In Santorini! The ferry ride was good, I splurged on the ticket and got a cabin. First bed in 6 weeks! So worth the extra 10 euro. Yesterday I did a one day tour of Santorini. I got to see the Volcanic grounds, hot springs, a few Greek towns, and watched the sun go down at the north part of the island. Santorini is absolutely beautiful, with all the stereotypical sights of Greece. Blue roofs, donkey rides, clear waters and good greasy food!
I am moving on to the next island today. I think living in Reth for six weeks makes the islands a tad boring for me since the beach scene has been done and done again. I am looking forward to Athens where I can get some history and museums and skip the beach part. I know it sounds very strange, never thought I would be tired of a beach, but if you knew all the morning surveys and afternoons off on the beach you would all understand. I leave today at 6pm on a ferry to Ios where I stay for two nights and then move to Athens!
In the mean time I am hanging out on a friends computer til I leave in a few hours. I am not feeling so hot today, must be getting a little sick so trying to stay out of the sun and taking it easy. While in the taverna I sat beside this girl from the hostel to get the Internet password from her. We started to talk and found out we are both Canadian, from Toronto area and the crazy thing is she knows a lot of my friends from high school and will be living with one of them in September. She goes to Queens which is where half of my grade went so it's only natural she knows some of my high school buddies. Such a small world!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Day 61
Well, its my last full day here at camp and two months away from home now! I have been on the computer for most of the morning booking a ferry and hostel for Santorini and getting all my pictures uploaded and organized. So I will make this another short post because I hear the beach calling my name for one last swim.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Crete volunteering with Archelon. I survived 6 weeks in a tent with just a sleeping bag very well and am hoping to come back at the end of the season to see some baby turtles. I learned tons of new things on the endangered animal and about conservation in general. I made some really great friends for life, got to explore the islands of Crete, mingled in five star hotels, woke up in the early morning hours to survey 11km of beach, met some strange tourists at the kiosk and most of all I am coming home with some awesome memories and even better pictures!! I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone who was willing! Anyone want to come next year??
Tonight is my going away party and I picked an 'ABC' themed party. For those of you who are not known to this term its an 'anything but clothes' party. Don't panic no one will be in their birthday suit, it just means you have to make clothing out of boxes, tin foil, garbage bags, toilet paper.... basically anything but actual clothing. Everyone seems pretty pumped for tonight, I am just not sure if it is because of the party or that they are happy I am finally leaving! Regardless it will be a fun night!
I have my ferry booked for tomorrow which is exciting to get back on the road and see all the other places I want to see. First stop is Santorini, woot woot! This is the island with all the stereotypical scenery of white houses and blues roof tops. So my camera will be getting a work out over the next little bit.
Well that is all to say, I know I have said this a million times already but it will be so weird to leave camp but it is time to move on to bigger and better things! Jessica see you in 11 days babe! Bye Bye Archelon!
I am not going to cry, I am not going to cry, I am not going to cry....
I thoroughly enjoyed my time here in Crete volunteering with Archelon. I survived 6 weeks in a tent with just a sleeping bag very well and am hoping to come back at the end of the season to see some baby turtles. I learned tons of new things on the endangered animal and about conservation in general. I made some really great friends for life, got to explore the islands of Crete, mingled in five star hotels, woke up in the early morning hours to survey 11km of beach, met some strange tourists at the kiosk and most of all I am coming home with some awesome memories and even better pictures!! I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone who was willing! Anyone want to come next year??
Tonight is my going away party and I picked an 'ABC' themed party. For those of you who are not known to this term its an 'anything but clothes' party. Don't panic no one will be in their birthday suit, it just means you have to make clothing out of boxes, tin foil, garbage bags, toilet paper.... basically anything but actual clothing. Everyone seems pretty pumped for tonight, I am just not sure if it is because of the party or that they are happy I am finally leaving! Regardless it will be a fun night!
I have my ferry booked for tomorrow which is exciting to get back on the road and see all the other places I want to see. First stop is Santorini, woot woot! This is the island with all the stereotypical scenery of white houses and blues roof tops. So my camera will be getting a work out over the next little bit.
Well that is all to say, I know I have said this a million times already but it will be so weird to leave camp but it is time to move on to bigger and better things! Jessica see you in 11 days babe! Bye Bye Archelon!
