Montenegro don’t call themselves Montenegrin rather they call themselves Serbian. She also mentioned that when she travels to Croatia she doesn’t feel safe to be alone. Which is makes me feel both disheartened that someone could feel that way, but excited for ROM (the big reconciliation/leadership conference that will be the last 2 ½ weeks of Deputation).
On the Coast, Day 2: On Holiday
We all woke up at the incredibly early hour about 5:30am in the morning to go meet up with Nina for the hunt. We slowly made our way over to Nina’s and once we got there we were showered with some wonderful Montenegrin hospitality before we headed down to the dock. Once we got down to the dock, we had to wait for some advice from someone she knew about where would be good spots to go hunting. After receiving a bit of advice from one of the locals, we hopped into the boat and began what looked like a mile-ish paddle out.
It was about halfway through the journey to the other side when I asked, “So what technique will we be using to catch the octopus?” I was thinking some form of nets, maybe a fishing rod, fake crabs, or some man-made invention to give us some form of edge over the illusive octopus. However, Nina replied with, “our hands”. I was a little surprised, but it looked like it was going to be an epic showdown. Predator vs. prey, man against beast, an epic showdown to see who is truly the most evolved, hunter or hunted.
We eventually arrived at the other side of the bay. We tied our boat off on an old post near one of the old submarine bays that the military used to use (I believe during WWII) but has since been abandoned. Nina spotted an octopus underneath the boat. We waded into the water slowly so as to not to disturb our still very much alive lunch. Nina slowly ducked her head into the water to try to get a better view of the future stew. After a couple times of trying to open her eyes underneath the water, she gave up. And the rest of us were like, “nah, we’re good,” so we all decided to call it quits and go back to the shore to lie down and enjoy the sun. Sure, it was disappointing not to get an octopus, but we were on the coast of Montenegro – it’s pretty hard not to remain disappointed when you’re here.
On the Coast, Day 3: More Goodbyes
We spent most of the morning hanging out on the beach. While in the water, Fredrik and I both stepped on a sea urchin. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. For a while I thought I just stepped on a sharp rock. It wasn’t until about fifteen minutes later when Fredrik said, “Hey, I think I stepped on a sea urchin,” that I thought to reassess whether or not that rock I stepped on was truly a rock. So when we walked up on land the answer was yep, I had three spines stuck in my foot. After lying around in the sun for some time longer, we made our way back to Nina’s grandparents house to get those spines removed. As a bit of a side note: Nina and her grandparents are amazing. They were nothing but hospitable to us, and it was an honor to meet them and spend time with them.
After lunch we just hung out near the shore, grabbed some absolutely fantastic gelato, and made the most of the time we had left. These past few days were absolutely amazing, and while some of the group was ready to go back to Belgrade, I really fell in love with Montenegro: the mountains, the coast, the food, and all of the people we’ve gotten to meet have been absolutely amazing and not something I will soon forget, and I hope I get the chance to come back in the near future.
We said another goodbye to Nina and boarded the bus at 8:00pm to make the twelve-hour drive back to Belgrade. This, I think, was the hardest goodbye for me. This was not only because Nina was an awesome host, but because this was us leaving Montenegro for good, at least for this trip it would be. I could have easily been here for another month at least, whether working at more camps, working with Stan and Vicki, or actually catching an octopus. But who knows? I just pray that I get to come back soon.
Brian Wipfler