Kefalonia
So, I'm back from Greece now, and I thought I'd do a post which is mainly just photos, since that's better than rambling on for ages; "and then I did this, and then I did this, and then...". Ok, there may be a little rambling, but Kefalonia was so beautiful that to not accompany this with photos would be a crime.
The journey there was probably the thing I was most worried about. I'd booked my flights to and from Athens a while back (Easyjet, of course), and had since posted on a forum set up by the project I was working for, trying to find other volunteers to travel with. I was pretty much sure that at least one other person would be going the same way as me, but as the time drew closer it became apparent that actually, no, I was the only one. I guess it's not really a big deal to some people, but this was the first time I'd properly travelled by myself before. All other times there's always been someone else there, to stress out with if (when) you get lost, laugh with, eat with, guard your stuff when you go to the loo...which is a lot nicer, really. Anyway, I set off from the airport, bag strapped to my back, clutching some papers with vague instructions and bus/ferry information on them. Thankfully, the journey went fairly smoothly...I'd missed the two buses that would take me closest to Katelios, so I had a bit of a wait in the bus station, and was feeling slightly sick by the time we actually left, but a 3 hour sleep on the way to the ferry port made it a lot better.
The ferry was pretty standard, so not much to say about that, apart from meeting another volunteer on it an hour before it reached Kefalonia!! She'd come from Paris, flying to Italy, taking a ferry from there to Patras (where the bus I was on stopped), and then boarding this one. It was so great to have someone to do the last leg of the journey with, and after getting back on the bus and then taking a taxi, we were finally there. We arrived at about half one in the morning, kind of disoriented and VERY tired. I was shown to my bed for the night and given one piece of advice: "don't flush paper down the toilet". Then I slept. (I was a bit puzzled at not really being told anything else apart from this, but actually it's probably the most important thing to know...I mean, the last thing you want is to arrive somewhere and immediately block the toilet. Not a great first impression).
The next day, I learnt more: The houses we were living in were in a tiny village called Mavrata, 3km away from Katelios, the place we'd be working most of the time. There were 10 of us, 8 girls, 2 guys. The main method of transport around the island was hitchhiking; buses were infrequent and taxis too expensive. The nearest place to get cash out was 7km away (which left me in a bit of a bad situation for a couple of days, as practically all the cash I'd brought with me had gone on travel and rent). Food in the local mini markets was extremely expensive, and I was advised to go to Argostoli, the main town, to get groceries.
Our houses in Mavrata
Later in the evening we got our work schedule for the week, and got briefed on how to actually do things, ie. spotting tracks, measuring tracks, watching turtles, tagging turtles. Just before then, I'd had my first shift in a little building called the environmental centre, which had displays about loggerhead turtles, a few souveniers and some other environment-related stuff. As peak tourist season wasn't in full swing yet there were very few visitors, which made for a boring 3 hours of sitting behind a desk doing not very much. The most important shifts were night shifts, which involved patrolling the beach from 10pm to 6am, looking for nesting turtles. We'd work in pairs, walking half the beach (about 1.5km), resting on the other side for half an hour, and then returning to the middle. This was repeated until it became light, where we'd then collect any nesting data if there had been any turtles on the beach that night, return home and sleep. The first time was pretty difficult and tiring, but it quickly became a lot easier. Most people (including me) were able to sleep during the breaks, and so you'd usually get a couple of hours over the course of the night. I took my sleeping bag along as I found that most comfy :) The hardest part was actually in the morning, as it became hot very quickly, and the prospect of walking 3km uphill when tired, sandy, sweaty and carrying lots is one that most would dread. However, despite the lack of cars on the road at 7:30am, I almost always managed to hitch a lift; such is the advantage of being a girl in a place where most drivers are male (and therefore a bit pervy).
