Leading up to Travel....

Leading up to leaving for Greece I was already travel-weary from a trip to Pittsburgh. I spent the evening resting with Tracy, wrapped up in affection. I felt so grateful to have found her and to share such deep love with her. At am I pac!ed, and was ready to pic! up

"oger at # am. $e got a ride from my dad, who managed to tell "oger his life story on the way to %arrisburg. &y dad followed a par!ing lot cleaner around the par!ing lot of %arrisburg &all, trying to as! where the bus pic!s people up. The only problem is, a street cleaner has his head out the window loo!ing at the curb. 'o dad circled the par!ing lot a couple of times and actually stopped the car and (umped out in front of the cleaner)s path in order to as! for directions. I had already told my dad I !new the appro*imate pic! up spot, but he wanted to ma!e sure. $ell, +ad found the e*act spot and we were happy about it. The &egabus pic!ed us up and too! us to +,. I edited photos and re-uested couches in .urope on the way using bus wifi. $hen we arrived in +, we got lunch in /nion station and too! the metro to "eagan airport. Then we flew to 012 and had an e*cruciating layover. "oger and I were in good spirits. $e !illed time by peoplewatching. I saw celebrity loo!-ali!es li!e 3ill Gates 4every middle-

aged white guy with glasses5, Tony %aw! 4every 67 year old white male with street style and longish hair5 and a woman that loo!ed e*actly the way &ichael 0ac!son wished he loo!ed. 'he had a fedora and everything. $e flew many long hours to &adrid. "oger and I partially slept. I listened to "achmaninoff on repeat. 8nce we arrived in &adrid, we had little time to spare to get to the new terminal. 'o "oger and I ran 9 miles with heavy luggage up and down escalators, through security, and arrived at the gate with a few minutes to spare. $e were both loo!ing and feeling very haggard at this point. "oger was e*periencing mild neurological problems and I felt li!e I came down with the flu. $e flew to Athens and arrived grateful that the 97 hours of travel were over. I immediately paid : dollars for a $atered-down smoothie. I was slightly tric!ed by the cashier on that one because of e*change rate stuff she did in her head. $hen we wal!ed outside, the weather was warm with a cool bree;e. "oger and I got metro tic!ets and I wal!ed down the escalator, then reali;ed I was on the wrong side of the trac!. I was only steps down the escalator,

so I figured I would wal! bac! up fast and ta!e the other one down. Apparently it is impossible to out-wal! /P a +8$< escalator. I was li!e a hamster on a wheel, wal!ing as fast as I could. I fell down and s!inned by !nee badly and fully e*pected to be eaten by the

escalator. Luc!ily I didn)t. "oger laughed at me, I laughed at me, suprisingly gree! bystanders did not. $e too! the long metro ride to 'yntagma '-uare. 8n the way, we loo!ed at semi -barren landscapes with many billboards that were all blan!= The people in the metro seemed sad. I wondered if it was because of the Gree! economy or if all people in metros are sad. "oger was sandwiched by two attractive

women and he loo!ed beside himself. $hen we e*ited the metro and surfaced to Athens for the first time, we were struc! with the sight of a burn victim who was also a parapalegic. It was one of the most gruesome images I have ever beheld. %e was sha!ing uncontrollably and begging. "oger and I wondered where the hell we were and why we were there. It was at that moment we !new we weren)t in 2ansas anymore and that we had better find out the rules of lawlessness. $e wal!ed around trying to find the street that our hostel was on. 8ur directions were screwy and all the roads meander about. $e stopped a Gree! woman who was tal!ing to a friend and as!ed for help. 'urprisingly, despite us interrupting her, she graciously gave us directions with a smile. Then she reali;ed we weren)t tal!ing about a cafeteria by the same name as the hostel. 'o she and a hotel concierge wor!ed together to figure it out. The

