Wild goose chase

Sunday we went on a wild goose chase looking for some random isolated beach. We could see the beach in question from the comfort of our patio, but Andrea has been itching to walk there for a couple of years.

There are no roads to these beaches, and to reach them you either arrive by boat, or you slide down a ravine through fiercely thorny plants. We do not have a boat, so we walk. I was skeptical from the start. I hike often in California, so just by looking I figure it is a good five miles. The terrain is mountainous, lots of switchbacks on the paved road.

So we start out walking from about where the white buildings start on the left side of the photo. We go down the mountain, around peaceful Livadi bay and start going up the other side of the mountain. We take a trail to a nearby beach, but it is not the one Andrea is dreaming of. We then decide to take a shortcut by not backtracking but just walking straight up the hill instead. We need to use a rusted goat fence for support, because the grade is so steep and the wind is blowing at gale force. Oh, I'm carrying my camera bag with about 10 lbs. of assorted stuff.

We finally reach the paved road and continue to walk higher and higher into the mountains. The road ends at a T stop and then becomes dirt, so we take the left fork, toward the sea. We keep walking and all I see are mountains, the water has vanished. There are tons of bee boxes, as the island is famous for honey.

Suddenly a nice Greek man with a map walks up and tells us that we will reach the beach if we walk 2.3 kilometers more!

I vote no, as we have little water and no food.

When we describe where we walked to locals they laugh and tell us we must be crazy.

You can see I took this shot in the middle of nowhere and still have to walk back to the white buildings far in the distance. Aahhh!

More soon.

The butcher

Several times a week we visit Tony the butcher. He is a native Astypalaian, but he speaks great English since he spent some of his childhood in Australia. It was a bit surprising to hear his Australian accent at first, but we are very glad to be able to communicate with him.

He makes some really fabulous hand made sausages, nicely seasoned and then smoked. We asked if he could make them spicier, but he says that local people don't like spicy food. We have also noticed this to be the case, the flavors are much more subdued than in Southern California. He doesn't always have sausages, because he has to get up the ambition to make them. So if we show up on Friday and ask for sausages, he will say maybe on Tues, but on Tues he says maybe on Friday. The sausages eventually show up in the meat case on Sunday.

He tells us about all kinds of things when we visit his shop. The other day he educated me about the types of motorcycles available on the island. I learned which were better for street vs. dirt riding, which ones had power to go uphill and which were put-puts. He advised me NOT to try to ride one, as local drivers are hazardous. My dreams of skimming over the mountain on a bike are dashed.

Stop in and visit him if you are up in Chora. He has the white butcher shop with red trim.

More soon.

Fish dinner?

Almost every afternoon when I go past this taverna, they either have some fish or octopus hanging out in the breeze to dry. Let me remind you that temps in Greece in the late afternoon are usually 90 degrees or more. This fish hangs out there for hours. I find it so unappetizing,and I can't imagine going to this place and ordering anything! I'm sure they wonder what my problem is, as I am always standing in front of their place taking pictures.

They are probably laughing amongst themselves and saying, "crazy American", why is she always in the street taking pictures of our lovely fish.

Ick! Ick! Ick!

More soon.

Water

One of the best things about visiting Astypalaia is that you are surrounded by beautiful water. Some days I slog through database entries, knowing that in the afternoon the sea is waiting for me. The water is so clear, and in various shades of blue and green. It looks like a sheet of colored glass when the wind is still. Unfortunately this summer the wind never seems to be still.

The picture is of some people tanning themselves in the little cove below our studios. I got this picture using my handy polarizing filter, it is like polarized sun glasses for my camera. Look how clear the water is, you can see the rocks on the ocean floor. This beach is more accessible by water than by land, however we did hoof it down there once. It is a gravelly steep incline more suited to sheep/goat than humans. There is a tiny black sand beach tucked in under the cliff. We got there at high tide, so we were more confined to the rocks.

There are many cozy little beaches like this hidden around the island. I wanted to rent a car and drive to some of them, but driving here is a bit dangerous if you are not a local.

More soon.

Balsamic Map

I've mentioned that Astypalaia is a windy place, but this summer it seems worse than the other two times that I've visited. Weather reports lately are of gale force winds. Sometimes you have to struggle against the wind to keep moving forward while you walk.

On Saturday night we decided to go out for dinner up in the Chora at a place called Barbarrosa. I had been admiring this place for awhile, because it is clean, has a nice patio and is often filled with customers. We sat down around 7pm or so and were virtually the only customers, as locals don't think of eating dinner before 9pm.