I am not going to cry, I am not going to cry, I am not going to cry....
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Day 59
I would just like to open up today's post with how horrible the football game went today for Italy. Still can't really believe the boys are out already! I came back to camp today all rattled after the game and even exchanged some words to one of the leaders after she thought it would be funny to laugh at me. Now is the leader that doesn't watch or care about her own team and seems enjoys others misery. The real funny part was when I completely told her off in front of her boss and she sat there silent and embarrassed. Friggen English!
Other than soccer nothing new is going on at camp. I am continuing the same routine as before with kiosk shifts, morning survey, and slide shows. Everything is going well, but it is coming all to an en very fast! It is just crazy how the week goes by extremely fast here. I will be leaving Sunday morning for Santorini island and will continue to tour the islands and Athens for a week by myself. I am looking forward to a little more space once again that is for certain!
Well like I said, nothing new to update really other then how frustrated I am with team Italia. Tomorrow I can mourn with the French volunteers over a beer on the beach! Yep, that should make me feel much better. Also just want to add to everyone back home to be safe. Everyone was worried about me traveling Europe by myself and yet seems as though every time I come on Skye I hear some not so great news of family members safety. Cough LUCA, cough MOTHER cough! Ironic! Get better both of you!
Anyways it is past 10pm in Greece and it's getting sort of cold over here so I will wrap up this very pointless post with a goodnight!
Other than soccer nothing new is going on at camp. I am continuing the same routine as before with kiosk shifts, morning survey, and slide shows. Everything is going well, but it is coming all to an en very fast! It is just crazy how the week goes by extremely fast here. I will be leaving Sunday morning for Santorini island and will continue to tour the islands and Athens for a week by myself. I am looking forward to a little more space once again that is for certain!
Well like I said, nothing new to update really other then how frustrated I am with team Italia. Tomorrow I can mourn with the French volunteers over a beer on the beach! Yep, that should make me feel much better. Also just want to add to everyone back home to be safe. Everyone was worried about me traveling Europe by myself and yet seems as though every time I come on Skye I hear some not so great news of family members safety. Cough LUCA, cough MOTHER cough! Ironic! Get better both of you!
Anyways it is past 10pm in Greece and it's getting sort of cold over here so I will wrap up this very pointless post with a goodnight!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Day 55
Yesterday was a packed day for me. A group of volunteers and I headed to a small remote beach that we call 'L Beach' for the afternoon. It's pretty easy to get to with only a 15 min bus ride from camp. Upon arriving you cross over the National Road, which is equivalent to a highway, and make your way down a path for a few minutes. You arrive at this tiny quite bay which has two big jumping cliffs on both sides. And yes, I did jump! The left side is around 10 metres high and the right side is several higher then that. Becky and I were the only two girls to jump both of them that day and I a still shocked at myself for doing it. Mostly because I am scared of heights, to the point of never being on roller coaster and only a few years ago I started to use escalators. No joke!
The guys obviously had to show off and jump first into the water, so after seeing them alive was good reassurance for me. But once getting to the edge the jump seems so much bigger then from the ground and I started to question myself. Mom you popped into my head right away, and I almost chickened out when Becky spoke up and said "Common we can't not go in front of the guys." which is very true. Then she grabbed my hand told me not to be a twat, I quickly grew a set of balls, replied "Let's go" and we jumped! It was so much fun, and after we got applauded by a tour boat full of tourists watching to see if we would all go. Very proud of myself for jumping, gave me such a high after landing in the water safely. AND got some sweet pictures to prove my story.
We left shortly after lunch because some people had shifts within the hour, and myself and Kerry had to get some sleep since later that night we had night survey. It was the first night survey of the season and I got to go. We left camp around 10pm and headed down to the far end of the beach opposite the Harbour on J and K sector. I was beyond excited because walking the beaches at night means that if you are lucky, a chance to see a live turtle! We started our night walking and within 3 minutes Heike (monitoring leader) was crawling on all fours on the beach because she thought she saw something. The hard thing about morning survey is no light is allowed or else the turtles will be scared away. We are only able a red light because the turtles can't pick up on that as much. So after getting our signal of one red flash of the light Kerry and I dropped to the ground and crawled up to what looked like a big rock but was actually a sea turtle!!! Can't believe we found one that fast! It was amazing to see one in the wild and I even started to laugh a bit the way the turtle moves. She was digging her egg chamber and every few seconds would toss sand up in the air with her flipper. Apparently all the years Heike has been doing this she had never had a reaction like mine, which was giggling.
