Santorini, island of damn hot beaches
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2006
1
36
54
Trip End
Ongoing
Santorini, Greece
Sunday, July 16, 2006
The taxis were being a bit of a pain to get into, and nathan and I were told to share one with a montreal couple, which was fine by us. Canadians stick together I always say. The only advice we were given by nathan's dad was to look for Andreas when we arrive at Imierovigli. Interesting.
The cab ride was uneventful, no accidents or high speed chases. Nothing. Rather disappointing but i moved on.
So we were dropped off 15 euros later at Imierovigli
dinner with the ayoubis
. It was just a parking lot, nothing spectacular. So we hopped out, grabbed our bags, and started yelling. "Andreas!, AndreAS!"Lo and behold, who comes running out of the supermarket??? A fellow canadian named Andreas. What are the odds that he actually heard us? Awesome I guess. So we stoodby waiting for the rest of the family, before being lead away to the villa.
It didn't seem like a big deal until we crested the peak on the way to our villa. My god, I can't begin to describe how incredible the view was. So look at the picture already damnit. We were led like cattle all the way along the winding path up to the point where we were amidst the most incredible multi colored houses and villas, and wouldn't you know nathan's parents know how to do it in style. Built into the mountain, as a geologist I can attest to that, the place was spectacular. I began to give a wonderful tour of teh place on my video camera, and on the way into the washroom i smoked my head on the door frame. Note to self, greek people are shorter than the average bear.
SO we finished off our first day launching water balloons filled with cement at people in neighbouring villas, and starting some general wars
our view
. It was a good time to say the least. The next day we had plans. Big plans. They started off with us renting scooters. Despite my fears of two wheeled objects including bicycles, motor bikes, and those weird things that you stand on with two wheels on the side that you see in Tom Yum Koong, I rented a scooter as well. Off we blasted from the scooter site, known as Honest Ahmed's rentals, and to the beach we went. Now the guy who rented us the scooters wasn't the most reliable appearing character, so we had some cause to be worried. But don't let that scare you for now, just read on.
Our first beach was K something beach. All I know is that the sand is black. And effing hot. Hotter than you could ever believe. It was ridiculous! If you only had a towel, you were in trouuuuuble because that sand was so damn hot. We had to buy beach mats in order to survive.
So after a long exhausting day of avoiding the lava, also known as the sand, we hopped on our scooters to head back. Only something was wrong. I revved my engine a bunch of times to look as tough as I could, but then it stopped! What did i doooooo i thought
Well, turns out you're not supposed to rev your engine like that, as it causes "Problems"
I had to call honest ahmed out to replace the spark plug in the red rocket, and we were back off to the villa at long last. My scooter skills were becoming incredible, i have to admit
red sand beach
. Now that night was Debbie's birthday. She had been travelling with us for a while, so we had to do teh night in style. We had dinner all cooked and ready to go, and we were just waiting on teh birthday girl. The sun had set. Things were rosy. She was coming via scooter with her loud friend Chris, which is a killer name i must admit, and we didn't expect them to be long. But then we got the phone call. THE phone call. They were casualties number one and two of the dreaded scooters. Supposedly they were turning too fast, and crashed into the side of the road, injuring Chris 2's arm, and debbie's pinky toe. It was entirely debbie's fault for jumping off the scooter too soon.
But nonetheless dinner was a roaring success, and we finished the night off at some place called taj mahal and full of cushions and belly dancers. It was quite the night. Actually I shouldn't say we finished the night off like that. We had other plans. Now, Debbie hopped in a taxi back to her hostel (she wasn't welcome at the ayoubi residence like me. I'm special), and Nathan and I had a long hill to climb to get back to the villa. But why should we take a cab when that only costs euros? And walking is slow. Besides, I noticed that I was beginning to get a little bit chubby, so let's run I thought
this is scooter country folks
. And so we did, the entire 3 kilometre uphill way drunk. Wow, what a blast. Needless to say I was a little sweaty when I got back but that didn't stop me from passing out and fast. The next day was the day for the red sand beach. Now when I say black sand, and red sand, I actually mean it. The sand is red, or black on the other beach. Its because this island is a volcano, and volcanoes can give off different colors of rock than you would normally see. Geology is incredible isn't it.
The red sand beach is indeed red, but what they don't tell you in the name is about the wind. Or the fact that the sand is very fine. SO sitting on this beach involves skill. Lots of skill. You had to strategically place large rocks (geology comes in handy yet again) on the towel to avoid losing it. Eyes must be closed at all times. Do not talk. Or else you will be talking through a mouthful of sand. Not fun, I promise you. So eventually, yet again, we tired of being skillful and took off.
The next day was the day for the final beach, Perissa. IT was a day of laughter. A day of fun. A day of excitement. A day of danger.
We took off, entourage and all
up top
. Me, NAte, Khaleel, Nate's Sister nadine, and her husband Scott. As teh fastest of the pack, teh red rocket and i blasted off in first to the beach. Maybe I was actually in third but you get the idea. I was somewhere near the front. After a while I noticed that we had lost a couple. Make that three people. It was just Nate and I. Well we went ahead anyways, and perused the beach looking for our lost companions. Eventually Nathan's parents showed up in the flashy rent a car, and filled us in. Apparently these ultra reliable scooters had failed us again. Scott, Nate's brother in law, had been cruising along and went into a turn. At this point his front wheel stopped moving. Entirely. So over he went, completing one rotation with a half twist, and smack! Right onto his chin. His wife got a new pair of shoes out of the accident, don't ask how. Anyways, Honest Ahmed came along and told scott that he had pressed the break on the front wheel and that is why he crashed. Logical if you ask me. Needless to say they returned their bikes right away, and spent the day recuperating. The rest of Santorini was spent relaxing on those incredible hot beaches, and ripping around on scooters and trying not to let it blow up and kill us all. Don't worry mom we were safe. My red rocket had no real problems, and we got along famously. Sadly enough, teh day did come that we had to move onto Ios, an Island who's reputation matched its night life....duh duh duhhhhhh
