Day Four: Jet Lagged Jordy!

 

Jordy just couldn’t drag herself out of bed today, so after laying around the pool for a few hours, I set off to do some exploring on my own. I decided to head back to Halki, one of the towns that we had driven through yesterday, as it looked so quaint. Halki is a very old town, with narrow lanes overgrown with grape vines and backed by olive groves. It is a fascinating town, as many of the townspeople still dress in the traditional way, and many of the lanes end in abandoned buildings overgrown with vines. There are also a few very old churches here, and even a castle!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tower of Gratsia

 

St. George Diasoritis Byzantine Church

 

On my way back, I stopped at yet another very old church from the 6th century. I had to walk about a kilometre off the road to get to this one, but it was well worth the trek. It was so unbelievably peaceful, I was just happy to sit and contemplate the amazing history that is in this place, and the incredible link to my God. It brought tears to my eyes to be in such a beautiful place, and I felt what a beautiful, rare privilege this entire trip has been!

 

 

Church of Ayios Nikolaus

Day Three: The Wandering Wonder Women!

Getting up around 8:00 in the morning, it is 10:00 pm back home, so both of us like to go online to check emails and Jordan her Facebook. It is very strange to be on the opposite side of the clock from everyone back home, so we make sure to do all our connecting early morning and just before bed.  

After yet another delicious breakfast and a slow start to our morning, we finally set out to go exploring around 11:00. We set out to find the Cave of Zeus and Mount Zeus. Of course, we took a wrong turn, and instead of ending up in the middle of the island where the mountain is, we ended up driving clear across the island, ending up at a beautiful beach. While it was quite a spectacular site, we had absolutely no idea where we were, and no clue how to find our way back.

 

Hmmm, driving with Jordan as the navigator is much the same as driving with her grandfather as navigator, after much conversation about map reading skills, I finally pulled over to try to figure it out, but it really didn’t make much more sense to me than it did to Jordan. We turned around and went back the same way we came, stopping at every sign and trying to find it on the map to see if we could figure out where we were. The good thing about driving around this island is that there are interesting sites and beautiful scenery at every turn, so the adventure is fun whether you know where you are or not! Here are a few of the lovely sites that we found along the way.

 

Finally, we saw a sign pointing toward a town that was on the map, and as luck would have it, it was exactly the town that took us to the mountain and the cave.

After parking our car at the bottom of the hike, we started up a lovely path with set in paving stones, past natural springs; pretty luxurious for a hike, these Greeks really know how to make life easy for us tourists!

 

Not so fast, soon the path ended up and we had to pick our way straight up the mountain.

We scrambled over rocks large and small for about half an hour until we finally came to the cave. “I’m not going in there,” said Jordan, “there will be bats, and besides I’ve seen too many horror movies.” As I approached the cave, I decided that I was in complete agreement with her, as it was pitch black inside, with a dirt floor and who knows what inside. I changed my mind about the Greeks making things easy for us tourists. The least they could have done was paved the walkway and given us a few ceiling lights, but I guess that would have ruined the natural ambience of the place.

The views from the climb made the hike all worthwhile, and we were both grateful for a chance to work off some of the calories that we have taken in from the amazing Greek food that we have been feasting on. After getting lost a few more times, we finally made it back to our hotel to enjoy some sunbathing for a few hours before heading back into town for supper.

We got to witness a real Greek wedding at the church in the middle of town. It was so cool to see the bride being escorted to the church complete with violins and her entire family following her.

 

After wandering around town shopping for a few hours, we chose the restaurant with the most people in it for supper, as we figured that would likely have the best food. We were not disappointed, as we enjoyed the most delicious Greek salad and mousakka that I have ever had in my life! Ah, life is good on a Greek island, we may never come home!

Day Two: Paradise At Last!

Wow! We both slept until 9:30! We discovered that when you are that tired, jet lag doesn’t seem to be a problem! We went down to the pool where Mrs. Moustakis had cooked us a delicious breakfast including a Greek dish made with scrambled eggs and zucchini, potato pancakes, fresh fruit and hot tea! “Ahh, this is the life!” We enjoyed a view of the ocean on one side and the pool on the other. Sigh, the long journey was definitely worth it!