Mounda, the main nesting beach
Koroni, another nesting beach
The environmental centre
Turtle tracks on the beach after night shift, and me in the background looking a bit like a hobo (~6:30am)
The little shelter thing we used to build out of sunbeds to keep the wind off during the night
On the subject of hitchhiking, I found it to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of my time in Kefalonia. I know the idea of getting into a car with a random person might sound terrifying, let alone fun, but what needs to be understood is that doing it there is different from in the UK. I think the only way I can illustrate how safe I felt hitching is to say that I felt more at ease in a car, alone, with a man I didn't know, than I do walking home late at night (which I have done on many occasions after a night out. It's not a fun walk). Although only hitching with female drivers would ultimately eliminate the possibility of something truly bad happening (that four letter word in the back of everyone's mind...RAPE!), the idea is simply stupid, as there were so few women driving that it would be faster to walk. Although there were quite a lot of couples, the majority were tourists, and so they wouldn't stop.
Whilst hitching I met some lovely people...but I guess no one wants to hear about that, so I should probably just mention the bad ones. There were 3 during the whole month, which is pretty good considering that I was hitchhiking a bare minimum of twice a day. The first was a disgusting man that tried to convince me to go to Skala (a nearby town) with him, and then kissed my arm and touched me on the leg when I got out. The second was a repeat of what happened the first time, and it also happened the next day, at almost the same time...actually, I could have sworn it was the same person if he hadn't looked different and had a different car. Perhaps it's conventional amongst Albanian drivers to behave like this, although it's a little surprising they're not deterred by the disgusted responses that they must get from women unfortunate enough to get into their car. The third was when I was hitching with one of the guys in our group. We got into a car which was totally run down, filled with crap, and driven by a man that looked like he'd lived in a cave for the last 10 years. I wouldn't have got in if I was by myself, but since I was with a guy, we thought it would be ok. During the short drive down the hill, the man touched my arse, touched the leg of the guy I was with, offered us some sort of questionable cigarette, offered us weed and then started violently sniffing this flower that he had on the dashboard. Whilst this was going on he was also veering all over the road and basically driving like someone that was totally off their face. Needless to say we were quite happy to get out of that car, although whilst inside I found it very difficult not to laugh, because the man was clearly a complete lunatic.
The antidote to a few days' hard work was of course, a long night at the bar. We mainly went to this bar called Music which was right on the beach, as it's the bar which has been frequented by turtle volunteers for a number of years. There was also a payphone outside, it had live music (and usually decent music playing otherwise), and did really really nice milkshakes. The staff were also really cool - the owner took me and two of the other girls to Argostoli for food when we first arrived, and the barmaid was from Manchester and my age, so we hung out quite a bit. Beer became mine (and most other peoples') drink, just because everything else was too expensive. I did try wine a few times, but when I found out that the wine they had there was more disgusting than the stuff you could get in a big bottle for €2, that kinda put me off. We couldn't go out drinking that often due to night shifts and early morning shifts, which was probably just as well, as getting drunk was a very expensive pastime there!
Music bar at dusk
This photo makes me laugh uncontrollably for some reason :D
:]
The said cheap wine, in all its plastic bottled glory
Stupid face. This photo was a precursor to losing my shoes, passing out in the sand and waking up a couple of hours later to find Florian (the guy in the photo) also passed out (with a pile of sand next to him; I later found out this was where he'd buried his vomit...), glasses lost. Considering the fact that I'd drank almost all of the big bottle, 2 cocktails and some tequila, I'm surprised I was able to walk.
I think I've already written a bit too much...there are countless other stories I can tell, but perhaps I'll leave that for another time, and end this with some more photos, which will hopefully give a further idea of some of the other stuff I got up to during my month away. That and I imagine some people reading this haven't been bothered to go through all the ones on facebook (I don't blame you, there are way too many!).
Making crepes at midnight
The awesome fruit and vegetable markets in Argostoli
Caves in Sami
Melissani underground lake
The group
Plus, some animals...
...some views...
...and most importantly...
[The last two I took whilst snorkeling in the reef off Mounda beach]
Hope you enjoyed reading this :)
Oh, and the reason why there's a weird stain at the top of some of the pictures is because my camera really suffered last month. It was dropped a couple of times, but the main damage was caused by sand. I didn't have a proper case to begin with, and then I lost the little drawstring pouch I was keeping it in...After being dropped on the beach and coated with sand, it wouldn't focus, and I was sure it had broken for real that time. Then miraculously it seemed to fix itself, but later had some problems as the lens wouldn't retract properly. I'm not sure about the state it's in now...putting it in an empty hummus container thankfully kept it sand free during my last week, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to take any more photos!
