October 24, 2019
Workaway – you work 5 days per week, 5 hours per day in exchange for food and accommodation. You can find projects all over the world. I had an amazing experience in Portugal where I stayed with a British guy and helped him with work on his land.
We had this option in our mind with Klavdija ever since I came to Mexico. Because it feels good to settle down, learn new things, be by the ocean and feel the vibe of the surfer’s town. So we went to Puerto Escondido (a small town next to the Pacific ocean) with an idea to stay there for a month and just GO FOR IT and enjoy.
But if I am being honest I had very hard time during the three weeks we stayed there and I am asking myself while I am typing this – why was it like that? And before I explore the things that I didn’t connect with I just want to present you my current situation.
Yes, I am traveling and I have a lot of free time and time for adventure. But my “technical backpack”is with me for a reason. You know those vlogs on my youtube channel? Well, they take quite some time to edit. And all the posts on Instagram and Facebook too. I am not complaining – photography and video are basically part of me now but they do take time and energy.
Besides the content for Curryandlove I sometimes write posts (can’t wait for my article about food in Ladakh to be published in Slovenian travel magazine Avantura), freelance on projects and try to learn new stuff.
So the first thing that I think is important to say is – I completely miscalculated the amount of time you work. At the end 25 hours per week isn’t that little. And after I finished my 5 hour shift in a hot kitchen I had a feeling my brains will melt. I am super grateful for all the people I met there, had interesting conversations, learned about new Mexican recipes and connected with them in many ways. But at the end of the day my time was still mostly spent cleaning the dishes and sweeping the floor.
The situation started fighting my ego. The same ego that used to lead a kitchen in Ljubljana. That one that has a master’s degree in psychology. AND NOW I AM HERE TO CLEAN FLOORS? An amazing experience really, that teaches you how you need to be careful with where you invest you own energy and that you should put it where you actually want to – because there is a limited amount of it. And also just a big lesion of modesty.
The second part that I had very big problem accepting (even though Klavdija and I tried quite hard) was the accommodation. The wooden room was definitely in style of the tropical places, But I don’t want to know about the history of the matress I was sleeping on. It was so hot, filled with mosquitos and you just wanted to be there as little as possible. New lesson - I guess with years of traveling came also a new idea of comfort and what I need to function the best I can.
And for the cherry on top I couldn’t really connect with anyone. This an interesting thing I notice over and over again – I have the biggest problem connecting in places that are in fact meant for people to have fun and hang out. But the new acquaintances didn’t feed my soul. I just felt like everything is blocking my flow. I didn’t want to blame anything or anyone, I wanted to overcompensate those feelings, but it didn’t work out. Even with Klavdija we got in a fight a few times which never happened before.
I want to end this short tale with this - this is only my own and very specific experience. I think that Workaway is an amazing platform and I definitely recommend it to anyone that wants new experience. And also that things are never black and white - maybe I needed exactly something to touch me in the way Puerto did. So I can recognize a bit more grown up Klara that is not 19 anymore and OK with anything that comes her way.
Below I want to share a few photos. Because I think that life is really beautiful and I love catching glimpses of it with my camera.