We went to the beach for a long walk. We enjoyed amazing views of the water as we ambled over rocks and hills, through a beautiful cedar forest, which is considered the most beautiful in all of Greece, then back down to long stretches of deserted beach, a true island paradise! ……..until……. “What’s that I see? Jordan, that man walking down the beach doesn’t have any clothes on!”

 “Oh, Grandma,” says she, all cool and oh so grown up, “That’s just how they do it here!”

 “Oh, oh, I can’t look, let’s just pretend we’re looking at your phone until they walk by.” “EWWWWW, he made sure to walk right by us, just as close as he could, EWWWW! Fortunately there was a nice private area just ahead where we laid down our towels so that we could do a little sunbathing of our own. Sure enough, though, some people came along, and set up further down the beach…….proceeding to…….REMOVE ALL THEIR CLOTHES! “I can’t believe it, can’t they afford bathing suits in this country?” I have been to topless beaches in Thailand and Mexico before, but never before to places where both men and women sunbathed completely in the buff. As we were leaving the beach, we passed a sign that said “nudism is forbidden.” I guess that some people just can’t read!

 

We ended up renting a car for the rest of our stay here, as we are a very long way from town, and there is no public transit this far out. We had a great time exploring, getting lost and turned around many times, as the roads do not have names, but just signs that point to the next town. Since we weren’t real sure which towns we were going to, we made a lot of wrong turns. Fortunately, Jordan shares the same sense of adventure that I do, and we had as much fun going the wrong way as we did when we finally got going in the right direction!

The only problem we had was when we were leaving the town of Naxos after eating supper, and we were wondering why people were honking at us, as we weren’t doing anything wrong, or so we thought. Finally, a woman stood out in the middle of the street, flagging us down. She came up to the window and explained with hand signs and very broken English that we should turn around, “or the police,” and she pantomimed writing a ticket. “Oh no”, I exclaimed in surprise, “this is a one way street!” Hmmm, tough when you don’t know how to read Greek!”

We did go and see the Temple of Apollo today. This is built right in the port, and it is the first thing people see when they arrive on the island. Apollo, the god of sun and light, is an appropriate symbol of this island, as it is just so very beautiful. This temple was started in the early fifth century, but has largely fallen into ruin, with many of the stones carried away over time and used in building the Kastro or castle in the 13^th century, which is situated in the town just above.

 

 

 

A Dream Come True

 

Thirty hours into our trip after three plane rides including Vancouver to Toronto, Toronto to Zurich, Zurich to Athens, a one hour bus ride from Athens to the port of Pireaus, a three hour wait for the ferry, and finally a six hour ferry ride to the island of Naxos, my granddaughter Jordan and I began to question our sanity. “What were we thinking, why didn’t we just go somewhere simple like Mexico or Hawaii?”

Of course, the answer lay in the dreams that we both shared of going somewhere beautiful and wonderful where most people that we know have not been. Years ago, Jordan and I were talking about where she would want to go when she graduated from high school. Before I knew it, not only had she graduated, but she was fully embarked upon her college education. “Holy Cow”, I said to her, we better go on that trip I promised you before you finish university! “Where do you want to go?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “since the time I saw Mama Mia, I have really wanted to see Greece.” As we all know, the movies lie, but little did we know how much of the exhausting business of arriving was deleted from the Mama Mia story line.

However, the story line did not disappoint, as once we landed on the island of Naxos, in spite disembarking from the ferry looking and feeling somewhat like lost refugees, we prayed that the owners of our hotel got the message that we desperately needed a pick-up. As we dragged our tired, bedraggled bodies as well as our luggage behind us, we saw them standing there holding the “Welcome to Faros Hotel” sign. I was so relieved, I wanted to kiss them, but thought that might scare them away!  Our hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Moustakis and their son Niko were waiting to bring us to our hotel, which involved yet another 45 minute journey by van. This pickup was such a nice personal touch, and we began to relax as we enjoyed the drive around the island, past beaches and lovely little towns.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel, a lovely little establishment run by the two brothers and their parents. Although it was dark, we could hear the waves from the ocean below us, and could just make out the pool just beyond the open air lobby. We checked emails, and Jordan her Facebook, as we had not been able to get online once we left Toronto.  We both wanted to let our friends and family know that we had arrived safely. Finally, at 1:00 am after 33 hours of being awake, except for a few catnaps along the way, we finally settled into our beds for a good night’s sleep.

