A week of firsts

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I've experienced a lot of firsts this week -- first donkey ride up 600 steps in Santorini -- first earthquake in Crete -- 5.5 on the Richter scale just past midnight on Tues. -- and now my first diving certificate; yes, as of tomorrow I'll be scuba certified -- yeah!

It's been an interesting week, I'm now alone again after travelling with Kellie and Todd for 2 weeks. It's strange, but rewarding to be thinking on my feet again. It's quiet, but I've been busy with the course this week, so been using my noggin' for the first time on the trip with the (easy) tests and all.

I'm staying in a small village on the eastern side of Crete -- Elounda. I'm smack dab in the middle of a very large onslaught of German vacationers -- apparently the Brits start showing up in a couple weeks. I've seen enough of sandals with socks and men in tiny speedos to last me for quite a while. I have a beautiful view of the bay and some Cretan mountains across the way (I always think of a cretin when I write cretan -- like all the Cretans are cretins). Maybe diving at depth has just made me a little punchy or I'm getting distracted by the antics of my funny dive instructors (Horst from Switz. and Dennis from Scotland).

My most amusing experience of the week was the bus ride from Heraklion to Agios Nicholaos on the way here. The bus driver, a straping Eurotrash sort of character in his tight black t-shirt over bulging biceps, gelled black hair and a couple of understated gold chains really liked techno music, his cell phone and bus driving at the same time. So here we are, winding around the curvy coastal road and he has the stereo cranked to this awful techno station and I'm in the front seat surrounded by some older Greek women in black. They crossed themselves at each church we passed (no mean feat). The music starts on this thumping drumbeat song, 'I will give you sex...I will give you drugs....), the women are crossing themselves every 5 minutes and the bus driver is busy answering his cell phone and driving the bus with one hand (keep in mind everything here is stick shift). I barely could sit upright, I was laughing so hard. It seemed perfectly safe in the end, but hilarious.

I'll probably stay here a couple more days here and then start heading east to Rethymno, Hania and then on to the Peloponese -- I have to be in Avignon on the 15th.

XXOO from Greece, Elizabeth