large, tan, yellow-toothed, smiling hotel concierge gave us directions and we were more than grateful. $e headed down the street remar!ing on our observations of Gree! culture, trying to figure out if they were sad, nice, both, or something else. $hen we got to the hostel a shy Indian immigrant chec!ed us in. $e got to our barren room, much li!e every other private hostel room in the world. $e both wanted to do two things> sleep A<+ e*plore. 'ince it is impossible to do both, we decided to shower and then e*plore a bit. $e wal!ed down the street to a nice outdoor cafe. $e sat down and dran! beer, and ate crepes. The waitress was '/P." nice. $e were loving Greece, soa!ing in our e*perience at the cafe on cobblestone, loo!ing up at an ancient fortress on the hill. Lonely dogs wondered by. 8h... the dogs. Good God...the dogs. They were .?."@$%.".. They all had collars. They !new when to cross the street most of the time. <o one paid them any mind. They were of every breed. They were small, large, medium, la;y and sad. They limped, hobbled, sul!ed, sauntered, and hopped along. They seemed li!e handicap assistant dogs without any handicapped people to help. It was as if the city of Athens wanted to find out what domesticated dogs would do in an urban environment if they were left to their own devices. It was a hard pill to swallow, with all the beliefs I have about how people should

treat animals. I could not understand why the city had let this happen. They must be starving= 4none of them loo!ed starving5. They don)t have enough love= 4on average one dog probably gets pet by citi;ens of A7 different countries a day5 They get hit by cars= 4yes it seemed many of them in fact were hit by cars5. This business of letting dogs go wild rubbed me the wrong way. This city was upside down. I !new that if they could nip this dog problem in the bud, then the debt crisis would be soon after. &ore on the dogs later, as this was my primary preoccupation in Athens. "oger and I went to sleep and wo!e up : hours later. "oger wanted to go out and e*plore even though he wasn)t feeling top-notch. I wanted to rest in an undisturbed tomb for thousand more years. I felt li!e I had the

worst hang over of a lifetime but I had not drun! the night before. I

was e*tremely dehydrated. &y brain was not processing things very fast. After some labored thin!ing I arrived at the idea of boo!ing the hostel another night so we could sleep all day. It was decided. "oger)s enthusiasm to e*plore turned into an all-day sleep affair. $e slept and slept and slept until we had slept a total of AB hours. At pm we got up and hit the streets with camera in hand. $e had no idea where we were going. $e wal!ed uphill on perfectly clean cobblestone toward the fortress. There were accordion players and nut

vendors. It was fric!Cn charming. $e entered a natural path to the fortress. $e were surrounded by a canopy of plant life as we wal!ed up the old stone steps. $e were surprised at the grandeur of the building. $e wal!ed up to two Gree! people and as!ed them what the building was. They didn)t seem to !now much .nglish...they told us it was a theatre and to the right were Dancient thingsD. The rest of our trip "oger and I referred to everything slightly cultural and historic as Dancient thingsE. .*ample> "oger> F'ean= I don)t thin! we have enough time to do Athens (ustice, we haven)t even seen half the ancient thingsE. 'ean> F"oger, we)ve seen ancient things, loo! there)s the Acropolis.E "oger> F$e haven)t even been inside the fence.E 'ean> F$e could go inside the fence. +o you want to go inside the 1enceGE "oger> F<o, itCs closed. All the ancient things are closed by pm. And we don)t even !now where most of the ancient things are=E

$ell, we ended up seeing plenty of ancient things, as if you could even avoid them= $e wal!ed higher up the hill around the ancient theatre to a loo!out point. There were seven dogs laying down on the marble. 8ne of them growled at everyone that passed. The loo!out was a natural roc! formation with steps cobbled out of it. As we reached the crest we !new that the view would be DepicD. 3ut we were

unprepared for the sheer beauty we beheld. The entire sprawling city of Athens lay before us. The chal! white buildings loo!ed li!e pieces of shell in a grand nec!lace draped about the valley. The wind was about 97 mph. $e were about AB ft from the cliff edge. $e too! panoramic images until our hearts were content that we could share this e*perience with others with some sort of suitable visual reference. As we descended the hill, we pissed along the nature path and commented how national par!s in the states would have had functioning toilets, tour guides, and gift shops. $e preferred the Gree! way. The paths spit out onto another charming cobble stone pathway. It seemed we had stumbled out around va!!a time 4Gree! promenade5. .veryone was wal!ing hand in hand. The vendors and restaurateurs tempted passersby with cheesy sayings li!e D$e have best foodD, D@ou will loveD , or more direct sayings li!e D'it down right hereD and D.at here at my restaurantD. They were all hustling, but not is an overly fa!e way, a slightly fa!e way. A way that told you they genuinely wanted to meet you, and they genuinely did need you to pay them money for them to continue operating the business. "oger and I engaged in conversations with these restaurant

