By general consensus, today was our best day since the vacation began. It didn’t start off on a promising note though. Our shouts of joy that the water was back on were short-lived - it was on for just under an hour. It was a brief opportunity to flush all 3 toilets, get a half load of dishes done, and lucky Lena, she got in a 3 minute shower too. According to “Aunt Glinnis” (our next door neighbor) the local council never turn off the water on the weekend. I guess they were just waiting for us to show up before trying that. Unfortunately the basement facilities are also out of water. Thanks to Zach they are in relatively modest shape as he has been using buckets of pool water to flush them down. A second mishap; we had initially planned on spending the day on the sandy Larnaca beaches, however just before we trooped out of the house I vaguely recalled a bus schedule I had printed out back in Amman and had the displeasure of informing the group that the local buses did not run on Sunday. At this point we were out of drinking water too. Just great. Determined not to get our spirits down (we are in Cyprus after all!!!) we sat down and begin to think up a plan B. Any feasible alternative plan had to meet 2 requirements, number 1, it had to be away from the house and number 2, it had to involve water of some kind, preferably sea water. Lewis and Lena had taken an hour long walk to a local beach a couple of days ago and suggested that we try that. Armed with sunscreen (except me because I don’t burn - well I guess I could burn but it would have to be far hotter than this), we began the trek. It wasn’t half bad as we had enough sillies among the 6 of us to keep us nicely entertained. As we walked through a dry artichoke field, we wondered whether distance was calculated differently in Cyprus (according to Lena who did all our holiday house negotiation rentals, the original advertisement had claimed that the beach was only a 20 minute “stroll”…mmmh…) Anyway, in just over an hour we were at the beach…and utterly mesmerized as we beheld the majesty of the Mediterranean. Today was windy and there was a very strong undercurrent that took “riding the waves” to a whole new level. I felt like a little kid in the water and when Lewis asked me “how’s it going Tine?,” I yelled “amazing, Lewis, just AMAZING” just before being dragged under by a livid and violent wave. Jo and I were the last ones in and when we were finally defeated, we made our way to the shore half drowning with every wave. As I was just about to get out I slipped on some rocks and while on my knees, I received the thrashing of my life. All my attempts to get up failed as wave after wave beat violently against my back sending me reeling and sending Jo into fits of laughter. Anyway as you can see, I lived to tell the tale. On our way back we realized that we should probably stock up on groceries as we were running low. Well, no one banked on the supermarkets being closed today (this is a Greek Orthodox country) and so, yes, I guess the adventure does continue…
By general consensus, today was our best day since the vacation began. It didn’t start off on a promising note though. Our shouts of joy that the water was back on were short-lived - it was on for just under an hour. It was a brief opportunity to flush all 3 toilets, get a half load of dishes done, and lucky Lena, she got in a 3 minute shower too. According to “Aunt Glinnis” (our next door neighbor) the local council never turn off the water on the weekend. I guess they were just waiting for us to show up before trying that. Unfortunately the basement facilities are also out of water. Thanks to Zach they are in relatively modest shape as he has been using buckets of pool water to flush them down. A second mishap; we had initially planned on spending the day on the sandy Larnaca beaches, however just before we trooped out of the house I vaguely recalled a bus schedule I had printed out back in Amman and had the displeasure of informing the group that the local buses did not run on Sunday. At this point we were out of drinking water too. Just great. Determined not to get our spirits down (we are in Cyprus after all!!!) we sat down and begin to think up a plan B. Any feasible alternative plan had to meet 2 requirements, number 1, it had to be away from the house and number 2, it had to involve water of some kind, preferably sea water. Lewis and Lena had taken an hour long walk to a local beach a couple of days ago and suggested that we try that. Armed with sunscreen (except me because I don’t burn - well I guess I could burn but it would have to be far hotter than this), we began the trek. It wasn’t half bad as we had enough sillies among the 6 of us to keep us nicely entertained. As we walked through a dry artichoke field, we wondered whether distance was calculated differently in Cyprus (according to Lena who did all our holiday house negotiation rentals, the original advertisement had claimed that the beach was only a 20 minute “stroll”…mmmh…) Anyway, in just over an hour we were at the beach…and utterly mesmerized as we beheld the majesty of the Mediterranean. Today was windy and there was a very strong undercurrent that took “riding the waves” to a whole new level. I felt like a little kid in the water and when Lewis asked me “how’s it going Tine?,” I yelled “amazing, Lewis, just AMAZING” just before being dragged under by a livid and violent wave. Jo and I were the last ones in and when we were finally defeated, we made our way to the shore half drowning with every wave. As I was just about to get out I slipped on some rocks and while on my knees, I received the thrashing of my life. All my attempts to get up failed as wave after wave beat violently against my back sending me reeling and sending Jo into fits of laughter. Anyway as you can see, I lived to tell the tale. On our way back we realized that we should probably stock up on groceries as we were running low. Well, no one banked on the supermarkets being closed today (this is a Greek Orthodox country) and so, yes, I guess the adventure does continue…
1 comment:
What a way to end your overseas adventures. Looks beautiful! And it's great to see you all looking so relaxed and enjoying yourselves, despite all of your misadventures!
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