Cathie and I made it back the next morning to the hospital. Health care in Greece is free, and I had little trouble getting in to see the specialist. There wasn't much he could do other than to prescribe some awesome painkiller meds, along with topical drops to put on my knee three times a day to deal with the inflammation and pain. Worked like a charm too. Meds were not free however, and it cost about 59 Euro, but well worth it. That morning, the students, along with Bele and Aran, took a ferry ride out to the active volcanic island in the middle of the bay. Thank god we didn't go! When they got back, it was 15 minutes of how awful and horrible the trek up the volcanic hill was, walking on nothing but lava rock. It was hot too, and most of the students, including Bele, had worn flipflops as they did not realize how rugged the hike was.

While they were off doing that, Cathie and I had a leisurely brunch at a cafe overlooking the bay. As you noticed, there was a cruise ship that docked, so there were a LOT of tourists roaming around. The town, Fira, is a major tourist destination (aka trap). It ain't cheap to be there.

As the bus was taking us to the hotel, I wrenched my left knee (the bad one too) turning in the seat to look for the camera. When I say "wrenched" I mean severely strained the ligament on the outside of my knee, the one that is attached to the bend-part of the knee. I could barely walk to the hotel, which was about half a kilometer away since it's all hills on the island. Bob and Cathie stayed with me as I hobbled to the hotel. I ended up going to the local hospital, down the road from the hotel, that evening, but had to wait until Friday to see the orthopedic doc. In the meantime, Cathie bought me a knee brace, which helped a little, and we hobbled up the hill with Bob and Susan to a lovely restaurant overlooking the volcano and the bay at sunset.

Hi everyone. I apologize for the delay in posting our adventures here in Greece. Last Thursday, we (the entire group) took a high speed ferry for a 2-day jaunt down to the island of Santorini. The boat seats about 450 people, and each seat is reserved. We were inside the entire time. Here's a pic of the boat: http://www.hellenicseaways.gr/index.asp?a_id=285 While the day was beautiful, the sea was choppy, and the ferry became a roller coaster over the waves. There were a number of people on the boat who got seasick, including 3 of the students. A dubious start to this side trip, for sure. Luckily Cathie had some Dramamine (Bele called it drama-meen) that she and Cybele took. I didn't need it as I don't get seasick, and I didn't. Aran declined one too, but came out of the boat a wee bit green around the gills.

Upon arriving on the island, the first thing we noticed was that the city was built on the side of the volcanic cliff. The port was at the bottom, and we had to take a bus up to the top, which, while beautiful views were everywhere, one wrong move by the bus driver and we'd all be goners. Kinda freaked me out, but I stayed busy taking pictures, trying to avoid thoughts of "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!" For any of you who don't know, me and heights don't get along, unless I'm in control (I AM a Capricorn).

No this wasn't Cybele being sacrificed to the gods; it was the Fire Jumping festivities on the eve of St. John the Baptist Feast Day. All the saints have one, those lucky ducks. We arrived around dusk, and there was traditional dancing, free open grilled octopus, free drink, and culminated with live traditional Greek music. The fire jumping is a yearly tradition. If one jumps over it three times, it brings them good luck for the year. Of course most of the college students did it, and Cybele summoned up the courage to do it all three times, first with Cathie, then with me, then with one of the students. Aran decided he was too clumsy to risk tripping face first into the flames, so he didn't try it. It looks much more dangerous than it actually was, but then again, some kid, maybe 10-11, landed a little too close and fell backward into trailing coals. He was immediately dragged away and patted down. He was fine, just freaked out. That minor mishap didn't do anything to dissuade anyone else, as there was some dude who did a handstand flip over the flames 3 times, a bunch of little kids going crazy running around, through, and over. Most of the time the flames were not as high as in the pictures, more like a smoldering fire that one could roast marshmallows on. Someone would stoke it by throwing dried herbs on it. There was also dancing to the traditional music just off to the right beyond the frame of the picture. We certainly are immersed in the local culture. What an experience!

I forgot to add this picture to the earlier post. Cathie thought maybe that I'd been stuck with Dmitri with no hope of escaping, so she walked slowly enough so we caught up. He was very opinionated about politics, WW II and the Greeks, the environment, etc, but I found it all very fascinating. In fact, I did manage to use my iPhone and record a lot of his stories and facts related to what he knew of the history of the area. When I told her I was fine, she moved ahead to catch up with the group, which included Cybele and Aran. They, by the way, were great about keeping up and staying interested. I think they had a good time. We were all pretty exhausted upon arriving into Lefkes. The paths were pretty rugged.

One of the history lessons I learned from Dmitri related to how old the walls along the paths were. Many of the stones were black, and he said they were the real ancient stones, dating back almost 20 centuries--2000 years ago. We were walking on paths that old. Isn't that awesome?

Getting primed for the upcoming days of walking, and cleaning some of the ancient paths in the hills of Paros, near Lefkes.

Yesterday, the group, with two guides, was bussed into the hills and dropped off to walk one of the paths back into Lefkes. The day was a prelude about the flora and fauna that grow wild. There was a plethora of herbs, including thyme, oregano, and sage all along the paths. The scents were amazing.

As you can see, the paths wind along the hillsides. Dmitri, one of our guides, was quite an interesting character. I walked with him the entire way back into Lefkes (seen in the distance), and was regaled with my own personal history lesson. He is a municipal police office for the island during the day, but is an amateur actor/historian in his spare time. You'll notice we got so far behind that the group was no longer in sight. It didn't matter as I knew I'd catch up eventually as I was with someone who knew where he was.

Inconsequential-but-cool-nonetheless-Tom Hanks-in-Parikia-sighting yesterday. Attsa right. Tom Hanks was in a car pulling out of a parking spot just as Cathie, Cybele, Susan, a couple student and I were walking past. No one noticed him but me, and that was by accident. I heard the car start as I walked by, glanced over. His wife and son were with him. He had a ball cap on and sunglasses, but looked as normal as anyone. We were nonchalant about it, didn't yell out or say anything to respect his privacy. Susan said that he bought a house over in Antiparos, the next island to the southwest, a short ferry ride and that they love coming to Paros and Parikia. We had heard from a reliable source that he was in town. Tom actually participated in a dig with Susan's husband Bob a few years ago on Antiparos while vacationing after filming The DaVinci Code.

As Curly of the 3 Stooges so aptly put it, woobwoobwoob!