So we ordered a great little salad for an appetizer, it was arugula, tomatoes, olives and wedges of locally made cheese. It was dressed in a balsamic vinaigrette. As soon as the server put the plate down, a huge gust of wind came up and started blowing the greens all over the place. They flew everywhere, all over the table and all over our clothes. Luckily we had our dirty archaeology clothes on, so a little oil and vinegar didn't ruin our attire.

The map in the photo is of the island, most restaurants use these on the tables. Also in the shot is a glass of Rosé. Not a fan of the Rose or any of the other wines I've tried in Greece. There it is, the California wine snob in me has reared it's ugly head.

I used a Tide stick on the stains, we'll see if they come out.

More soon.
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Island Car

This is my favorite island car on Astypalaia. I know that some of you out there have fond memories of island cars. They are usually cars that are on their last legs, possibly with duct tape or creative welding holding them together. Each time you start one up you are praying that it will get you to your chosen destination.

Island cars show the practical side of island dwellers. Since everything, including vehicles, is shipped to an island, people tend to repair and reuse items until they die. When you get up close to this vehicle you can see the way the pieces are creatively welded together. The seat is held together with duct tape. The little flatbed for carrying loads has been made by hand and painted to match the rest of the rig. He has lots of little tools in the back for quick repairs.

Let me tell you, he can drive this car/truck/bike anywhere. I saw him do a masterful parallel parking job on a steep incline the other night. He gets about two inches away from the curb.

More soon.

The bus

Icon lineup

Here is another shot from the church excursion last Sunday. Mass has just finished, people have gotten their bread from the priest, and now they are in line to worship the icon of their choice.

The women in this photo are lining up to visit the Mary icon. You can see the icon at the back of this photo, it looks like a dark face with a silver halo surrounding it. People, mostly women, lined up more for this icon than for the small one on the right hand side of the picture. You are free to touch the icon, so the face has worn away to a dark patch.

The altar is behind the partition with the icons. It is accessed by the archway in the center of the picture. As I mentioned before,only men are allowed in the altar area.

The stations of the cross are on the wall up above the icons.

There are a lot of candles and incense burning throughout the room. You can see some of the silver censors hanging near the icons. It is a sensory overload when you walk into this space after being outside with blazing sun reflecting off of stark white buildings.

More soon.

Katalogos

Here is a common sight outside of the local tavernas on the island. The menu, or katalog, is posted outside on a chalk board. The prices are in euros, and as you can see prices are quite reasonable. As you can see the menu is often translated into English. Most people order several plates for the table and then pass them around to share, it is called meze. It reminds me of how people eat at Thai places back home.

As you can see, there is quite a bit of dairy on the menu including my beloved saganaki which is a locally made cheese that is ever so lightly battered, and then fried. Delicious!

Octopus is always on the menu, some places prepare,it better than others. I prefer the sardines, aka tiny fried fish.

Try your hand at figuring out the Greek alphabet by using the English translation. I've spent countless hours amusing myself trying to read signs in Greek. If I can sound the word out, sometimes the word means something similar in English. For example, the Greek word for exit is exodus.

Hope you enjoyed your Greek lesson for the day.

The pirate store

On one of the steep sets of stairs down to the port is the beloved pirate store. The owner is often sitting at the cafe at the bottom of the steps having a coffee. When he notices people entering his store he sidles up the incline and surprises his unsuspecting customers. Reminds me a bit of a spider tending his web.

You can buy all sorts of goodies here, including jewelry, dresses and Astypalaian souvenirs. Of course there is some pirate themed merchandise and a few pictures of Johnny Depp.

Many of the dresses are flashy resort wear. People really dress in some wild animal print clothing here. You could get a zebra print dress or a tiny leopard print bikini all at the pirate store and be sporting island style.

Sunday memorial

Sunday morning, as I was making my way to the bakery to purchase items for second breakfast, we encountered a few ladies clad all in black slowly making their way up the hill towards the church. We decided to follow them with the hope of glimpsing part of the Greek Orthodox mass. I didn't want to get roped into the whole mass which could potentially go on for hours, and soon I was going to get hungry.

As we neared the church we could hear very loud singing, almost like chanting. When we reached the church we noticed that there were loudspeakers attached to the building that were broadcasting the service. Several people were gathered at the front entrance of the church taking part in the mass. We decided to go inside, and were met with this opulent sight. As you can see, people are crammed in there and it is standing room only. Boy was it hot in there with all of those candles going.

