a shephards life

This is a side note - but it was incredible - on the way to Ydie, we spotted a pod of dowlphits.  They followed us in the boats wake for a while.

We headed out for a hike through the coastal mountains of Lydie once we anchored.  Umit brough us to a local shephard's house.  He was temporarily and informally (untill the government would approve it formally), gaurding the roman ruins sitting just behind his house and fields.  Before venturing the ruins the Umit would later show us, the shephard served us all sage tea.  We sat under a small wooden roof on benches sipping hot earthy tea.  The shephard's daughter ran out of the one room mud-brick house to cling to her father's leg.  After her walked out her mother caring huge round loaves of bread for us to bring back to our boat.

life here is simple.

A one room house with a stove for cooking and sleeping, outdoor structures for community time and eating, and fields and fields for the sheep.  They live side by side with reminders of the past.  Umit said that he's been working with this shepard and the government to get him the position of being gaurd over the unexcavated ruins that lay right behind his property - that way he can have social security, retirement, health insurance and other benefits.  He also said that soon they would have to, by law, being sending their daughter to school which would either mean an hour long walk each morning, or moving to live with friends or relatives closer to the school.  Its a funny world where education is so valued.  I too value it, but I wonder if its as important as we make it out to be.  Its a good thing I think, much better than no education.  Maybe a simple way of life is just as good.