The turtle ended up hitting clay in the sand so she decided not to lay her eggs and abandoned the chamber she just dug. They are very picky as to when and where to lay their eggs. She slowly but surely moved her way back to the water. I just can't describe the feeling I felt when seeing one. Especially since fairly close to this entire encounter was a bar full of drunk tourists who were totally oblivious to what just happened. I just witnessed something not many people have, or ever will. Which is a endangered sea turtle in her natural habitat digging an egg chamber, and these people were just thinking if they wanted vodka or rum. Even some volunteers who have been here for more than one season have not got to see what I saw last night.
We continued walking the beaches till 3 in the morning and we witnessed 2 other sea turtles on the beach. However they were just 'swims' which is when they emerge from the water on the sand, and basically don't like the area for one reason or another and do a loop around right back to the water. Night survey was a success seeing 3 sea turtles and bonus; 1 couple doing the dirty on the beach. Most awkward thing to walk by, thank the lord it was night time and nearly pitch black or my eyes may have been scared for life!
I have the morning and afternoon off to sleep and get back on track from last night which is nice, and this evening I have a kiosk shift that starts at 7pm. However the Italy game is on at 5pm here, so I will have to find a close TV to the kiosk and run over at the last min! Wish me luck!
The guys obviously had to show off and jump first into the water, so after seeing them alive was good reassurance for me. But once getting to the edge the jump seems so much bigger then from the ground and I started to question myself. Mom you popped into my head right away, and I almost chickened out when Becky spoke up and said "Common we can't not go in front of the guys." which is very true. Then she grabbed my hand told me not to be a twat, I quickly grew a set of balls, replied "Let's go" and we jumped! It was so much fun, and after we got applauded by a tour boat full of tourists watching to see if we would all go. Very proud of myself for jumping, gave me such a high after landing in the water safely. AND got some sweet pictures to prove my story.
We left shortly after lunch because some people had shifts within the hour, and myself and Kerry had to get some sleep since later that night we had night survey. It was the first night survey of the season and I got to go. We left camp around 10pm and headed down to the far end of the beach opposite the Harbour on J and K sector. I was beyond excited because walking the beaches at night means that if you are lucky, a chance to see a live turtle! We started our night walking and within 3 minutes Heike (monitoring leader) was crawling on all fours on the beach because she thought she saw something. The hard thing about morning survey is no light is allowed or else the turtles will be scared away. We are only able a red light because the turtles can't pick up on that as much. So after getting our signal of one red flash of the light Kerry and I dropped to the ground and crawled up to what looked like a big rock but was actually a sea turtle!!! Can't believe we found one that fast! It was amazing to see one in the wild and I even started to laugh a bit the way the turtle moves. She was digging her egg chamber and every few seconds would toss sand up in the air with her flipper. Apparently all the years Heike has been doing this she had never had a reaction like mine, which was giggling.
The turtle ended up hitting clay in the sand so she decided not to lay her eggs and abandoned the chamber she just dug. They are very picky as to when and where to lay their eggs. She slowly but surely moved her way back to the water. I just can't describe the feeling I felt when seeing one. Especially since fairly close to this entire encounter was a bar full of drunk tourists who were totally oblivious to what just happened. I just witnessed something not many people have, or ever will. Which is a endangered sea turtle in her natural habitat digging an egg chamber, and these people were just thinking if they wanted vodka or rum. Even some volunteers who have been here for more than one season have not got to see what I saw last night.
We continued walking the beaches till 3 in the morning and we witnessed 2 other sea turtles on the beach. However they were just 'swims' which is when they emerge from the water on the sand, and basically don't like the area for one reason or another and do a loop around right back to the water. Night survey was a success seeing 3 sea turtles and bonus; 1 couple doing the dirty on the beach. Most awkward thing to walk by, thank the lord it was night time and nearly pitch black or my eyes may have been scared for life!