The service was actually a memorial service for a woman who had died 40 days earlier. It is customary to have this service 40 days after the person's funeral, as a memorial. You can see a bouquet of flowers on the left side of the photo. On the table next to the flowers was a photo of the person being remembered, as well as a cake made from bulgar wheat, pomegranate and raisins. The cake was decorated with some silver metallic beads, which I'm told are edible. I tried to find out why they used pomegranate and raisins specifically, but nobody actually knew. They just learned it from their parents and grandparents, and kept up the tradition.

At the end of the service people lined up to kiss the hand of the priest and accept a piece of bread from him. I'm told that it is like taking communion in the Catholic Church, but it is not a wafer, it is an actual piece of bread. This is not a really solemn part of the ritual, people are chatting with one another in line. Many make there way up to particular icons near the altar to show reverence after receiving the bread. Only men are allowed up the step to approach the altar, women must stay in front of the partition with the icons.

A kind Greek woman who spoke English explained to me what was happening so that I could better understand what I was seeing.

I finally made it home for more coffee and breakfast.

More later.

The Agony Line

The name of this little taverna in the Chora is called Agony Gramme, translated in English as the Agony Line. I thought that it was a strange name to call a restaurant, so we asked one of the locals what it meant. This is how it was explained to us.

The agony line is a nickname given to the route that ferries must take to get to remote islands in Greece. These islands must be far away from Athens and have a population of less than 1500 people. Ferry operators have little financial incentive to sail to these islands to drop a handful of people off, so the Greek government subsides these routes, sometimes paying 50-60 % of the cost. Otherwise, the folks living on these islands would have no transportation off the island. In Astypalaia, the ferry only comes only a few times a week so you had better not miss the boat. Astypalaia is at the dead end of the agony line. It is a grueling 12 hour ferry ride from Athens to the butterfly shaped island. The boat sets sail from Athens at three in the afternoon and arrives at the island at 3 am.

Truly an agony for everyone, the ferry operators, the passengers and anyone who has to meet the ferry to pick someone up. Good news for residents is that taxes are 4 to 5% less for people living along the agony line. You'll pay more to live in Athens or Santorini.

FYI, the Agony Line taverna sells a great two euro gyro. Try saying that three times fast.

More soon.

Moon setting

Thought you might appreciate this picture of the moon setting in Astypalaia. It was taken about 6:15 am or so.

Aiolos Pizza

Our favorite pizza place, Aiolos Pizza, is down in the port almost on the pier. You can get your pizza delivered by motorcycle, see the little white box on the back of the bike? The box opens and has little shelves to stack the pizzas on.

It is no surprise to me that Greeks made good pizza, because the best pizza in my hometown was always, and still is, made by Greeks.

Aiolos is the Greek god of wind, and there are many establishments with wind themed names. There are two restaurants in the chora right next door to each other that are named for wind. On is called Ageri which means windy place, and the other is named Meltemi which is a wind that comes in the summer. Astypalaia is a very windy place, locals tell me that the wind can knock you flat to the ground in winter.

Astypalaia is a very small island, and locals often take on more than one job. The owner of the pizza place is also the volunteer paramedic for the island. He drives the ambulance too. When the director of our project was injured hiking in a rugged area a couple of years ago, this man picked him up on his 4 wheel all terrain vehicle. After triage it was decided he needed to go for medical treatment in Athens. There is no hospital on the island, so if you need any serious medical care they need to airlift you out.

Stop by Aiolos if you are in the port and have the Maltazana pizza. It has sun dried tomatoes and black olives. Yum!

More soon.

Coffee

Coffee houses are traditionally exclusively dominated by men in Greece. I have seen very few women, besides the ones in the bioanthro project, hanging out in in the coffee shop. As a caffeine addict, this is a very troubling situation. Often the establishment is advertised as a coffee/ouzo shop. I think these guys live at these places, because they are there before dawn and late into the night. They stare intently at any woman that walks by.

Here are a few of them at one of the local places. You can see that one of them is highly amused that I am taking his picture.

One of the girls went to a coffee shop the other day and tried to order a black coffee using her limited Greek. The correct term is cafe sceto. She placed an order for cafe scata, which basically means coffee with shit in it. The place was roaring with laughter at her mistake. The locals are very patient with our remedial Greek, and teach us new words and phrases on a daily basis. Just as a warning, if you are in Greece and asking for bread, you had better pronounce it correctly or you will be in for an embarrassing moment.

This picture is a shot of not only the coffee house, but the fruit store and our favorite local supermarket.

More soon.