A very long ferry ride!

Ack! Mosquitoes!

How can I possibly be grateful for mosquitoes, nasty, annoying little things that they are! Here they are so small that you don’t even know that the nasty little vampires are sucking you dry until you find yourself absently scratching away at various body parts. Even more annoying, they NEVER bite Bryce, but seem to hone in on my tender skin! I have been good about this for the past few days, honest I have, trying my best to be grateful while I am concentrating ever so hard on not scratching. If I can just make it through the first half hour, the itching eventually settles down, and becomes at least tolerable. I bought a little bottle of rubbing alchohol to dab on the itchy spots, which seems to help take most of the itch away. 

Bryce, the ever so well prepared outdoorsman comes handily prepared with all manner of bug repellant, but, being a purist, I simply refuse to slather that horrid poison all over my skin. I find it hard to believe that Deet is safe, particularly since it smells so bad!

However, after enduring two days of being eaten alive, I overheard someone say that Dengue fever is bad in the area with all the mosquitoes. Say, what? Here I thought that those pesky things were just a nuisance, completely oblivious that they could be infecting me with a horrible infectious tropical disease…..not exactly what I have in mind to bring back from our trip to paradise!

So, as I slather the dreaded poison all over my body, one more time I admit to my darling husband that he is right, which I am sure he will never let me live down. Meanwhile, I am trying my hardest to think of what I am thankful for in this very itchy circumstance.

Okay, I know that bugs are needed for the health of the ecosystem, I’m sure that mosquitoes are a delicacy for some fabulous tropical bird. I can’t imagine what else they could possibly be good for! I’m grateful for, shall I say it through gritted teeth: Deet! ARGHH! Poison on my body, gross, I can’t stand the smell of it, it makes my eyes water, just the thought of it is gross! I’m grateful that I’m sleeping inside a condo with (mostly) good screens and not sleeping on a park bench somewhere where mosquitoes would be the least of my problems!.....and I’m grateful that there is good medical treatment easily available if I should come down with Dengue fever! (The incubation stage is between 3 and 7 days, so I’ll know in a week if I have to be grateful should I get Dengue fever!!)

Puerto Vallarta Dream Vacation!

We decided to go to Puerto Vallarta for the month of January, because it is too cold in Arizona at that time of the year. (Anytime that I can’t lie by the pool is cold in my books!) The flight went well, considering that we had to transfer from domestic to international in Los Angeles, complete with luggage and dog. We couldn’t believe our luck when we came out of the terminal and asked directions to the international terminal. We were told to go to a traffic island directly across from where we were standing, and a shuttle would come by and take us directly to the international terminal. Within 5 minutes, a van pulled up, helped us load our luggage, and drove us directly to the international terminal. We made it through check in and security, and were at our gate ready to go, within half an hour of landing. Were we impressed with the amazing efficiency of the L.A. airport! 

Our cab driver from the airport in Puerto Vallarta had a hard time finding our condo, and we had never been here before, so we weren’t much help. Bryce had asked for directions from the property management company before leaving home, but they weren’t very helpful, so we ended up with a great tour of the area, with the cabbie stopping every 5 minutes to ask for help. We eventually found the building, but!!! When we got to the condo that we were to be renting, the property management person was a no show, and she wasn't answering her phone. We finally reached the Mexican man who does the yard maintenance, but he said that no one had seen her for a couple of weeks. Fortunately, a nice young man from Vancouver who is renting one of the condos let us sleep in his second bedroom, but it was not exactly how we imagined our first night in Puerto Vallarta would be. 

