Mike, the hostel owner, came out occasionally to make sure that we were both being entertained, and also to do regular chores like vacuuming the pool :) he and I chatted for most of the time, things from why Detroit is such a sucky city to why girls spend so much time with their boyfriends (his daughter was the guilty party in this). Towards the beginning of the evening, the Aussie chick left to catch a late ferry and I was pretty much alone. There was one more girl in my dorm but she didn't show back up until nearly midnight. I kept myself occupied by chatting with Mike some more, going to the local market for dinner food, and then listening to music for the rest of the evening.
The next day, I woke up bright and early meaning to make the most of my time. Since it was so bright and early, I went back to sleep! When I did wake up again, I realized that the wind had stopped and immediately grabbed my towel with a book before I headed out to the beach.
People wander the beach trying to sell anything, from sunglasses to...to tattoos. Really, there was a guy walking around holding a portfolio of designs, asking "Tattoo? Tattoo?" I had found "Notes from the Underground" by Dochetvesky (I'm messing his name up so bad, but that's what he gets for being a Russian) and soon established a routine: read for about 30 minutes, at which point I would begin to feel uncomfortably hot, and then go dive into the cool, cool water of the sea.
The water felt like delicious ice against my heated skin each time I dived in and kept me cool for that next 30 minutes before I dived back in again. It was also so unbelievably clear -- I could see my toes as I swam out, which is an enormous improvement over both east and west coast beaches (not counting Miami Beach, which is a beautiful abnormality in itself).
I got back to my hostel in the early afternoon, in time to see the last girl in the dorm off as she left to catch her ferry, took a nap, and then returned to the beach to finish my book. Instead of reading, though, I struck up a conversation with an Athenian man that went through the Greek economy, different products of Greece, the future of the world's economy...a lot of random money talk. He was a hotel worker come to the island for the tourist season. I left as the sun went down and got back to my now private room, listening to more music, reading until I was tired, and then dropping into a very uncomfortable sleep where I dreamed Russian tragedies.
This morning I woke up and packed all my things slowly, feeling no rush to get ready to go. I checked out and Mike insisted on giving me a ride to the capital. It was a 15 minute ride and saved me about 3€ in bus fare. We had nothing but good conversation the entire time over there and he told me that if I ever wanted to come back to the island, to just email him and "no matter what, no matter if I got no room, if all my rooms are booked, I'll find a place for you." And my family, he added, since I'd mentioned how much I wished they could experience the island.
It was only about 11:30am by the time I got to the capital, almost 4 hours before my ferry was supposed to depart. I spent the time walking around, seeing things I hadn't seen yet, exploring all the ridiculously expensive shops that were obviously tourist traps. I grabbed another gyro for lunch and sat down in a window sill to watch the sail boats go by...only to get shoo-ed away by the shop owner whose window sill it had turned out to be. I caught a bus to the port and made it on to my ferry, sitting next to four older ladies. When I found out that, unlike my last ferry, this one would not allow passengers to stand out on the deck as we sailed to our destination, I grumpily put on my headphones and drifted into an afternoon nap.
The ferry had one quick stop at the island of Ios before continuing on to Athens. At this stop, the lady sitting beside me left and was replaced by one heavily accented Aussie. He, too, had his headphones on, plugged into his own iPhone. I asked him what he was listening to, and for the next four hours we had a very good conversation. He was leaving a group of friends behind on Ios since he had to get back to his dentist school. He was about six months away from graduating and very excited about it. He was also carrying around the autobiography of the lead singer from the Rolling Stones rock band and we spent a lot of time talking about music.
Towards the end of the ride, as the ferry slowed down and approached the port, the deckhands allowed passengers to stand out on the deck. I grabbed my Aussie and out we went, watching the land smoothly slide alongside us, watching the other ferry boats steam past towards the open sea, and commenting about the different beautiful sights we both observed. My Aussie was very funny, very quick with the reply, and very easy to talk to. I never got his name, though, and we parted with just a quick hug, going opposite directions.
I wandered to the metro, having scribbled down some quick notes on how to get to my hostel, and had a shock to my system when the rail runner made an announcement that, "due to technical difficulties, the last stop of this train will be at Thessio," which was one stop too early for my directions. There were no other explanations or alternative routes given to us passengers, just the notice repeated at every stop up to that last station, and then once the train reached Thessio we were all unceremoniously dumped out.
There were no information booths or maps or rail workers to give us dozens of tourists directions. I'm not sure who finally made a decision on which way to go, but I noticed the massive hoard of tourists, each dragging along or packing with them a huge suitcase such that it looked like an army of door-to-door salesmen, all seemed to unanimously decide to start swarming in one direction and I followed. It turned out to be the right direction and I ended up at my hostel, checking in a little before 9pm.
I met with some of the other people in my dorm, including an Indiana girl who is actually flying back home tomorrow. I couldn't help confessing that I was partly jealous of her. The streets were still ridiculously alive -- it looked like it was more around 6pm than 9pm -- so I went out to see if I could grab some dinner. When I couldn't find a place to serve fast, decent food, I grabbed an ice cream cone instead with coconut and raspberry scopes, went to the hugely popular square near my hostel, and sat to enjoy the lively crepes that were all passing through.
After about five minutes, a guy approached me and started talking about where we all were from. He was with a group of friends and it turned out they were all from Nigeria. Personally, I thought he was from Italy maybe. None of his friends spoke English so it was just me and him having a talk.
He started out by talking about how, when you start seeing different cultures, there will always be many things you love and many things you hate about cultures different from you own. Then his talk started getting a little crazy: he started justifying the honor-killings that take place when a woman is found cheating on her husband, as well as making a point that there must be a real reason behind many terrorist acts. As I was giving him the goggly-eyed stare and telling him that those actions were extreme beyond what we would consider sane, he then added some parts of his culture that I really did like: how honored women are by all men, how people will bring each other food if they are hungry, how a neighbor will help his neighbor in need since being neighbors means they are like brothers. His English wasn't perfect and I get the feeling that there was a lot lost in the translation, but he may have proved his point too well, providing examples of his culture that I did both hate and appreciate.
I left him with a "thanks for the thoughts" and got back to my hostel, his parting words being a heavy warning against thieves in the city (after he tried to give me a cell phone when he found out I didn't have one!). In my dorm, each of the 10 beds is full tonight. There is a club right next door and I can hear their deep bass beating over the s'mores of my dorm mates. I can't wait to get up tomorrow! I've seen the Acropolis from afar and at night they light it up. It's so gorgeous! They said it was in the 90s today so I'm also dreading tomorrow's temperature but still -- I'm in Athens! Lands of the gods and the heroes and the myths!
Location:Athens, Greece
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