showmen. $e always as!ed about cheapest price, and over the few days

we found out what meals to order and what was a good deal. $e en(oyed watching them wor!. They were very proud when they landed a tourist at their table. They would rub their hands together, eyes aglow, chest puffed out, and bas! in their success for a short moment before they moved on to the ne*t tourist passing by. They tried everything on everyone. $hatever wor!ed. +uring the day everyone was tal!ing about the protest. There were rumors that the whole metro system would be shut down. .veryone was afraid to go to 'yntagma '-uare where riots had occurred previously. 3ut my curiosity got the better of me and I had to see the scene for myself. I wal!ed to 'yntagma without the more careful "oger. $hen I got there is was a very empty s-uare. 8nly about 7 riot police surrounding A7 sitting protesters. I too! pictures and left. Later I would find out that a protester was beaten into a coma with a fire e*tinguisher wrench that day in the very same s-uare. $e went to the hostel and rested a while and then prepared for some night life. It was about AApm, the time the party starts in Athens. $e wal!ed to Psiri, but could only find one overly-upscale loo!ing club. <o one was outside to smo!e or tal!, so I wanted to go to the more e*clusive Ga;i

district to observe. "oger was getting peeved at our lame wondering. A cab driver pulled over and offered to ta!e us to Ga;i, which was about A.B miles away. $e decided to wal! instead to save money. The cab driver was e*tremely nice. %e gave us directions even after we refused him. %e was trying to get "oger laid. %e as!ed "oger if he wanted women. "oger said no, but he meant that he was not only loo!ing for women, he was loo!ing for a taverna. "oger clarified that he was not gay and the cab driver continued to chat with us for a few moments. $e wal!ed along a lonely industrial thoroughfare, and finally arrived at Ga;i, which is two main rows of clubs and bars with some side street clubs as well. There were lots of people. $e wouldnCt go in any of the clubs because we heard the entry was A7 euro. 'o we wal!ed around and listened to horrible Gree! dance pop music or the occasional American classic roc! band. .ventually we found an American-themed bar with no cover and cheap drin!s. $e watched live concerts on the flat screen. "oger had Gree! beer and I had ou;o...now about ou;o. 8u;o is a licorice li-uor, I thin!, I don)t really !now anything about it e*cept that it ma!es you invincible. 8u;o does not give me

hangovers. 8u;o does not dehydrate me. 8u;o has no negative effects whatsoever unless you consider ;ero inhibitions and e*treme confidence a negative effect...which I don)t. $e decided to wal! all the way bac! to our hostel, e*cept that we had no idea how to get there. $e had a map, but "oger didn)t want to loo! at it in public because it would target us as tourists. I had no problem leading the way because I was confident I !new where I was going. $e wal!ed about 9 miles. The streets were star!, with only a few odd loo!ing people s!ul!ing around. The mood was a bit odd. $e came to a s-uare and "oger

started to get unnerved. %e wanted to ta!e a ta*i. I wanted to wal! all the way home. $ith the effects of the ou;o, I wanted to wal! forever because ou;o ma!es you feel li!e you have clouds for feet. @ou don)t really wal! when you)re on ou;o, you float. 3asically I)m saying itCs li!e a 'egway. 2eep in mind I only had one glass of ou;o. $hen we loo!ed at the city map and reali;ed we were in the Amonia district "oger went over the edge. "oger> F'ean, we)re in the worst neighborhood in Athens, at the worst time of night. There)s a guy over there carrying a large stic!. $e need to ta!e a cab, A'AP.E 'ean> FListen "oger, I (ust had a glass of 8u;o, and these Gree!s don)t !now that)ll go American on their ass. ,huc! <orris was born in

