D.I.T

Yesterday I went on the traditional day tour of Santorini. That includes a Volcano tour (All you Mizzou ppl know how I loooove me some Volcanoes) swimming in a hot caldera, taking a tour of a small village on another island named Thirassia and then going to Oia for the "Famous Oia Sunset."

The first part included a bus from the hostel down to the port of Akrotiri. I have never seen a huge bus packed with people clambering down such a steep hill! There were about 20 switchbacks to get through before we made it down. I didn't get sick, but I was a bit anxious about crashing and flying off the cliff.

Then, they just sort of point and yell at you to go to certain boats. There is no real direction and you could probably go on whichever boat you wanted. I went on this huge sailboat, which turns out just motors. So me and about 400 of my newest closest friends squashed onto this blazing hot boat bound for the volcano. Santorini has a violent past of eruptions and the middle of the island virtually sank in some time ago. Then the water from the sea rushed in and that is how the island became 4 islands. So we went to the part which is the cinder cone, but since the volcano is active but has violent eruptions, there is no lava and no cool photos. Only heat. Blazing heat. I walked for 45 minutes among throngs of tourists and got to the top, only to realize the view was the same as from the 10 minute long walk. I headed back to the boat sweaty and dirty.

Then I sat down next to a girl who was really cool. We started talking and she was a student from L.A. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the day.

The caldera was nice to swim in, better because we were so sweaty. And then we headed to lunch at Thirassia. It turns out Phaedra (that was her name) is half Greek, even though she has red hair and freckles. So we went to this little restaurant LITERALLY right on the water and had the best Pita-Gyros of my life. Seriously, the best! And then we got the bill, less than 5 euros each! The gyros were 1.70. Insane!

We headed back to the boat, anxious for the last part of our tour, the sunset in Oia.

So anytime you see famous pictures from Santorini it is the shot with the blue church and the sea. Sometimes there is a sunset in the background. It is so famous that you take massive tours up there. But to get up to Oia on the cliffs from the sea you can either walk up a steep hill or...

RIDE A DONKEY!

So, naturally, we rode donkeys.

I have never gone on such a wild ride. First of all, my donkey looked about 50 years old and was already breathing hard when I got on him, from the right side. Second of all, all day long the donkeys walk up and then run down. Third of all, my donkey had a twinkle in his elderly eye and I knew I was in for some fun.

So we start riding and it is hard work staying on the pathetic little thing. My stirups were about a foot to short, so my legs were sticking out weirdly. You don't have reigns because, let's be honest, you couldn't control a donkey anyway. So you hold on to this little horn type handle and pray you don't die. I was second in line and the donkey in front of me with a Spanish woman on it was quite slow. My donkey agreed. The race began.

He was going left. He was going right. He was in the donkeys butt. Then the really steep part came and he was trotting, yes Trotting! up the hill. In all this haste, the Spanish woman was screaming. In my donkey's quest to run up the hill he was pushing her donkey over into the wall. I was having the time of my life, fully trusting in Old Blue as I called him...her...it. Whatever. But I thought she was going to die of a heart attack. And the only English the donkey man could say was Lady, No problem! So, I am calming her down as I ride next to her in Spanish and the donkey man continues to hiss, chant, spit and shout to get the donkeys moving. At the end, we got off the donkey, my knees were sort but my adrenaline could not have been pumping faster. What a rush.

And the scenery was Amazing. Top 5 of my life. We walked around and I started making jokes about the donkey. Since other people had just ridden as well, I really started going on with this Aussie.

Our conversation:

Me: What if the donkeys want to quit? They just say, fuck it, I am jumping off this cliff, passenger and all?
Phil: Yeah, or they could want to break their own leg. They could run into a wall.
Me: And did you see the donkeys the guide was dragging behind him? I think it was a Donkey In Training.
Phil: A DIT! I've heard about those! They have to pass a really hard fitness test. Then they get certified to be a real donkey. Unfortunately by the time they pass all the tests they are elderly and almost always die within the year.

It continued like this for a while. Phaedra and I continued to walk down the street until we got to the spot. Like, the famous sunset spot. Since it was around 6, we had a few hours to wait. We found a little nook that was shaded and out of the way but guaranteed we had the best view. After about 15 minutes, Phil meandered up with Tally, his cousin. They sat down with us and we just chilled for 2 hours until the sunset. It was so cool, we were all just taking the piss out of life and especially the donkeys.

Afterwards we took our buses back to our respective hostels and agreed to meet up later. They came to my hostel and we went to dinner on the beach. Both of them are in the Aussie army and are on leave from Iraq. Gross. But it was one of the most fun days ever. Sadly, the left today to go to Rome but I am sure we will hang out when they come to Sydney next year. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!