Kos, Greek Island

The town of Kos is small and compact. One can walk thru downtown in a matter of minutes. When we arrived at the harbor, we knew the Tree of Hippocrates was nearby, so we walked on direction, took two wrong turns, backtracked, turned in a circle, looked backwards, went forward, and still found the tree in less than 10 minutes. A massive hollow trunk big enough for a mini cooper to pass thru and infinite winding branches supported b a sort of metal scaffold. There is also a muslim foot-washing fountain immediately adjacent to the tree. I believe the Ottomans built it in the 1600s. Looks a little out of place. I would have imagined Hippocrates teaching under the tree. Wouldn't imagine him washing his feet in a muslim foot-washing fountain. Good thing he had been dead for 2000 years before the fountain was installed. There are more ruins nearby, but they are just stone foundations. Not that exciting. The public beach is filled with restaurants, beach chairs, umbrellas, and blond European girls. It is truly a sight for sore eyes after weeks in male dominated Turkey. The night life is a little pathetic. A row of clubs blasting dance music trying to be louder and crazier than the place next door. Aggressive hosts and hostesses offer drink specials, begging, pleading us to come inside. Bars are only partially filled with young tourists, dancing and drinking and falling over themselves. On saturday (June 9, 2007)we spend the day at the beach swimming, napping, reading, and watching the beautiful people in revealing swimwear. We explored a little and found a good place to eat dinner. We rediscover cow meat - not available in Turkey - and it is divine. I almost cried when the smell spaghetti bolognase filled my nostrils. After dinner we all took showers and dressed up to go out. Only problem was that we got ready too early. It was 10pm and we heard the club scene didn't start till after midnight. So we all decide to take a quick nap before we go out. The nap ended around 9am the next morning. Good nap. Ready to go out! Er...ready to start a new day!

Turkish High School Girls

Me and a Ruin at Ephesus

Library at Ephesus

Prom 2007: Evening at Ephesus

Ampitheatre at Ephesus

Dancing With The Currents

The seagulls drift overhead, they swoop down and glide above the water. Searching, seeking, playing in the winds. The fish that they are seeking in the clear blue water below swim along the currents of the sea. I am only slightly envious of their respective abilities to live in the sea and the sky. Fore today I am also gliding along the sea currents and playing in the winds above the sea. I am free to swim in the dark deep waters of my own imagination. Good times from the past wash over me and remind me of all that is good in the world. I reflect on the hard times also and chuckle at those stressful feelings that at the time I thought would consume me forever. There is no stress today. Nothing but total bliss. Jana walks in front of me and begins dancing like a child. She wears a t-shirt over her bikini and is not a bit self-conscious about the fact that she doesn't have any pants on. Just like a child, she doesn't have a care in the world. She laughs when she realizes that I saw her dancing to no music. I smile and raise my glass in a silent salute to the dance. She raises her glass back towards me. We consume our consumptables and I turn my attention back to the open sea.

Next Journey Will Not Be Televised

I arrived in the Greek Island of Kos yesterday, June 9, 2007. Leaving tomorrow on a ferry to Santorini. Not sure how long I'll stay there. Next will be another ferry to Mykanos. Then one more ferry to Athens. After that we will begin taking flights to the rest of our destinations. From Athens, fly to Rome. Rome to Barcelona. Quick stop in Ebiza. Back to Barcelona. Barcelona to Paris. Paris to Denver.

Not sure if I'll be able to post any more blogs on this trip. I have to use Internet Cafes and I pay by the hour. These blogs take too long to write if I have to pay. but when I get home, I'll transfer my journal entries to this blog. so hopefully nothing will be lost.

For now, I will just say that it was such a relief to get out of Turkey. Just traveling 30 km to the Greek Island of Kos has been a culture shock of monumental proportions. no more towns full of only men that leer at my girls and make endless proposals and requests to enter their shop or restaurant. it was getting quite old. not to mention the fact that there wasn't a single 20-30 year-old girl to be seen in any of these turkish towns. no where. and as soon as we arrived in Greece, we could feel the tension lift as we found girls everywhere. and no more leering men. relief. from here on out, I think it is gonna be good times. its a brand new world ahead of me. can't wait to drink it in.

hope all is well out there. and I hope to have new blogs in a couple of weeks when I return to America. I'll talk to you then.

I Climb in FlipFlops

Sippin On A TallBoy

Jet Lagged In Istanbul

Apple and a Raki

I bite into a Delicious Red Apple. Discovering that an apple is crunchy rather than mushy is usually a delightful sensation in its own right. but today this is only a small bonus on the tip of an even greater sensation that I am experiencing while I sit at the bow of a 30 meter long gulet that motors along the edge of the Bodrum Peninsula in the clear blue waters of the Aegean Sea. We're cruising along on a sunday afternoon in late May. The sun is shining down on all the girls who lie utterly still; like buddhist monks in meditation. Only they aren't praying to the Buddha, they are praying to the Sun to bestow upon them The Divine Tan, The Holy Bronzing of Thine Skin, The Heavenly Browning.

My professor sits next to me on the bow. His feet are propped up on the finely polished wood table that is bolted to the deck. He reads Turkish poetry and sips on a glass of Raki. Raki for the professor and an apple for the student. Any other time or place and this might seem a bit odd. But on the warm and salty waters of the Aegean Sea, everything feels just right in the world.

Just a Couple of My Ladies

Posing on the Bow

Lounging with the Professor

Patagonia Advertisement

Goddess of the Aegean

Me and My Gulet

Dingy Ridin'

John, Paul, George & Ringo

Sunset on the Bow

Lounging On The Stern