America.E "oger> F,huc! <orris is Lame= $e will be robbed and beaten and you don)t even seem to care. Listen, I)ll pay the cab fare if its less than A7 euro.E 'o we went to negotiate cab fare with the cabbies in Amonia s-uare. It wasn)t that far from where we wanted to be, but they !new we were American and they weren)t about to charge us non-tourist prices. They sensed our desperation. I offered 6 euro, they offered A7. I offered 6 euro. They offered H. I offered 6 euro. They offered #. "oger offered B euro and they turned it down. $e were bac! to s-uare one. "oger started hyperventilating. I reminded him he was practically from <orth Philly. %e restarted negotiations by getting in a cab. 8nce the cab started driving we started tal!ing price. The cabbie said A7 euro. $e said B. The cabbie said A7 euro, AA euro, A9 euro, A euro, A6 euro, AB euro. $e congratulated him for watching syndicated 'esame 'treet on Gree! television but negotiations don)t wor! in reverse. @ou generally bid a lower amount if you want to stri!e a deal. 8ne also doesn)t normally increase the bid continually until interrupted. "oger said how about we (ust turn on the meter and follow the meter. The cabbie pretended to not !now what a meter is. "oger e*plained that a meter is a device which measures the distance cabs go. It calculates the price a cab driver charges for the distance traveled. The cabbie was

confused so we e*ited the vehicle. 3ac! to s-uare one. I flagged down a brand new &ercedes ta*i and offered B euro. They gave me one loo! and told me to get into the cab. This one roll of the eyes spo!e a thousand words. It said> @ou sound American, but you also sound li!e you !now e*actly the legit price of where you)re going. @ou sound li!e you)ve already negotiated with half of the drun! cabbies in Amonia and you sound firm on this B euro amount. @ou also sound li!e you)ve dran! some ou;o and are brimming with too much confidence for a tourist in the middle of Amonia.
$rite a paragraph about ou;o and the ou;o song The ne*t day was more of a rela*ing day of wal!ing through pla!!ah, drin!ing ou;o, photo ta!ing, editing, and planning for crete. $e spo!e to the hostel owner about politics and hostel ownership. %e even gave me his details if I wanted to invest in a hostel in crete. "oger swooned to deni;a, we left a couple hours early for the cruise. The riot police were in full force at syntagma s-uare, even though nothing much was happening. "oger and I got on wrong subway trains till we finally made it to the port. T%en we got on the wrong cruise ship. $e ran and ran and ran to the right ship a minute before they left port. $e were laughing, panting, and loving the fact that we were fully e*periencing a down to the wire moment. The cruise to ,rete was an insomniacal one. "oger and I wrote a song called D8u;o <ovaD a bossa song about ou;o. It turned out semi-poetic. I couldnCt sleep and ended up (ournaling and photo editing. $e tal!ed to a ,retan about ,rete. The cruise ship was interesting, with a lot of native Gree! families tal!ing into the night. "oger laid ne*t to an obese snoring person. "oger began what has come to be an obsession on cheapness to rival mine. .very time he buys something li!e a co!e for one euro he has immediate buyers remorse. %e has

calculated the e*act amount he can spend per day. %e has decided he wants to camp and couchsurf the rest of the trip. %e said he is willing to temporarily starve himself to save money. .very purchase is an e*cruciating analysis mi*ed with despair. $hen we arrived in ,rete we went into the information center and used wifi to set up couchsurf arrangements. 'till no word from .le, we boo!ed our flight to Germany for A77 dollars each. Then we wal!ed to &c+onalds and split costs on everything and changed in their restrooms. Then we too! the public bus to Auduroavoidod beach. $hen we wal!ed down the alleyway toward the beach, we saw a cantina with A euro %eine!en and Gree! beer. $e purchased and proceeded down the alleyway. As we approached the ocean, the view of the steep ma(estic mountain spec!led with farms and roc! formations came into view. $e stumbled to a hotel chair on the sand and plopped down. $e reveled in our final resting spot, sipping beer and en(oying the pure beauty of the moment. $e rested and went on (aunts bac! and forth to the cantina to get more Gree! beer which was superior to their %eine!en. Then "oger went into the hotel and hatched a plan for free lunch. This was soon put to rest by an increasing paranoia that we were being outed by the hotel staff for using their beach chairs. $e hurriedly too! our pac!s away when we saw a loo!out from the hotel loo! for us. This may have all been in our heads, but we were sure they were after us. Then we slept on the sand as a heavy cool wind buffeted our satisfied faces. The !itesurfers were in full force. After a few hours of sleep I got a haircut at a salon down the street and then too! the bus to our transfer bus. It was a long affair trying to catch the right bus.

