La Casa Naranja – Arriving at night to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

Over the course of 9 months in 2017, my partner and I sold all of our possessions, including 2 vehicles, and a house full of stuff. In order to sell the house for its maximum value, we also completed 3 months of renovations that had been lingering for over 3 years. We wrapped up 2 businesses and left a town and tight knit community that we both cherished. We did all of this in order to seek out a life of freedom, away from the hustle and bustle of the 9-5 life, but most importantly, we did it so that we could travel. This is our story…….

Well, we are currently stationed at our house sitting job, and we couldn’t be happier.  The house is located in Matapalo, more appropriately ON Playa Matapalo (Matapalo Beach).  From the house sitting description that we got, there was no direct mention of it being on, or not on, the beach.  I had this feeling that it likely was, but we weren’t positive.

To learn more about housesitting opportunities, please click here.

However, sure enough, we are RIGHT on the beach……..set back only about 30 meters in a grove of Palm Trees.  The palm trees have fun little monkeys that come cruising through, and we get entertained by the iguanas flitting here and there, all over the property.  At any given moment in the day, we can hear loud crashing noises on the roof, and we can be sure there are either a couple iguanas having a hay day, or a troop of monkeys jumping around.  Most of the time it startles us, but we are slowly getting used to their antics, and are less jumpy now than we were when we arrived last Sunday.

Matapalo is located in the South West corner of Costa Rica, between Quepos and Dominical (see map below.)  We will be here until the end of December.  I will be posting more about our stay here, but for now I need to tell a different story.

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Now, with this blog post, and my last blog post referencing our experiences on getting TO our destinations, I am reminded of the quote “Life is a journey, not a destination.” On this trip so far, we have found that many of our favourite travelling stories (as annoying as some of them have been), are happening when we are moving from point A to point B, and don’t necessarily happen when we arrive to our destinations. This is reminding us that it is in the actual motion of traveling, where we can have the most rich, and truly exciting experiences.  The places that we visit can be the icing on the cake, but we must also remember to look around us at any given moment on the journey, and embrace that experience as well.

I guess for me, I find excitement in the challenge of getting from one place to another, it’s in the figuring that part out where I feel fulfilled.  Sure, the destination is the bonus at the end, but it is in those moments of not necessarily knowing where I am going, or how I am going to get there, that life feels exciting.  We must use all of our senses to find our way.

If you have been following my blog for some time, you will know that I am not a fan of routines.  I get bored easily, I don’t like doing the same thing all the time.  I need variety and spice to keep me on my toes, and to keep life interesting.  This is why I LOVE to travel!  Every day is literally different.  Every day offers new challenges and new opportunities.  Every day I am given the chance to put my skills to work, to trouble shoot and problem solve.  Every day, I feel fulfilled!

TRAVEL (verb) – to move or go from one place or point to another.

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We left Samara on October 27th on the 9:00am bus.  After the last crazy trip with buses, we were mentally prepared for what could become another full day of travelling.

We had pre-purchased bus tickets a couple days in advance, being told that our best option would be to buy the tickets all the way to San Jose (as this was the most direct option, it seemed like the best one), but get off early near Puntarenas, so that we could then catch a bus to head south to Manuel Antonio, our final destination.

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Bus to San Jose from Samara 4500 Colones = Approx $9 USD.  

PLEASE NOTE: On most buses in Costa Rica, you are able to just pay the driver wherever you are going.  In these cases, the drivers ALWAYS have change!  You do not have to have the exact change, as you do in Canada or the US.  You simply hop on, pay the driver, and they give you change.   You can always tell them where you are going, and they will always keep an eye out for you and make sure that you get off at the right spot.  

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This route took us in a MUCH better direction than the previous one that we had taken from Monteverde.  We skirted the edge of the Golfo de Nicoya, making the trip a much more direct route, rather then heading all the way up to Liberia, and then back down again.

We were told that we would have to catch a bus from Punteranas to Jacó, then Jacó to Quepos.  We would then take a short taxi ride to Manuel Antonio to get to our Air BnB that I had booked before leaving Samara.

Click here for $45 off your first Air BnB stay! 

On our first bus leg, I told the driver that we needed to get off at Punteranas. As has been the case with most buses (I did say MOST) that we have caught, we have transferred at bus stations, and we assumed that it would be the same with this one.  However, it was totally NOT the case this time.  As the bus pulled over to the side of the highway, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with not even a bus stop to be seen, the driver yelled “Punteranas!”  Chris heard it first, and I didn’t believe him, but the driver said it again, and I heard it that time.  I had a flash thought of ‘what a strange place to be dropped off’, but then almost immediately noticed a taxi driver pulling in behind the bus, obviously aware that somebody was going to need a ride from that point.