The journey there was probably the thing I was most worried about. I'd booked my flights to and from Athens a while back (Easyjet, of course), and had since posted on a forum set up by the project I was working for, trying to find other volunteers to travel with. I was pretty much sure that at least one other person would be going the same way as me, but as the time drew closer it became apparent that actually, no, I was the only one. I guess it's not really a big deal to some people, but this was the first time I'd properly travelled by myself before. All other times there's always been someone else there, to stress out with if (when) you get lost, laugh with, eat with, guard your stuff when you go to the loo...which is a lot nicer, really. Anyway, I set off from the airport, bag strapped to my back, clutching some papers with vague instructions and bus/ferry information on them. Thankfully, the journey went fairly smoothly...I'd missed the two buses that would take me closest to Katelios, so I had a bit of a wait in the bus station, and was feeling slightly sick by the time we actually left, but a 3 hour sleep on the way to the ferry port made it a lot better.
The ferry was pretty standard, so not much to say about that, apart from meeting another volunteer on it an hour before it reached Kefalonia!! She'd come from Paris, flying to Italy, taking a ferry from there to Patras (where the bus I was on stopped), and then boarding this one. It was so great to have someone to do the last leg of the journey with, and after getting back on the bus and then taking a taxi, we were finally there. We arrived at about half one in the morning, kind of disoriented and VERY tired. I was shown to my bed for the night and given one piece of advice: "don't flush paper down the toilet". Then I slept. (I was a bit puzzled at not really being told anything else apart from this, but actually it's probably the most important thing to know...I mean, the last thing you want is to arrive somewhere and immediately block the toilet. Not a great first impression).
The next day, I learnt more: The houses we were living in were in a tiny village called Mavrata, 3km away from Katelios, the place we'd be working most of the time. There were 10 of us, 8 girls, 2 guys. The main method of transport around the island was hitchhiking; buses were infrequent and taxis too expensive. The nearest place to get cash out was 7km away (which left me in a bit of a bad situation for a couple of days, as practically all the cash I'd brought with me had gone on travel and rent). Food in the local mini markets was extremely expensive, and I was advised to go to Argostoli, the main town, to get groceries.
Our houses in Mavrata
Later in the evening we got our work schedule for the week, and got briefed on how to actually do things, ie. spotting tracks, measuring tracks, watching turtles, tagging turtles. Just before then, I'd had my first shift in a little building called the environmental centre, which had displays about loggerhead turtles, a few souveniers and some other environment-related stuff. As peak tourist season wasn't in full swing yet there were very few visitors, which made for a boring 3 hours of sitting behind a desk doing not very much. The most important shifts were night shifts, which involved patrolling the beach from 10pm to 6am, looking for nesting turtles. We'd work in pairs, walking half the beach (about 1.5km), resting on the other side for half an hour, and then returning to the middle. This was repeated until it became light, where we'd then collect any nesting data if there had been any turtles on the beach that night, return home and sleep. The first time was pretty difficult and tiring, but it quickly became a lot easier. Most people (including me) were able to sleep during the breaks, and so you'd usually get a couple of hours over the course of the night. I took my sleeping bag along as I found that most comfy :) The hardest part was actually in the morning, as it became hot very quickly, and the prospect of walking 3km uphill when tired, sandy, sweaty and carrying lots is one that most would dread. However, despite the lack of cars on the road at 7:30am, I almost always managed to hitch a lift; such is the advantage of being a girl in a place where most drivers are male (and therefore a bit pervy).
Mounda, the main nesting beach
Koroni, another nesting beach
The environmental centre
Turtle tracks on the beach after night shift, and me in the background looking a bit like a hobo (~6:30am)
The little shelter thing we used to build out of sunbeds to keep the wind off during the night
On the subject of hitchhiking, I found it to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of my time in Kefalonia. I know the idea of getting into a car with a random person might sound terrifying, let alone fun, but what needs to be understood is that doing it there is different from in the UK. I think the only way I can illustrate how safe I felt hitching is to say that I felt more at ease in a car, alone, with a man I didn't know, than I do walking home late at night (which I have done on many occasions after a night out. It's not a fun walk). Although only hitching with female drivers would ultimately eliminate the possibility of something truly bad happening (that four letter word in the back of everyone's mind...RAPE!), the idea is simply stupid, as there were so few women driving that it would be faster to walk. Although there were quite a lot of couples, the majority were tourists, and so they wouldn't stop.