%era!alion is a smaller, dirty, shabby, unremar!able, version of Athens. It is polluted and many scooters, buses and pedestrians weave without !illing each other...barely. 'omehow the organi;ed chaos wor!s. $e arrived at the /niversity Area where we were told our couchsurfing host lived. 3ut we had no contact with her and she would not answer our calls. "oger was getting disgruntled and I was getting a bit worried. $e waited in a dorm lobby using wifi to contact other hosts and hostels. Luc!ily she answered our call as it grew dar!. 'he sounded -uite stoned on the phone. $e wal!ed toward the university center and met her and her friend from .cuador. They wal!ed us down a series of streets which will be left anonymous to protect the inhabitants of the s-uat. @es we were sleeping in a s-uat. A s-uat is a building that has been possessed by someone who did not have original legal title to the property. In this case,

it was possessed by /niversity students. 3ecause of a A:H Gree! law, police are not allowed to enter the property. They all live loosely cooperatively for free there. There is running water, electricity, and some internet. They live off of dumpster-dived food and garden vegetables. .very wall is graffitied. 'tray dogs live in the building with the s-uatters and protect the inhabitants. .le and her .cuadorian friends were indeed severely stoned, but they were sooooo friendly. $e played music, and tal!ed politics, culture, and travel into the night. They gave us a traditional ,retan li-uor made by a college professor. They were both students. .le studied agriculture, .cuadorian Isriael studied engineering. They seemed to

li!e the song The +ogs of Athens. They also appreciated "oger)s guitar-playing s!ills -uite a bit. They shared sheepCs cheese and other recovered food that was fresh and delicious. 'tray dogs were very wary of us new visitors. The bathrooms had no toilet paper. The dogs bar!ed and music played into the night. "oger and I worried about bed bugs and other critters. The people in the s-uat seemed very laid bac!. They were not very political, more of a socially conscious s-uat rather than an organi;ed group of antisocials. "oger and I had no idea what we thought of staying here, it rubbed against our values for cleanliness, organi;ation, and safety. 3ut it also inspired us that people found a way to wor! together without rules. Then again, with the building in the mess that it was, was it that much of an accomplishmentG $ho was more parasiticG A ban! or a s-uatG As! the author of $eb of +ebt. After e*ploring possible (udgments of the s-uatters, we reali;ed we were parasites of parasites. Perhaps everything is in symbiosis and it is arrogant to thin! otherwise.

The cruise to crete was an insomniatic one. "oger and I wrote a song called D8u;o <ovaD a bossa song about ou;o. It turned out semi poetic. I couldnIt sleep and ended up (ournaling and photo editing. $e tal!ed to a cretian about crete. The cruise ship was intersting, a lot of native gree! families tal!ing into the night. "oger layed ne*t to an obese snoring person. "oger began what has come to be an obsession on cheapness to rival mine. .very time he buys something li!e a co!e for one euro he has immediate buyers remorse. he has calculated the e*act amount he can spend per day. %e has decided he wants to camp and couch surf the rest of the trip. %e said he is willing to temporarily starve himself to save money. .very purchase is an e*crutiating analysis mi*ed with despair. $hen we arrived in crete we went into the information center and used wifi to set up couch surf arrangements. 'till no word from .le, we boo!ed our flight to germany for A77 dollars each. Then we wal!ed to mcdonalds and split costs on everything and changed in their restrooms. Then we too! the public bus to Auduroavoidod beach. $hen we wal!ed down the alleyway toward the beach, we saw a