Saturday

Saturday was open house day at the lab, and tons of people came to check out the current work being done on Katsalos and Kylindra cemeteries. There were so many visitors, both locals and tourists, that Andrea and I ended up having to lead our own private tours. We often had to sort out who spoke what language at the door in order to proceed. We have a couple of people who can lead tours in Greek, and one French speaker, but the majority of us speak only English. Luckily many Europeans speak English as a lingua franca, so we were able to get by. I did one tour for an Italian group as well as a few Greek groups. Often the visitor with the best English skills will translate into whatever language the group is most comfortable with. It takes a bit of time and patience to make sure all the visitors get a good understanding of our work, but they all leave thanking us for our efforts.

The Greek visitors were very happy to find out that burial practices two thousand years ago were similar to ones practiced today. Ancient and modern Greeks practice secondary burials, in which a person is initially interred in the cemetery for a few years after which they dig the bones up and move them to a family ossuary. We have evidence of secondary burial in the Katsalos cemetery, which dates to around 800 BC. We find lots of hand and foot bones, but the long bones and skulls are often missing. Often the smaller bones on the edges of the gave are left behind when the women come to collect the bones. Some rituals and traditions last a very long time.

After our rather frenzied visitors day, where we accomplished virtually no work, we decided to reward ourselves with dinner in the port. Here is a photo of a couple of the small fishing boats docked at the pier. A fisherman and his family are tending the small blue and white boat in the right hand corner.

More later.

Sailboat

This beautiful blue sailboat was moored just outside of the port when I came out of school the other day. The color of the water off of that point is so vibrant. I don't think there are any mooring fees, you just motor up and drop anchor. Often we see people taking their launches to shore to grab dinner at a local taverna. The downside is that I don't think there are any facilities in the marina to take a shower.

I have a wild fantasy that I could cruise around to tons of Greek islands on a boat like this during the summer. I am unable to handle even the smallest of sailboats, so I would be a disastrous crew member. Oh, I almost forgot, I'd be seasick inside of an hour.

So many activities here revolve around the water. Sailing, water skiing and fishing are most popular. Sometimes men walk into the sea and emerge with a hand caught octopus for dinner.
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More soon.

Surprise lakes

Seems like very little changes on the island from year to year, so we were very surprised to find Katsalos cemetery undergoing further excavation. Katsalos is the adult cemetery that Andrea and I have been working on for the last two years. We felt confident that we could identify, catalog, photograph and complete the database for the remaining material in the lab. But...

As we were walking to the grocery store we noticed several newly excavated pits near Katsalos. Upon closer inspection we noticed little yellow tags with the word lakkos and a number printed on them. What did lakkos mean? Was it a depth measurement? We were confused, because the tagged pits were all in a row but did not have sequential numbers. So we went back to our studio to consult the Limited Greek dictionary that I brought. Lakkos means pit in Greek. We now realize that thirty or more new grave sized pits have been dug on the site that we thought was totally excavated.

You can see that you are never very far from artifacts in Greece. The dark areas in the photo are some of the new pits. The excavation area actually drops over the side of the hill and butts up against the street. There are buildings on each side of this area. The landowners probably built over the site without mentioning any artifacts to the authorities.

There is a bit of added mystery. Nobody seems to know where the excavated items have gone. They are not at our lab. Hmmm...the plot thickens.

More later.

Red onions

Here I am in one of the local fruit/veggie stores picking out red onions from a big sack on the floor for my Greek salad. Crates of produce are stacked on the floor and you just sort through and pick what you like, almost like an open air market. One of the stores differentiates island grown and imported produce in the following manner. Locally grown items are stacked in crates in the center of the floor, and imported goods line the periphery. Refrigerated cases are scarce, but also usually house imports.

Local restaurant owners shop here as well as tourists. The other day a whole crate of green beans was whisked away in an instant. Today we were introduced to the owner of the local Italian place who was choosing items for tonight's menu. Greeks have dinner late, they start around 9 or so. One place nearby is open until 3am. I'm going to bed when most locals are getting ready for dinner, but I have to get up at 5:30 am.

You gotta love my farmer's tan in this picture. I'm working on correcting it.

More later

Transatlantic

I have been reading the novel Transatlantic for the last week or so. The book chronicles the experiences of various people who cross the Atlantic for one reason or another. My reason for crossing the ocean is to work on a unique bioathropology project. Like so many others before me, I come to Greece to excavate artifacts from the past. Actually, almost everywhere you step in Greece you are likely to stumble upon artifacts like pot handles, tiles and even bones. Ancient history and the present blend together here.

It is a long journey, and when I arrive in Astypalaia I know that I am not in Kansas anymore.

Here is a shot of us arriving at the one room Astypalaia airport (JTY). Yes, we did indeed fly in on a prop plane with 40 or so other people. The plane comes three or four times a week to Astypalaia, so if you miss your flight you might be hanging around for a few days.