The next morning, the property management company finally sent someone over to let us in, but the place was really dusty, as it hadn't been used for quite some time. We sat out by the pool until 3:00 when they finally finished cleaning it.

Now, you would think that laying by the pool in paradise wouldn’t be such a hardship, but I found that I had to keep reminding myself to be grateful in all circumstances. It was true that our flight down here went as smoothly as it possibly could have, and I was grateful for that. It was also true that we were rescued from having to sleep on a park bench, or more likely having to find a hotel room on one of the busiest weekends of the entire tourist season. It was also true that we enjoyed our evening visiting with our new friend Nathan, who was a brilliant  young man who has travelled all over the world setting up computer systems for both large companies and for non profits in developing countries. Meeting him was a blessing that we would have missed out on if all had gone smoothly with our original rental agreement. It is also true that the weather was a near to perfect as it could have been as we relaxed by the pool. 

I’m not sure what it is about me that wants to find fault with a situation. It is my default switch, my habit of thought that somehow or other thinks that life should be perfect. When it isn’t, I can so easily fall into grumpiness and complaining, which only makes the situation worse! Knowing that I was going to eventually have to come clean on this blog, though, helped me to stay focused on seeing the good in the experience. We ended up having a pretty good couple of days in spite of the challenges, and are now happily ensconced in our lovely P.V. home away from home. In fact, we might never leave!

“Be Thankful in All Circumstances”

Jan. 7, 2012

I came across this verse in the Bible almost eight years ago while I was grieving the death of my son. During the first few months after the accident, I was unable to do much other than sit and read my Bible and write. I just surrendered to the grief, as wave after wave of immense, soul wracking pain threatened to wash me away and smash me to bits in a tsunami of tears. As I went through the process, there seemed to be two parts to my consciousness: the intellectual side that knew that my son was gone and nothing would bring him back; and my mother’s heart that was full of a thousand questions and irreconcilable whys. Why didn’t he look before he crossed the road? Why was the taxi driver that hit him so careless? Why didn’t he just break a leg instead of being fatally injured? Why? Why? Why?

The futility of these questions eventually began to sink in, as I came to terms with the unalterable truth, and nothing would ever change the fact that my son was gone. I will not see my son this side of heaven again, and I eventually came to see that my very happiness depended on my ability to accept the unacceptable. One of the things that helped me was this bible verse, which is found in 1 Thes. 5:18. I had trouble wrapping my mind around what this verse was saying, and argued with God, saying, “You have got to be kidding, how can I possibly be thankful for my son’s death?” However, I quickly saw that being grateful in a circumstance was not the same as being grateful for the circumstance. 

The reason that my faith is so enduring is because I have tested the precepts in the Bible and found them to be powerful. Every time that I have trusted God, He has proven His unshakeable love and grace. I swallowed hard and decided to take the faith plunge as I decided to depend on Him to take care of me, and I said a prayer of thanks that went something like this: “Father God, I will never be glad that my son died, but I trust you and give thanks to you in the midst of my sorrow.” As I prayed this prayer, I felt a significant shift within, some of the blackness began to lift, and I started to see God’s goodness, love and mercy that had been buried all along in the depths of my grieving . 

Surviving such a devastating loss holds within it the gift of gaining a greater perspective on life. I have found that the usual things in life don’t usually faze me, as most challenges are insignificant in comparison to losing a child. I have also been given the blessing of greater appreciation of the small moments. I have learned only too well that the people that we love are transient, we cannot hold onto them no matter how desperately we wish to. Our children grow up and leave us in one way or another, friends sometimes move on, parents die, and families change. I try to savour every experience as if it is my last, as I know only too well that it may be. 

In spite of these valuable life lessons, seven and a half years later, I occasionally find myself getting grumpy about silly little things, and forgetting to be grateful in all circumstances. My challenge to myself for the New Year is to practice gratitude, no matter what my circumstances. I intend to blog on these situations and to share how this attitude impacts the situation. I challenge those of you who might read this blog to do the same and add to the discussion on this blog so that others might see how gratitude in all circumstances impacts your life.