cantina with A euro heine!en and gree! beer. $e purchased and proceeded down the alley way. As we approached the ocean, the view of the steep magestic mountain spec!led with farms and roc! formations came into view. $e stumbled to a hotel chair on the sand and plopped down. $e reveled in our final resting spot, sipping beer and en(oying the pure beauty of the moment. $e rested and went on (aunts bac! and forth to the cantina to get more gree! beer which was superior to their heine!en. Then "oger went into the hotel and hatched a plan for free lunch. This was soon put to rest by an increasing paranoia that we were being outed by the hotel staff for using their beach chairs. $e hurriedly too! our pac!s away when we saw a loo!out from the hotel loo! for us. This may have all been in our heads, but we were sure they were after us. Then we slept on the sand as a heavy cool wind buffeted our satisfied faces. The !itesurfers were in full force. After a few hours of sleep I got a haircut at a salon down the street and then too! the bus to our transfer bus. It was a long affair trying to catch the right bus. %era!alion is a smaller, dirty, shabby, nonremar!able, version of Athens. It is polluted and many scooters, buses and pedestrians weave without !illing eachother...barely. 'omehow the organi;ed chaos wor!s. $e arrived at the /niversity Area where we were told our couch surfing host lived. 3ut we had no contact with her and she would not answer our calls. "oger was getting disgruntled and I was getting a bit worried. $e waited in a dorm lobby using wifi to contact other hosts and hostels. Luc!ily she answered our call as it grew dar!. 'he sounded -uite stoned on the phone. $e wal!ed toward the university center and met her and her friend from e-uador. They wal!ed us down a series of streets which will be left anonymous to protect the inhabitants of the s-uat. @es we were sleeping in a s-uat. A s-uat is a building that has been repossessed by someone who did not have original legal title to the property. In this case, it was possessed by /niversity students, because of a A:H gree! law, police are not allowed to enter the property. They all live loosly cooperatively for free there. There is running water, electricity, and some internet. They live off of dumpster dived food and garden vegetables. .very wall is graffitied. 'tray dogs live in the building with the s-uatters and protect the inhabitants. .le and her e-uadorian friends were indeed severely stoned, but they were sooooo friendly. $e played music, tal!ed politics, culture, and travel into the night. They gave us a traditional cretian li-uor made by a college professor. They were both students. .le studied agriculture, e-uadorian isriael studied engineering. They seemed to li!e the song the dogs of athens. They also appreciated roger)s guitar playing s!ills -uite a bit. They shared sheeps cheese and other recovered food, that was fresh and delicious. 'tray dogs were very weary of us new visitors. The bathrooms had no toilet paper. The dogs bar!ed and music played into the night. "oger and I worried about bed bugs and other critters. The people in the s-uat seemed very laid bac!. They were not very political, more of a socially conscious s-uat rather than an organi;ed group of anti socials. "oger and I had no idea what we thought of staying here, it rubbed against our values for cleanliness, organi;ation, and saftely. 3ut it also inspired us that people found a way to wor! together without rules. Then again, with the building in the mess that it was, was it that much of an accomplishmentG $ho was more parasiticG A ban! or a s-uatG As! the author of $eb of +ebt. After e*ploring possible (udgements of the s-uatters, we reali;ed we were

parasites of parasites. Perhaps everything is in symbiosis and it is arrogant to thin! otherwise.

don)t forget to mention staring lady, horror movie bathroos.

