Sacred Flame Scalds Cat
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2006
1
13
120
Trip End
Sep 02, 2008
Olympos,
Turkey
Friday, February 3, 2006
No, I am not about to confess to some psychopathic tendency which you have been waiting for me to admit. In my own way I became a sort of philanthropist while visiting the "Chimera" outside of the town of Olympos.
After I left Kas, I travelled through Demre and Myra to get to Olympos. Myra is famous as the bishopric of the original St. Nicholas. I saw some local ruins but had to share them with a few dozen package tourists fresh from yesterday's flight from Germany. Together (I use this word loosely) we wandered through the hundreds of hothouses producing most of the tomatoes in Turkey (I imagine) and to get to Lycian ruins and the church of St. Nicolas. Some of the buildings around were painted with the likeness of Santa. The church was built as a memorial after old st. Nic's death by his fans (first by people who knew him and then in the 1800s a Russian prince restored the ruins). Later I took the dolmush to Olympos and had a relaxing evening.
The next day was my off day - one on which I had decided to not do anything, being worn from all of the hiking of the last few days - but two fellow travellers, Monica and Galen, also staying in my "treehouse" (wooden inn - the government here decreed that no concrete may be used in construction in Olympos. This was to protect the area from commercial development. But the canny industriousness of the locals has overcome these requirements to accomodate curious tourists who flock to see the ruins and the naturally occuring flame in the hills nearby) were walking to see the flame I mentionned in the lengthy parenthesis above and the following paragraphs below - I opted to go along.
There is this flame that comes out of the ground that is caused by some gas beneath a mountain. At the entry to the site, there is a substantial write up on a sign about the composition of this gas. This scientific analysis of the gas was brought to us by the "Santa Claus Association" (no joke) as it says on the bottom of this otherwise credible sign.
Flames have been burning off of the side of this mountain for eons. The flames are mentionned in historical sources as having enough illumination to guide ships by night, like a lighthouse, because they were visible from the sea (well, the flame has died down some over time and I doubt that this is the case anymore, but from the flame location one can see the sea). Still, there is enough gas burning off to merit a seven kilometer hike to see it.
Along the way we were joined by Sally and Ali, and together the five of us hiked to the site. We stocked up on goodies at a local shop - after all, we weren't just going to turn back, saying okay, we've been here, let's go back. What this meant was that when we got to the site, we looked around a bit, saw that flames came up in many places from the ground over a rock face of about the size of a baseball diamond's infield, and then we sat down to enjoy some snacks. I ate an imitation Mars bar (lots of western chocolate bars have been copied here by a local company, including twix, areo, snickers, kitkat, o henry, etc., and given names like alberni, duplo, rodeo, metro, etc., even though the originals are sometimes available; at 3 times the price).
As we were enjoying ourselves, an ill-starred feline approached and waxed cutsie to earn some treats. We didn't give it treats but Ali noticed that it had what seemed to be the biggest lice he had ever seen. Sally took a closer look and discerned that it wasn't lice but a tick. The cat was looking for help as well as treats. Sally knew that a tick improperly removed can kill an animal. She asked Ali for advice but he was for pulling it out and she knew that wouldn't work. Turning to me for a solution, I replied that what was required was a hot cigarette and a steady hand to coax the tick's head out of the cat's head. I told her that I was very sure that this was the only solution (was I right? tell me by email if there is another way).
She and Ali got to work and he took a cigarette from his bag and lit it. Sally gently took the cat and held the willing patient steady while Ali touched the cigarette to the tick and little by little the tick shrivelled up. The cat was only a wee bit squirmish but clearly happy to be helped. It was scratching at its head but couldn't reach the tick. After the tick was as shrivelled and as dead looking as one can imagine, we released the cat and a few minutes later, the tick was gone and no damage was done. It fell out and one cat is better off, if its hair is a little bit singed. Ali gave it some chips too. It gobbled them up.
Okay my compelling story has ended. You don't have to read on but I will tell you about a little known gambling technique I fell victim to. So if my trip ends prematurely later on you might know why.
We went back to Olympos and that evening I played backgammon with the maitress of our treehouse, Meral. She's a great cook and good company. Also she throws a mean dice in backgammon.
Pretty much the story is that I was creamed. 10 losses in a row. I am not really that bad at backgammon. A whole bunch of times I was really close but I couldn't quite win. My strategy was pretty mathematical. Except I wasn't throwing doubles (for those who don't know the rules, they are sort of simple: throw more doubles on 2 dice and you get more moves for your pieces. Roughly, the faster you move your pieces along the board you win). But Meral was throwing doubles. About 60% of the time to my 5%. So obviously she would be whopping my butt. I couldn't understand how. We were using the same dice and they clearly weren't loaded for me. Thankfully I actually bet no money and the only spectators (Galen and Monica) let me keep my dignity.
Turns out that Meral had mastered the technique of throwing dice. She plays nearly every day. There is some secret means of tossing the little cubes to ensure they spin the same amount and show the same value. She admitted it to someone who told me. Lesson for all: Practice anything enough and you can perfect it. Even dice throwing. Lesson for me: don't gamble. I am to lazy to practice! Once again I am very happy that I never gamble. Or else this may well have been my last entry before calling my folks for emergency cash to fly home.
![[03] Olympos ruins](http://images.travelpod.com/users/el_condor/thumbnail.asia_2005.1148208360.picture_020.jpg)
