hi,
coming to you after a blazing hot day here in Athens. As usual, we started with a breakfast that left us with nothing to report, except saying goodbye to our redhead neighbor (she left us a very sweet note later) and complaining about Ollie, who I introduced yesterday. Although he had a very fetching Australian accent, a neat straw hat, and some rad high tops from the 80s, Ollie became my worst enemy last night and I'm not ashamed to say I dreamed (when I finally made it to sleep) of Ollying a skateboard on his head. He started his slumber by falling asleep before everyone (fully clothed I might add) and doing that grunt/snore that sounds more like farting than breathing. As our lights went off he looked me straight in the eye, turned over, and plunged into a hurtling locamotive of yawping sleep screaming with nose stuck in the air like a beaver looking for bacon. After I could take no more, I sat straight up in bed and did what my dad always did when I fell asleep in church--I stared at him with a dirty look until the force of my eyes woke him up. he looked at me for a second time and guess what happened? he took off his shirt...weird. Next, he started that pass-gas-breathing again and immediately started talking in his sleep--"um'' "oooaaaawwwwtttthhhhg" "notshleeepwingyit" "I hate you and want you never to sleep again"--well not that last one. At this point I was reeling mad, so I got off my squeaky bunk and went to sit in the bathroom for a while...the blessed quiet dark bathroom. Ollie apparently had to use it, because he proceeded to knock on my door, and then left the room when I ignored him. I was able to find some earplugs before he came back, and although I could still hear a faint bee-buzzing snore (which I'm sure was really grizzly in heat)--I eventually drifted off. Ollie was gone before we got up.
Now guess what we did today? SCUBA. In his last message, my dad said "have fun in the mecca of SCUBA" and he couldn't have been closer...but not for the reasons you think. To be honest, I expected to see Poseidon's long discarded pitchfork thing, or a mermaid tail or something, but what we got instead, was a lesson from the world's best divers, a day at a real blue lagoon, and some new friends (pictured above...the cool one is NIKO). We arrived at our scuba shop to a warm welcome by the mrs. clause of the operation (see mr. clause in the picture), and then proceeded to try on our gear (with much fumbling thanks to Ollie...god bless him). Our wetsuits had hoods! that was new. Next, we hopped into an old RAV4 and rode for about 45 minutes to the lagoon you see above, and were treated with some frappe (frozen coffee drink) and strawberry freezy things. After our dive master Stavros arrived--who along with everyone else besides the shop girl, spoke absolutely no English, we put on our gear and jumped in. After a two year dry season, we had a bit of nervousness (esecially in the mask department) and as it turns out, Mrs. Clause had given us a few funky presents for the trip (including a broken fin strap for Molly and two right boots for me). We got over our issues (which weren't issues at all when faced with the beautiful ocean) and began our descent (with many OK signs...a universal code). The water was deliciously cold, and as we reached the bottom, we found lots of colorful fish, a black hole of a cave (that stavros had to drag us out of), and Molly got to feed fish with the insides of one of those spiky urchin things that one of the boys had cut open! After we came up, we were treated to more frappe and another ride back to the shop where they thanked us for coming and made sure to give us stickers and the like. We walked home, had a nice discussion on the way about how to grow as a person, and then made our way back to Monastaraki where we changed and headed for dinner. Which was, some crepes (mine filled with ham, gouda cheese, cottage cheese, and french fries...Molly's with tomato, sour cream, green peppers, gouda, and ham...mmmm). tightly full, we wobbled back to the hostel and I really couldn't tell you what we've done since then. You know when you drive somewhere and arrive but don't remember ever turning or stopping for traffic? The last bit has been like that. Love.
Ben&Molly
Quote for the day:
Relax man--Niko