the ne*t day we e*plored hera!lion. It has a small but nice fishmar!et and s-uare, but other than that it is a very trashy city. ,hildren begged us. "oger and I had a discussion about what can really be !nown and we also tal!ed about the morals of giving to beggars and how to choose correct action. $e tal!ed more about the dogs and the children. The beggars, those that fall through the crac!s. we decided to rent a car. It was the smallest car i)ve ever seen. I felt li!ea circus clown. To get the car, i had to ride on the bac! of a moped with the car rental manager. %e told me to rela* and then headed the wrong way up a one way street. %e told me not to do that with the rental car. "oger and I filled the tan! and headed down the highway toward the south of the island. $e couldn)t find the ruins of !nossos. $e stopped to get groceries in the small town of archanes. It was charming, with winding cobble stone streets, men in blac! suits, everything about this island reminds one of mafioso sicily. $e continued down the highway ta!ing picturs of ama;ing vistas along the way. The mountains were steep. The valleys were spec!led with white houses and feilds of grapes and olives. It was dar! now and we drove for 9 hours through the middle of crete. There was hardley any civili;ation, no factories, or infrastructure. <o billboards. 0ust one stop sign towns and gas stations. There were no highway names or numbers. <o signs to let you !now if you were going north south east or west. 0ust a few roundabouts with different town names on the arrow shaped signs. Therefore we went the wrong way several times. The roads were of medium -uality, and wound round the mountain pea!s. 'ome with no guard rails. $e arrived in a small town called &atala. It was very scenic. It was dar!, so we could not see much, but we saw a lit up cliff face, and many tavernas. 8ne of them had live (a;; fol! music. After ta!ing the fiat up the town hill I reali;ed a 9 cylander engine can)t go up hills, The engine s-ealed. "oger was frea!ing out in the passanger seat. I inched up the hill into a driveway to turn around, then i reversed and forwarded a : point turn with a foot vehicle to turn around in the narrow driveway. $e went to the taverna and snac!ed and dran! while listening to the most magical music. Locals and German tourists clapped, laughed, and danced. $e drove down a dirt road and slept on the side of the road in the fiat. It was surprisinly comfortable to sleep in the tiny vehicle.

It got pretty cold at night, but we survived. $hen the sun rose, it got very hot. There were goats butting heads on the canyon pea! above us. There were also Dcave menD hippies sitting in lawn furniture in a nearby cave hole in the mountain. $e changed into

shorts and pac!ed a day pac!. $e followed signs that pointed toward red beach. $e climbed out of the hollow canyon we had slept in, up a steep incline. $e chatted with a German woman along the way that told us she had been coming to this e*act beach for 97 years. 'he also mentioned it was a nude beach. "oger and I continued on, and crested the mountain. T%e views were spectacular, loo!ing bac! at the village of matala on the ocean. 8n the other side we saw the tiny private beach in a cove. There were many caves in the mountain, which we briefly e*lored. "ed beach is a primitive small beach with nice sand and na!ed germans. &ost of them old and fat. There is a small drin! !ios! and blue umbrellas for rent. $hen we arrived we decided that when in ,rete, do as the germans do. $e played guitar, dran! frape 4gree! ice coffee5, made some sandwiches, and soaped ourselves in the water. The water was cold, crystal clear and ama;ing in a birthday suit. This was one of the highlights of our trip. As we left the beach, a pirate ship sailed in for a photo opportunity. $e climbed bac! up the mountain and got more pics of &atala. After climbing down to the town, we had an ama;ing gree! lunch with fresh veggies, feta, and grilled chic!en. $e sampled some free "a!i 4 creten li-uor5. Then we got in the rental and headed off toward Lentas. $e drove through Gortyna, an ancient town in ruins. Then through the highlands past sheep, goats, and roc! walls. The vistas were ama;ing. .very once in a while we would go through a small village. I would yell Dyasas=D out the window at an old woman in a blac! robe. $hen we arrived in lentas we were very happy. <ight had (ust fallen. $e wal!ed to the beach. The moon lit up the ocean to a glow. $e went to several places in-uiring on rates, they all said 7- B euro. $e wanted cheaper even though it was ocean view. $e stumbled apon a hotel owned by a :7 year old couple. They hardley !new a word of english. $e tried to e*plain to them that we wanted a room for 97 euro. They said Dno problemD mi*ed with a lot of gree! words. They smiled toothless smiles. T%e old man had a !nub for a leg. The old woman was large, with a cane and a hobble. They showed us our simple but -uaint room. There were flowers and honeysuc!le everywhere, and the aroma was into*icating. $hen we settled in our rooma and paid 97 euro, they had sour faces and e*claimed> DTrentay=D 'o we reluctantly gave them A7 more euro because they were the most beautiful people we had ever interacted with. They yelled and tal!ed witht their hands at each other and at us. "oger even got a hug. $hen we got to the room we reali;ed how sunburned we were. It was painful. "oger and I went to the lentas nude beach, which too! a bit of a hi!e. It was hot and we were sunburned. $e (ust wanted to see what we could see. $hen we got there the beach was o!, not as nice as red beach, because red beach was so private, with clear water and fine sand. %ere the beach was longer, but very pebbly. "oger and I wrote the beginning of the song Today is life, tomorow never comes, we too! the lyrics from graffiti we saw in &atala. $e hi!ed bac! and headed bac! on the highway. 3ut before we left, roger got some real aloe plant from a gree! woman. The people really open up when you as! for stuff. 8nce in the car, $e were loo!ing for agia galini. It too! many hours to drive through the steep mountains. The vistas were around every corner. The driving was very dangerous. Gree! people are horrible drivers. They tend to pass you only when there is oncoming traffic. The roads are narrow and not very well maintained. The mountains are steep and the rental was wea!. As we approached the -uant town of