This lone man was our welcoming committee, quite the opposite of LAX.

My favorite thing about JTY is that they still use handwritten boarding passes.

Why did you cross the Atlantic? You might have an interesting story to tell.

Sheep/goat

Lately there has been a herd of sheep/goat that wanders past the school late in the afternoon. They are very agile, leaping from rock to rock. There are probably 40 or so, and some of the mamas have little kids.

The other day I got a bit too close to the herd, and a big black ram gave me the evil eye. I think he was deciding whether or not to butt me off the hill and into the sea. I made it past him and down the path to the port without incident, but I kept looking back at him.

On one of our off road road adventures we picked up a number of sheep/goat bones that were lying on the surface. We brought them home and had them on display on our patio, but they freaked out the landlord. So we took them to the lab to use as a comparative collection.

More soon

Dinner

Dinner anyone? These lovely octopus tentacles were drying in front of a local restaurant, enticing people into the establishment.

As some of you know, I'm not really a fan of octopus. Bit of a problem in Greece where they seem to be the national food. I keep trying to eat it, and the other day I had the best one yet. It was braised in red wine. Not as rubbery as most.

Notice how those lanterns are swaying around, it has been really windy lately. Even the locals are complaining about the howling wind.

More later

Sunday morning swim

This morning Andrea took several photos of me swimming in a sheltered cove with crystal clear water. We went early, around 10 am before the rest of the island woke up. In the afternoon most of these hard to get to swimming spots become clothing optional beaches. I opt for clothes.

In order to reach this cove we had to bushwhack through spiky plants and traverse vertical gravel goat paths. I thought I was going to crash more than once. Unfortunately I slipped and put my hand down right in the middle of a prickly shrub. I was able to soak all of the slivers out.

The water is beautiful, but it is more bracing than you would expect. Air temps here recently have been uncharacteristically cool, maybe low 80's.

More soon.

House for sale

House for sale in Astypalaia. This little gem is located in the very desirable Plaka area of the island. Close to shops and restaurants, at the center of all village life. Rental income a possibility. Definitely a handyman special. Will have to paint exterior as listing information has been spay painted onto the side of the building.

How many cats can you count?

We pass this house on the way to one of the small isolated beaches that dot the island. I am always amazed at the number of cats that are lying around the front door. See how many you can count. Don't forget the one driving the motorcycle, or the little one in the planter.

These cats are fed by the owners, but many are not. Cats are not fixed here, so the island is overrun with them. Huge battles start over the little scraps of food that people put out for the cats. My cats are horribly spoiled and live very cushy lives compared to these guys.

More later.

Sorry about the radio silence from the blog. I have been having extreme technical difficulties, some due to sluggish or non-existent wi-fi connections. Operator error on my part is also a contributing factor. Thanks to Jeff and Billy who are trying to solve problems remotely for me.

We got a very warm welcome on the island. Simon picked us up at the airport and whisked us off to our studio where we were met in the driveway by Frosso our landlady. When she opened the door to our room we were pleasantly surprised to find a haul of goodies. Besides the watermelon that I am holding, we got water, jam, three kinds of biscuits, coffee, milk, home canned peaches and a grocery bag full of peaches and nectarines.

Then our neighbors brought us a bowl full of hand picked tomatoes. Greek salad tonight!

We were overwhelmed with Greek hospitality and made to feel very welcome.

We are both doing well and hope to update you soon on the blog.

Flyover

Here's a great shot that Andrea took on the plane. You can see that all of the white houses are tightly clustered together. Most structures are white with blue trim.

We work on the top of the hill. Our lab is just below the church with the blue dome. If they hose down the church patio, the runoff rushes into one of our work areas. We then scurry around trying to save our things from the flood.

Sheep/Goat

Charles De Gaulle

We got some free entertainment in terminal 2F courtesy of an energetic Argentinian soccer team.

They were equipped with two accordions, three guitars and a flute. At first there was lots of singing and clapping, but soon they were dancing at the gate. Here is a video clip of the festivities.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Athens, Greece

Almost there...

Here's Cath at LAX after I dropped her off yesterday.  

Just made contact with Cathy in Athens, and she reports that she made it there without mishap.  She will catch the last leg of the trip tomorrow afternoon.  In the meantime, it's sleep and possibly some sightseeing around Athens.

On the homefront, there was an accident with the fireworks in Simi Valley, the next town over.  I wasn't there, but I'm supposed to visit some friends tonight that live up that way so I imagine I'll hear some first hand accounts.

JBB