I have the morning and afternoon off to sleep and get back on track from last night which is nice, and this evening I have a kiosk shift that starts at 7pm. However the Italy game is on at 5pm here, so I will have to find a close TV to the kiosk and run over at the last min! Wish me luck!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Day 52
I would just like to start off by saying that I am so hot right now. I am sitting in a cafe on JuJu's computer sweating balls!! We are on day three of a heat wave and I just can't take it anymore! SO HOT!!!! The horrible thing about Greece is that it starts getting hot very early and will refuse to cool down until around 8 at night. As I am telling you this right now I am drying my forehead of sweat! I will be hitting up a cold, cold, cold shower when I get back to camp. Which reminds me..... I still have to walk back to camp! UGH!
Okay I got my complaining out of the way and now I can continue on my update...
Well day 52 has been interesting thus far. My morning went as follows, waking up at 5am on a island in Greece, walk several kilometers looking for sea turtle tracks in the sand, waiting half an hour to take a bus back to camp who completely ignored us waving him down and drove right past us, then hitchhiking our way back to camp. Definitely a morning I have never had imagined I would ever experience. I was so tired getting out of the car I even hit the man's door on my way out!! Thank the lord he did not notice me doing that and no dent was left. Close one.
Camp turned into a soap opera over the past few days with lots of drama going on. Long story short one of the girls hit one of the guys in an ugly argument. They used to date before coming to Greece and it was not a clean breakup. Therefore living together on camp was difficult and now we are down two volunteers as they got moved to separate camps yesterday. A bitter sweet ending to the drama since most of the camp was on the same page and happy to see one leave. The funny part of it all is the karma one will experience heading over to the Matala camp. With no warm showers, no electricity, and holes on the floor for toilets. Enjoy!
Hopefully now the high school, oh sorry I mean camp full of very mature young adults, will all come together now. Tonight is Adel's (South African) last night, which equals to BBQ and cocktails! I am hoping for the best and that we can all hangout and have a fun filled night. Most likely it will go smoothly and I can have a good last night with one of my closest friends on camp. It's so depressing making such strong connections with the volunteers and once you become very close and comfortable it seems as though it's time for one of you to leave. Just means I will be visiting you in South Africa Adel!
Okay I got my complaining out of the way and now I can continue on my update...
Well day 52 has been interesting thus far. My morning went as follows, waking up at 5am on a island in Greece, walk several kilometers looking for sea turtle tracks in the sand, waiting half an hour to take a bus back to camp who completely ignored us waving him down and drove right past us, then hitchhiking our way back to camp. Definitely a morning I have never had imagined I would ever experience. I was so tired getting out of the car I even hit the man's door on my way out!! Thank the lord he did not notice me doing that and no dent was left. Close one.
Camp turned into a soap opera over the past few days with lots of drama going on. Long story short one of the girls hit one of the guys in an ugly argument. They used to date before coming to Greece and it was not a clean breakup. Therefore living together on camp was difficult and now we are down two volunteers as they got moved to separate camps yesterday. A bitter sweet ending to the drama since most of the camp was on the same page and happy to see one leave. The funny part of it all is the karma one will experience heading over to the Matala camp. With no warm showers, no electricity, and holes on the floor for toilets. Enjoy!
Hopefully now the high school, oh sorry I mean camp full of very mature young adults, will all come together now. Tonight is Adel's (South African) last night, which equals to BBQ and cocktails! I am hoping for the best and that we can all hangout and have a fun filled night. Most likely it will go smoothly and I can have a good last night with one of my closest friends on camp. It's so depressing making such strong connections with the volunteers and once you become very close and comfortable it seems as though it's time for one of you to leave. Just means I will be visiting you in South Africa Adel!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Day 49
Ugggghhhhhh. That's how I am feeling at the moment. I caught some sort of flu yesterday and am still feeling like shit. I just finished a two hour nap so hopefully I start feeling better soon. It is especially important because as we all know Italy plays tonight! I have managed to encourage some people to come out with me tonight to watch the game so I don't have to go alone. The annoying part is most of them are French and still have not gotten over losing last world cup and are already chanting PARAGUUYY on camp. It's going to make for an interesting night.
Some more news, I am officially a Mom!! I found my first nest on morning survey the other day. I have been with others and seen a nest before but this was the first time that I found the top egg while digging! It was so thrilling to see the little white spot in the sand and right in that moment I became a Mom. Kerri (camp leader) told me she would look after it for me and take lots of pictures of the hatchlings and send it to me. My hatchlings are going to be so good looking I just know it.