agia galini roger attempted to ad(ust my rearview mirror and almost bro!e his hand off. $e were worried until we reali;ed it was (ust a sprain. $e went to the beach a wal!ed past empty cafe after empty gift shop. It was a beautiful place, but it seemed more touristy. $e dran! beer and water at a cafe and then decided to go to bed. $e layed down in the rental car in a par!ing lot and tried to sleep but we couldn)t. A dog bar!ed and moaned often. The moaning was very comical, so we partley couldn)t sleep because we !ept laughing. "oger had a bright idea to go to a hotel to use wifi. $e clibed up to a swan! hotel on the hill called s!y beach. $e ordered ou;o and beer. $e used the internet and stuc! up a conversation with the bartender. $e found out later that he was a co-owner of the hotel. $e tal!ed about gree! politics, international economics, the mafia, capitalism, entrepreneurship, and everything. %e really opened up, and we felt that we had bonded with the gree!s. The ne*t morning we drove to Treopetra. It was a beautiful but sleepy beach place with a few cafes and hotels, but not many. Then we drove even more hours through what seemed li!e the alps in the sound of music. There were so many sheep, goats, and wildflowers. 'ometimes we would drive to the beach or a farm road dead end by accident. Then we would (ust turn around and try another route. "oger stopped in a supermar!et in a small village and purchased some fruits and veggies. %e was trying to buy a !nife from the owner, but this village was so remote that no one spo!e english. They interpreted his hand motions as that he wanted them to cut the tomato for him, which they did and even added salt to if for us. $hen we arrived in Pla!ias we were blown away by the beauty. The mountains are so steep ne*t to the ocean. The village is filled with crafts from local artisans. $e got a very cheap hotel room for A9.B7 euro each for beachfront with pool. Then we went for a wal! around town. $e settled on a place to eat called &uses) The man who attempted to get us to eat there was very persuasive. %e waited on us and recieved the moni!er Dsnapfingers lovelyD because he repeatedly snapped his fingers and said DLovelyD with a very deep, raspy, and enthusiastic voice. This man was a character. %e loved being gree! and tal!in to people about food. %e persuaded us to get a house bottle of red wine. Then we spo!e to us with such intensity about philosophy, his life, his age, his health problems, and finally he spo!e to us in nonsense, saying enigmatica and vague things li!e he can see what is coming. %e ended the rant with Ddo you !now what i meanGD I admitted that I did not but I thought I was catching on. $e were blown away by the beach front restaurant but also by the pure intensity of this character. %e said he used to be a submarine commander and that he spo!e 6 languages. $e tried to tal! to him more because of how funny it was to hear and watch him spea!. %e even spit at one point for emphasis. The second rant was much more negative. $e thought he was superconscious at first, but his rant about illegal immigrants and politicians scared us more than anything. The moon rose over the mountains li!e someone was lifting it with a string. It was %/G., yellow, and I was the first to snap a picture. Then the germans copied because of the pure beauty of it. @es there were german tourists at all of these towns. $e ate fresh gree! salad, bread, wine, s-uid and shrimp. Then snapfingers gave us free ra!i and orange ca!e. The rest of the night was a series of snap fingers (o!es. "oger and I capped the night with a songwriting and recording session. $e finished and recorded Dtoday is lifeD with the ocean waves in the recording.

T%e ne*t day we drove bac! to %era!lion. 2nossos, the ancient ruins was on the way, so we stopped there. $e were unimpressed. It might have been different if we !new more of the history though.