made it to India

kalimera, kalispera, kalineesta from Athens

my last night in Zakynthos i spent with Christina and Rachel (both canadians). we went to a local organic olive grove to try to catch bats. she's doing her masters at western and its on the food preferences of zakynthos bats. whether they prefer insects in organic groves to not organic groves. we didnt catch any which was too bad. but we did record some bat noises with her special frequency microphone. we also went on a bit of an adventure trying to find the oliver grove that we were going to. some local boy ended up getting into her car to direct us there.

I am in athens now and man is it hot. without an ocean or pool to jump into im dying. i was thinking id do internet in the evening when people from home are usually online to chat with but its just too bloody hot to be hanging outside.

ive opted for airconditioned internet cafe instead. i got into town last night after a day of taking the ferry and bus to athens. i fell asleep on the ferry but luckily a worker woke me up. now theres an instance where travelling with someone else would be good. otherwise im doing just fine on my own.

i got to the couch bus station in athens around 8:30pm and i had been planning on taking a taxi but the local bus that i could catch happened to be right there so i hopped on and pointed at my map to the bus driver to make sure he told me where to get off. turns out the international hostel is pretty easy to find. and its not too bad either. my room only has four beds and a bathroom . plus lockers to put our stuff in. ive made sure to lock my passport up. just kidding! im not that dumb.

This morning i headed over to the archeological museum. its pretty good. i tagged along with some american class on a field trip and listened to their teacher explain some artifacts. then when i started to get looks from the kids i wandered off.

I'm saving the Acropolis for tomorrow when my friend Phil from Archelon is in town so we can go together. ive mostly been just wandering around the city this morning. I swore id wait to go clothes shopping until India but i couldnt help myself. i wanted some nicer clothes from the salty, dirty, stained ones ive been wearing for the last 6 weeks. i have 3 new shirts and a skirt.

i'm currently trying to attach a picture and it doesnt seem to be working. sorry guys i really would like to send out a pic of all the volunteers at Archelon. i'll try sending some in an email.

hmm lets see. let me tell you about my favorite foods here. Spanakopita (spinach pie, not as greasy as the kind ive had in canada), aubergine salad (so garlicy), kalamati olives, mousaka and the local wines are excellent. so good. i'm trying to not go overboard like i did in asia. i want my old clothes to fit when i get home.

Yasou

im back, i went to Sekania beach which was sooooo awsome. no beach patrol, no slide shows....no talking to tourist. i had enough of that at Tourism Victoria. The only downside is that the 6 of us that went have to do both night survey from 11pm-3am and morning survey from 6am-8:30am. we were there for 3 nights and we were so tired by the end of it. its impossible to sleep during the day. its just too hot and there is very little shade there.
i got to see some turtles nesting though. very cool. i saw the eggs and everything. they are the size and shape as ping pong balls. there was one turtle we were waiting for to nest for so long that i actually fell asleep. the other girls couldn't wake me and there was another turtle coming on the beach that was faster so they left me there! i was only asleep for 20 minutes but i woke up all alone in the middle of the beach and didn't know where they went. i panicked for a bit but then they came back for me. thank god.
so i'm really tired because we decided to have an Archelon pub crawl. i stayed out until 4am. i didn't realize it was that late. i had to go on a turtle spotting boat and i was so slow and tired. not good. i'm leaving here on Tuesday. i'll have a few days in Athens before flying to India. So is anyone meeting me there?