I would love to blog some more but unfortunately Luca distracted me with some talks on the game and now I must head out to find a bar to watch. So excited!!FORZA ITALIA!
Some more news, I am officially a Mom!! I found my first nest on morning survey the other day. I have been with others and seen a nest before but this was the first time that I found the top egg while digging! It was so thrilling to see the little white spot in the sand and right in that moment I became a Mom. Kerri (camp leader) told me she would look after it for me and take lots of pictures of the hatchlings and send it to me. My hatchlings are going to be so good looking I just know it.
I would love to blog some more but unfortunately Luca distracted me with some talks on the game and now I must head out to find a bar to watch. So excited!!FORZA ITALIA!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Day 46
This past Wednesday was my second day off. Adel, Justine, Natalie and I headed to Preveli which is about an hour and a half to the south. Once getting off the bus you have to walk down the cliff on the steep rock steps to get to the beach. After a 20 min hike you arrive to a beautiful small little beach at the south edge of Kroustaliotiko gorge where the river reaches the Libyan Sea. At the back of the beach they have a huge palm forest that goes along the river. We did not trek the entire forest because, well after being informed it takes five hours we all rolled our eyes and said ``Hell nah``. Making my way back up the cliff was extremely hard and with no shade and the sun attacking us it made it quite the mission.
By the end of the trip Natalie was completely on all our nerves. She makes very silly comments and when everyone is tired and hot it doesn`t go over well. Not even with Adel who is the calmest of calms. For example, right after climbing back up the cliff we all sat waiting for the bus. Justine starts dabbing herself with a little white handkerchief to take the sweat off. We teased her because as she was dabbing her head and just looked very elegant while the rest of us were anything but. I made a joke saying ``all I want to do is just toss dirt on you right now`` that`s where the conversation ending. Finished. Complete. We moved on and starting talking about something else. About five minutes later Natalie pipes up asking ``no but can we actually toss dirt on you Justine?`` This is what I mean when all our patience gets tested very fast when you are with Natalie. The day ended with a nice plate of Moussaka and bedtime came shortly after.
Today, not much is happening. It’s just before two in the afternoon here in Greece and all I do is tend to hang around camp a lot and hang about with the other volunteers. Laziness is the popular thing to do, especially after waking up at 5am and walking several kilometres of beach. It`s nice staying in one place for a long time because there absolutely no rush to do anything and you can have days dedicated completely to lofting around.
Oh and the good news I have is I got accepted for another two weeks here at camp!! June 26th will mark my new ending date for the placement, and funny enough this will mark exactly two months away from home.
By the end of the trip Natalie was completely on all our nerves. She makes very silly comments and when everyone is tired and hot it doesn`t go over well. Not even with Adel who is the calmest of calms. For example, right after climbing back up the cliff we all sat waiting for the bus. Justine starts dabbing herself with a little white handkerchief to take the sweat off. We teased her because as she was dabbing her head and just looked very elegant while the rest of us were anything but. I made a joke saying ``all I want to do is just toss dirt on you right now`` that`s where the conversation ending. Finished. Complete. We moved on and starting talking about something else. About five minutes later Natalie pipes up asking ``no but can we actually toss dirt on you Justine?`` This is what I mean when all our patience gets tested very fast when you are with Natalie. The day ended with a nice plate of Moussaka and bedtime came shortly after.
Today, not much is happening. It’s just before two in the afternoon here in Greece and all I do is tend to hang around camp a lot and hang about with the other volunteers. Laziness is the popular thing to do, especially after waking up at 5am and walking several kilometres of beach. It`s nice staying in one place for a long time because there absolutely no rush to do anything and you can have days dedicated completely to lofting around.
Oh and the good news I have is I got accepted for another two weeks here at camp!! June 26th will mark my new ending date for the placement, and funny enough this will mark exactly two months away from home.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Day 42
Well my birthday in Greece was loads of fun. We had a party at camp with all the volunteers which was really nice, I even got a cake baked by Mik which was delicious. But before cake I got surprised by Louis and Matt with a birthday song! It was such a funny song and very well done, especially for writing it in twenty minutes. Very sweet of them both, well the thought was. The lyrics were not as sweet because the song was mostly about how much their heads were going to hurt in the morning after drinking that night and how they would blame my birthday for it. The evening ended with a dirt fight and myself covered in that nights dinner. Pasta all over my face and hair! Yummy.
