Thursday, September 1, 2011

Riding a Donkey May Equal Glory but It Is Not Glamorous...

   Reaching the end of our fourth full day in Santorini! Everyone seems to think we're nuts for staying on one island for a week but I am feeling really good about that choice right now. Packing up and ferrying to another island sounds far less appealing than hanging out at the beach or scootering through little blue-and-white towns.
   Tuesday we went to Fira, the main town on Santorini. Not much to do but it was fun to check out the shops and we finally found falaffel gyros which we had been searching for. After a few hours of aimless wandering we headed back to the hostel for some relaxing and some delicious food from the restaurant conveniently located directly across the street. A bunch of people from our hostel were hanging out on the patio, talking and playing games when we got done eating so I hung out for a few hours.
   Yesterday, Michelle and I went on a tour with three other girls in our dorm room. We stared by taking a boat to a volcano and hiking up to the crater. It wasn't a bad hike but between the heat and thinner air at the altitude we were at were all pretty winded. There was a beautiful view though, and the crater was pretty cool even if it wasn't full of bubbling lava like I hoped. Once we got back down, the boat took us to a hot springs for a quick swim. The springs were more "warmish and full of red mud" than "hot" but it was nice. Next up was Thirassia, a smaller island very close to Santorini. There wasn't much to do there, just some small rocky beaches in between restaurants and a mountainous path up to some more white and blue buildings, but they gave us three hours for some reason. We ended up taking donkey rides to the top of the mountain. I have pretty mixed feelings about this particular experience. On one hand, the top of the mountain was beautiful with great views, it would have been a rough walk, and was sort of funny because the donkets kept charging around with everyone trying desperately not to fall off or get scraped along the walls. On the other hand, the donkey man kept screaming at everyone and donkeys are gross. Plus, in spite of their grossness I felt bad for the poor donkeys. It was definitely a memorable experience though and I'm glad we did it!
   After a swim and another boat ride, we reached Oia, the last stop on our tour where the best view of the sunset is supposed to be. The was another mountainous path to take but we sucked it up this time and walked. It would have been OK except the heat was insane and by the time we reached the town we were all drenched in sweat and striped down to the least clothing we could wear without being totally scandalous. Luckily we were still in our swimsuits. We were rewarded for our efforts with a beautiful sunset which we watched while perched on a white wall overlooking part of the town and the water. Sometimes I think my life is actually a movie (both the awesome parts and the bad). This was one of the awesome times. I'm pretty sure the movie was called Sisterhood of the Traveling Ragamuffins. Rent it, it's great. Anyway, we got the tour bus home and had bakery snacks and a couple of beers before crashing. Pretty great day.
   Today was also good but much more relaxing. We slept in and had breakfast (I ate a nectarine and yogurt with my potato-filled pastry because I'm healthy like that) and set off for the beach. We bought frappes at one of beach bars which meant that we got access to their comfy beach chairs and pool. We read and talked and swam in the perfectly clear sea water. We also went in the pool, hoping to rinse off the salt but it was a salt pool. It had jets though so it was still good! I left around five when i was starting to feel hungry. After a pastry break, I headed to the shower which lead to the distressing realization that I was massively sunburnt. Nothing blistering or anything, just a lot of it everywhere. This was extra upsetting since I've been comforting  myself about the fact that I have not managed much of a tan with the fact that I have gone two and a half months without any sunburns beyond a little pinkness here and there. Now I have to comfort myself for being sunburnt by telling myself that at least it will help even out the farmers tan I was developing on my legs (not that it was really much of a tan). Clearly I am a huge optimist in the face of adversity. (I'm kidding, of course, I know I have it good! Don't yell at me for being ungrateful!)
Have to go freshen up before heading to the beach bars! If this makes you jealous you can think about the fact that this includes using a bathroom with salty sulfur water and no soap. See how this optimism game works?

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