Whilst hitching I met some lovely people...but I guess no one wants to hear about that, so I should probably just mention the bad ones. There were 3 during the whole month, which is pretty good considering that I was hitchhiking a bare minimum of twice a day. The first was a disgusting man that tried to convince me to go to Skala (a nearby town) with him, and then kissed my arm and touched me on the leg when I got out. The second was a repeat of what happened the first time, and it also happened the next day, at almost the same time...actually, I could have sworn it was the same person if he hadn't looked different and had a different car. Perhaps it's conventional amongst Albanian drivers to behave like this, although it's a little surprising they're not deterred by the disgusted responses that they must get from women unfortunate enough to get into their car. The third was when I was hitching with one of the guys in our group. We got into a car which was totally run down, filled with crap, and driven by a man that looked like he'd lived in a cave for the last 10 years. I wouldn't have got in if I was by myself, but since I was with a guy, we thought it would be ok. During the short drive down the hill, the man touched my arse, touched the leg of the guy I was with, offered us some sort of questionable cigarette, offered us weed and then started violently sniffing this flower that he had on the dashboard. Whilst this was going on he was also veering all over the road and basically driving like someone that was totally off their face. Needless to say we were quite happy to get out of that car, although whilst inside I found it very difficult not to laugh, because the man was clearly a complete lunatic.
The antidote to a few days' hard work was of course, a long night at the bar. We mainly went to this bar called Music which was right on the beach, as it's the bar which has been frequented by turtle volunteers for a number of years. There was also a payphone outside, it had live music (and usually decent music playing otherwise), and did really really nice milkshakes. The staff were also really cool - the owner took me and two of the other girls to Argostoli for food when we first arrived, and the barmaid was from Manchester and my age, so we hung out quite a bit. Beer became mine (and most other peoples') drink, just because everything else was too expensive. I did try wine a few times, but when I found out that the wine they had there was more disgusting than the stuff you could get in a big bottle for €2, that kinda put me off. We couldn't go out drinking that often due to night shifts and early morning shifts, which was probably just as well, as getting drunk was a very expensive pastime there!
Music bar at dusk
This photo makes me laugh uncontrollably for some reason :D
:]
The said cheap wine, in all its plastic bottled glory
Stupid face. This photo was a precursor to losing my shoes, passing out in the sand and waking up a couple of hours later to find Florian (the guy in the photo) also passed out (with a pile of sand next to him; I later found out this was where he'd buried his vomit...), glasses lost. Considering the fact that I'd drank almost all of the big bottle, 2 cocktails and some tequila, I'm surprised I was able to walk.
I think I've already written a bit too much...there are countless other stories I can tell, but perhaps I'll leave that for another time, and end this with some more photos, which will hopefully give a further idea of some of the other stuff I got up to during my month away. That and I imagine some people reading this haven't been bothered to go through all the ones on facebook (I don't blame you, there are way too many!).
Making crepes at midnight
The awesome fruit and vegetable markets in Argostoli
Caves in Sami
Melissani underground lake
The group
Plus, some animals...
...some views...
...and most importantly...
[The last two I took whilst snorkeling in the reef off Mounda beach]
Hope you enjoyed reading this :)
Oh, and the reason why there's a weird stain at the top of some of the pictures is because my camera really suffered last month. It was dropped a couple of times, but the main damage was caused by sand. I didn't have a proper case to begin with, and then I lost the little drawstring pouch I was keeping it in...After being dropped on the beach and coated with sand, it wouldn't focus, and I was sure it had broken for real that time. Then miraculously it seemed to fix itself, but later had some problems as the lens wouldn't retract properly. I'm not sure about the state it's in now...putting it in an empty hummus container thankfully kept it sand free during my last week, otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to take any more photos!