I had the next morning off, which was the best present of all. However I got put on a slide show shift for that evening. Which is the shift I hate the most, public speaking is not my thing. Entering the hotel I was scared because the lobby was fairly busy so I was worried the presentation would be full. Luckily when the time came to speak there were less then 10 people in the room. At one point during the presentation while I was speaking a family got up and left in the middle. Then my partner Aurelien started to laugh quietly, which of course made me break down as well. Not the most professional slide show ever presented. After the show I got told off by a French man that I read too much off the paper as he laughed in my face. Oh man, these five star guests are intimidating to present in front of.
My volunteer placement is coming to an end this weekend, which is such a big shock because it doesn’t feel like I have been here this long. I talked to my camp leader about it and I am seeing if there is room for me to stay an extra two weeks at camp. This means I would cut scandinavia out of my itinerary . I found out Norway is extremely expensive so this makes it work out for the better to save some money and enjoy another two weeks of volunteering. I haven’t got any word yet, she was told the camp is at its capacity but she is going to call her boss and try to work me in since I am considered one of the “good” volunteers. Fingers crossed!
I had the next morning off, which was the best present of all. However I got put on a slide show shift for that evening. Which is the shift I hate the most, public speaking is not my thing. Entering the hotel I was scared because the lobby was fairly busy so I was worried the presentation would be full. Luckily when the time came to speak there were less then 10 people in the room. At one point during the presentation while I was speaking a family got up and left in the middle. Then my partner Aurelien started to laugh quietly, which of course made me break down as well. Not the most professional slide show ever presented. After the show I got told off by a French man that I read too much off the paper as he laughed in my face. Oh man, these five star guests are intimidating to present in front of.
My volunteer placement is coming to an end this weekend, which is such a big shock because it doesn’t feel like I have been here this long. I talked to my camp leader about it and I am seeing if there is room for me to stay an extra two weeks at camp. This means I would cut scandinavia out of my itinerary . I found out Norway is extremely expensive so this makes it work out for the better to save some money and enjoy another two weeks of volunteering. I haven’t got any word yet, she was told the camp is at its capacity but she is going to call her boss and try to work me in since I am considered one of the “good” volunteers. Fingers crossed!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Day 40
Back from the hotel. Relaxed, clean, and older. Officially twenty today! I won't have time to post that much about the hotel experience because celebrating needs to start soon. But it was so much fun to be five star for a day! The slide show went great, I didn't mess up that much and we raised a decent amount of money for the turtles.
It's hitting around 8:30pm here so I better head to the kitchen area to celebrate. My close friends on camp decorated the place with some balloons and signs which is really sweet. It's nice to be surround by good company like that, so thanks Adel, Justine, Natalie and Kerry!
Raki time!
It's hitting around 8:30pm here so I better head to the kitchen area to celebrate. My close friends on camp decorated the place with some balloons and signs which is really sweet. It's nice to be surround by good company like that, so thanks Adel, Justine, Natalie and Kerry!
Raki time!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Day 38
"Hakuna matata. Today is Life. Tomorrow never comes."
That is the quote of the town Matala. Which is where I visited for the past few days to build the new camp . It was a two hour drive from my camp and it had great scenery for the entire ride. Huge mountains all around you and once you get to the other side of the island you get to drive along the coast which has some of the most amazing views of crystal clear waters and sandy beaches. We arrived in the late afternoon on Monday and moved the supplies from the office to the camp site. On Tuesday myself and a Ivana (volunteer from Germany) sanded the entire kiosk and packed it in the truck. Of course by the time the pieces of wood were unpacked at the spot it belongs, it was high noon and the sun was pounding on us. Not the best of timing, especially with no shade but however difficult the work was it was finished in the end. I treated myself to a nice swim in the sparkling bay after a day of long and sweaty work.
The atmosphere of Matala is very laid back as you can tell from the quote and such a relaxing place to be. The town is very small and has a close community. Filled with hippie bars, funky clothing and hand made jewellery it shows the diversity the island has. The best part was walking through the strip to find a place for dinner and constantly getting comments such as "oh the turtle ladies! You are back!" along with a shot of raki (similar to Italian grappa). I learned in Matala if you work for Archelon and want free shots of raki... it is definitely the place to go.
