Wednesday, September 4, 1991
We woke up at 1000 and got ready. We had continental breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Fab bought a ticket for the 1915 ferry back to Athens (she was going back home for her cousin’s wedding), Ana and I bought ferry ticket to Paros to leave tomorrow at 0900, Ana called home, we changed to a double room (#39), and we all went to the beach. It was a short three-minute walk from hotel and the day was awesome.
I am sitting on the beach writing in this journal. There us a mountain to my left and I am laying on a sun bed on top of black sand. The wind makes the heat bearable so it’s not so bad. The water is freezing and at exactly 1527 we are leaving to go eat something. We ate the usual Greek fare: gyros, fries, and coke. I could live on this gyros. After a late lunch, we went back to hotel so Fab could shower and leave for the port. She was going to Piraeus (ATH) at 1915, but the hotel was taking her at about 1730.
A while later, I asked Anne if Fab had taken her credit cards from the money belt we all shared. Anne opened the money belt and realized that Fab had forgotten everything: passport, Pan Am ID, credit cards, and self-write ticket. The girl had nothing so Anne and I got dressed and asked the hotel people to take us to the port as fast as they can. An old husband & wife took us speeding down to the port. Anne and I were rushing out of the car and onto the ferry to look for Fab, but there was no sign of her. We even paged her on the loud speaker. She was NOT there!
After not finding her on the ship and in the port area, Anne realized she must have gone back to the hotel. As we were going back to the hotel, we see Fab getting out of a taxi. She finally showed up and it cost her like 2200 Drachma and we had to give her another 700 DR so she can take her stuff out of the ATH airport storage. We were quite tired of the running around.
After this ordeal which was straight out of yet another movie, Anne and I took a 2000 Drachma cab ride to Oia to watch the sunset and go to dinner. We got there just in time. After we wondered the streets looking for a café, nothing peaked our interest. We found a place and after sitting down, we realized they did not accept credit cards. We felt embarrassed and ordered OJ and a beer. We left to find a credit card accepting restaurant in the form of a place called Neptune’s.
It was on the roof-top patio of some shops and it was freezing cold. The service sucked because it was so slow. It reminded me of Egypt. I ordered spaghetti with veal and Ana ordered a Greek salad. Ana was surprised I ordered veal, but I wanted to try something new. After dinner, we left to catch a 2230 bus back to Thira to go to Perissa. Anne was scared to go on the bus because the old man driver seemed drunk crazy and we had to travel on narrow cliff-laden roads. She wanted to take a cab. I was a little upset because the difference in price was a lot (2000 DR compared to 600 DR for the cab). Not much of a difference, but we were counting pennies at that point and the Fab ordeal did not help, but I later understood where she was coming from as she was just plain scared of the drivers.
We took a cab and on the way to Thira, we had unexpected guests in the cab with us. After we get in the cab, the driver advises us that he had to pick up two other people at a house off the main road. We waited outside this house for like 10 minutes. Suddenly, this man and woman come out of the house and the man did not look very good. He was slouching over and the lady had a glass in her hand which was probably a drink. She got in the back seat with Anne and I, and he got in the front. She was directly behind him holding his head up as he moaned and groaned. We thought he was drunk sick and ready to throw up. We were sort of grossing out at the thought of huge chunks flying around inside the car like a blender.
Suddenly, the sick man told the driver to stop the car and asked Anne or I to get in the front seat so he could sit next to the woman. Anne got out of the car and sat in the front. As the ride continued, the woman started asking me questions about where we were staying, where we were from, etc. I asked what the hell was wrong with him. Here’s the story: He had gotten sick the night before and had been throwing up blood ever since. They thought it would pass, but it had not. So, he had to go to the hospital in Thira because the one doctor in Oia was working his 24-hour shift in Thira. I then turned to the glass in her hand and it contained a sample of his bloody vomit. I was like great if the car tips over or swerves a bit I will get showered with his ultimate back wash. I was not happy. Silence filled the air until we got to the hospital. They ran out of the car as fast as they could and we wished them luck. We got to the hotel, showered, packed, and zonked. In the middle of the night, I woke up with the biggest stomach pains and threw up my whole dinner inside the bathtub and had gobs of liquid diarrhea. It reaked of veal. I would not eat veal for a long time. I hope my body stabilizes and that will not happen until I am stable and eating consisent meals.
No comments:
Post a Comment