Κεφαλονιά, Ελλάδα pt. 2

One day we decided to take a hike around the island, so we followed a path that said it would take us to some ancient ruins.

Maybe you can tell or maybe you can't but we came across a giant fig tree! There are also fig trees everywhere in Greece. Well, on Kefalonia at least. There was this one fig tree by our host-family's house that we would walk by every single day. We would always be sure to check up on the green baby figs growing a little bit plumper each day.

All of a sudden there were goats! We were a bit hesitant because what if they decided to ram us? But they really didn't care about us and kept eating as we walked by.

I like this guy.

We waved to an old man and his dog relaxing in an olive grove. Then his dog followed us for a good 15 minutes and we became friends.

We kept pretending that we were in the Lord of the Rings. Like hobbits leisurely wandering around Middle Earth, to be precise. Everything was so old and overgrown and peaceful and green... so yeah.

Other Things:

• Everyday we would listen to music and lay in the sun after lunch and during Siesta Time. Good thing there was sunscreen on the boat because sunscreen is not sold in shops on the island until tourist season begins!
• The salty cold water of the Ionian Sea cleared my sinuses better than a Neti Pot ever could.
• My favorite activity was sitting with my legs dangling in the water while watching all the little fishes swimmin' around our boat. Sometimes I would throw them crumbs and they would go wild! They really liked feta cheese a whole lot.
• The locals gave us looks for wearing shorts everywhere and all of the time. They were wearing sweaters and long pants.
• On our walk along the water to our host-family's house we would almost always see this trio of ducks. They would swim around together, waddle here and there together, eat together, sleep huddled up all next to each other... SO CUTE! They are best friends! We would say "Hello Ducks!" every time we saw them. No photo unfortunately.
• Also on our walk to our host-family's house, we would always walk by this one group of old people that were just out sitting in chairs and knitting or chatting as old Greek people do. They were always real friendly and would wave and smile big and say things in Greek that we didn't understand and we would wave back and say hello in Greek (which was really the extent of our Greek vocabulary) and keep walking. But there was this one lady amongst them who, instead of smiling, would scowl intently and shake her finger at us and yell things in Greek that sounded like curses. She wore all black, including a black headscarf tied under her chin, and had wrinkles like you wouldn't believe. She embodied exactly the persona of the scary witch in Snow White who tricks Snow White with the poison apple.

She was so scary!

• One evening while Emily and I were sitting outside on the boat enjoying our after-dinner-mint-tea and listening to music, I spotted something odd floating in the water. It wasn't uncommon to see bits and pieces of garbage or sticks or other things that float ashore, but this was none of the above. "What IS that?!" We both looked closer and in horror realized that it was a decomposing section of a tentacle. The smell was absolutely putrid. While it floated closer and closer to our boat, we could see that it was emitting these little oily bubbles that left the surface of the water looking slick, and that even the little fishes wouldn't go near it. Although we desperately wanted to ignore it and have it magically disappear, we knew that we would have to get up and actually do something about it. Emily grabbed an oar and with a one strong movement pushed it away from the boat. We thought we were safe for the rest of the evening, but then I looked and noticed that it was slowing bobbing its way back to us. Oh no! So this time we watched it float towards us until it was close enough for Emily to pick up with the oar and fling to the other side of the dock. Good Riddance! The smell lingered for good while, though. Yuck.

• The following photos are from Emily's blog:

Here it comes..

Come here you..!

Yah!

• Island Time. Not much happens on an island like Kefalonia and there is not much to do, so you end up with the following as your major day-to-day events: eating, sleeping, reading, writing in your journal, snacking, tanning and walking to your host-family's house for dinner. One day we had to make lemonade, go to the supermarket and go to the post office in addition to all our other daily tasks and we felt so busy. ("We're so busy!!") The Night of the Tentacle was really quite exciting for Island Time.

Next: boat trip, last days and leaving Kefalonia, Athens.