The side trip was worth the extra work, and even with the three buses it took to get back to camp I would definitely go again! The funny thing about the journey was arriving back at camp and having this big sensation of getting back home. It's weird how a random campsite which is far far away from my actual home becomes a new home so fast.
Today was my first day back at camp and I had an exciting, early morning. I was on morning survey for sector A-C the longest one, which means waking up at 4:30 am to walk almost 5km of beach. It turned from a early morning to a exciting one after we found tracks on the beach. Following the tracks up the beach we found what appeared to be a nest. After digging in the sand for some time we ended up finding the eggs! This was my first sights of a real egg and it was so thrilling to see a real sea turtle nest. I know I sound very lame at the moment but after all the training I had to go through and many hours walking on the beach without finding anything, it makes it that much sweeter to see your work pay off.
Tonight the leaders and a bunch of volunteers are heading out to Platanas (the town over) to watch a gig at a place called Axos. The leaders know the band which we are told are very brilliant and who do covers of all sorts of songs. Even more good news I got put on a slide show for tomorrow night at a hotel in Heraklion. Now Heraklion is quite far from us, which means a long bus to get there and since we have a information table the next afternoon we stay the night. Let me clarify, not stay the night in town but actually get put up in one of the hotels rooms with a pass which gives us all inclusive access to food, swimming pool, drinks, etc. Did I mention this is one of the five-star hotels? No? Sorry, I will say this again in case my brother is reading, I get a free stay at a five star hotel.
Ahhhhh Hakuna Matata, it means no worries...
That is the quote of the town Matala. Which is where I visited for the past few days to build the new camp . It was a two hour drive from my camp and it had great scenery for the entire ride. Huge mountains all around you and once you get to the other side of the island you get to drive along the coast which has some of the most amazing views of crystal clear waters and sandy beaches. We arrived in the late afternoon on Monday and moved the supplies from the office to the camp site. On Tuesday myself and a Ivana (volunteer from Germany) sanded the entire kiosk and packed it in the truck. Of course by the time the pieces of wood were unpacked at the spot it belongs, it was high noon and the sun was pounding on us. Not the best of timing, especially with no shade but however difficult the work was it was finished in the end. I treated myself to a nice swim in the sparkling bay after a day of long and sweaty work.
The atmosphere of Matala is very laid back as you can tell from the quote and such a relaxing place to be. The town is very small and has a close community. Filled with hippie bars, funky clothing and hand made jewellery it shows the diversity the island has. The best part was walking through the strip to find a place for dinner and constantly getting comments such as "oh the turtle ladies! You are back!" along with a shot of raki (similar to Italian grappa). I learned in Matala if you work for Archelon and want free shots of raki... it is definitely the place to go.
The side trip was worth the extra work, and even with the three buses it took to get back to camp I would definitely go again! The funny thing about the journey was arriving back at camp and having this big sensation of getting back home. It's weird how a random campsite which is far far away from my actual home becomes a new home so fast.
Today was my first day back at camp and I had an exciting, early morning. I was on morning survey for sector A-C the longest one, which means waking up at 4:30 am to walk almost 5km of beach. It turned from a early morning to a exciting one after we found tracks on the beach. Following the tracks up the beach we found what appeared to be a nest. After digging in the sand for some time we ended up finding the eggs! This was my first sights of a real egg and it was so thrilling to see a real sea turtle nest. I know I sound very lame at the moment but after all the training I had to go through and many hours walking on the beach without finding anything, it makes it that much sweeter to see your work pay off.
Tonight the leaders and a bunch of volunteers are heading out to Platanas (the town over) to watch a gig at a place called Axos. The leaders know the band which we are told are very brilliant and who do covers of all sorts of songs. Even more good news I got put on a slide show for tomorrow night at a hotel in Heraklion. Now Heraklion is quite far from us, which means a long bus to get there and since we have a information table the next afternoon we stay the night. Let me clarify, not stay the night in town but actually get put up in one of the hotels rooms with a pass which gives us all inclusive access to food, swimming pool, drinks, etc. Did I mention this is one of the five-star hotels? No? Sorry, I will say this again in case my brother is reading, I get a free stay at a five star hotel.
Ahhhhh Hakuna Matata, it means no worries...
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