In broken Spanish I told the taxi driver that we needed to get to the bus to Jacó, the next leg of the journey.  After offering to drive us there, for about $100 USD, I insisted that the bus was much cheaper, and that we needed to go that way.  As requested, he whisked us away towards the bus stop. After what seemed like a while, I kept feeling like I should ask the driver if he is taking us to a bus station, but I let it go and trusted that he understood. It was getting to be lunch time, and we were both a bit hungry.  Despite packing a few snacks for the ride, we hoped for a bus station where we could get a bite to eat.

However, today was not our day to get food when we wanted it.  We were again dropped on the side of the road at what looked to be a typical city bus stop.  The driver assured me that a bus to Jacó would be along shortly.  Since it was now starting to rain, there was a bunch of people crowded under the tiny shelter.  As it had rained for the last few days that we were in Samara, we weren’t surprised by this.  However, it is never a pleasant experience to have to travel in the manner, such as we were, in the rain.  We did the best we could, and tucked our bags under the tiny awning as much as was possible.

After only about 30 minutes, a bus pulled up with the name Jacó on it.  We were able to stow our luggage under the bus, and hopped on board.   We rode the bus to Jacó, with minimal stops, and hoped that this time we would be dropped off at a station, where we would make the transfer.

HOWEVER, this was not the case again!  It was like déjà vu all over.  It was now about 1:30, and our snacks were not sufficing anymore.  We needed to eat.

Thankfully, though, this time I spotted 2 restaurants across the road.  We decided that we would sit down and eat some lunch, before heading off to Quepos.  I was sure that there would be frequent buses, as has been the case most times, and that we could get one whenever we were ready.  We figured we were only about an hour to an hour and a half away from Quepos, so we still had plenty of time left in the day.

Actually, lunch was farther from our minds then the fact that we both needed to use the bathroom!  There were no bathrooms on the buses, and in this climate, we are constantly drinking water, and welll……..you know how it goes!  Thankfully, like any good restaurant, they had sufficient facilities to accommodate us.

After a while, I decided that I should ask the waitress if she knew when the next bus to Quepos was.  It was about 2:20 by then and we hadn’t gotten our food yet.  She told me that the next one was at 2:30, obviously one that we wouldn’t make.  Four O’Clock was the next one after that, and I realized at that time that because the days are very short down here, we likely would not be arriving to our destination in the light of the day.  Not my favourite scenario when travelling.  To make it worse, it was now not just raining, it was seriously monsooning out…….again, NOT the best travelling conditions.

Before we left the restaurant, and it’s wifi connection, I double checked the directions to our Air BnB, and took a screen shot of them.  This is something that I started doing in Europe.  Whenever we are headed somewhere uncertain, I take screen shots of the locations.  Whether it be a map, or directions of where we need to go, the screen shots create a photo of whatever I am looking at in that moment on my screen.  As there is no need for an internet connection to access photos, it is a simple way to quickly reference where it is that we need to go, without having to try and find a place with wifi when we arrive at our destination.  Technology is grand!  I honestly can’t imagine what we did before!!!

We also had a nice surprise when I went to pay the bill for our lunch.  I knew we were getting VERY low on Colones (Costa Rican currency), so I figured that I would just pay with our VISA instead.  However, the hostess told me that we couldn’t do that, and we needed to pay with cash.  I sheepishly handed over my last 10 000 Colones bill (approx $20 USD), for our 9000 Colones lunch, and asked the lady if she knew how much the bus was to Quepos.  She had to phone a friend, and they decided that it was only about 3000 Colones for both of us……I had 5000 left.  Phew!  We were a little bit outside of the town, and seriously nowhere near anything that resembled a bank or an ATM.  My heart skipped a beat!

Now, I have to say that I have learned this lesson a very hard way before.  Because of this, one of my ultimate traveling mottos is to NEVER be short of local currency, because you just never know what’s going to happen at any given time where you may need some.  However, as sometimes happens, I simply had forgotten to go to the bank the day before to pull out more from the ATM.  Whoops!  At least we knew that we could get to Quepos……from there we would have to figure out a way to get more cash, even if it meant getting our taxi driver to Manuel Antonio to take us to an ATM first.

We hung out in the restaurant as long as we could, then threw on our rain jackets, and trudged into the rain.  Just as we were arriving at the bus stop, that was full of people,  literally taking up every inch of space under the awning, a bus arrived, and they all cleared out and onto the bus.  We had the whole place to ourselves!  Thankfully the rain was mostly coming straight down, and we managed, we thought, to keep our luggage reasonable dry.

The red bag USED to be waterproof!  So we thought that we would stack other stuff on top……not so much!  Unfortunately, we didn’t really realize how wet it got until we pulled it off our bed to go to sleep that night!  Whoops!

Of course, our bus didn’t arrive at 4:00.  It was more like 4:30.  We both hopped on board, feeling extremely tired with traveling AGAIN.  We had to sit in the middle of the 5 seats at the back, because there were no other seats.  One of the locals sitting beside us kept asking us questions, obviously wanting to know where we were going, and where we were from.  We both just gave him one word answers, and although it was a good opportunity for both of us to practice our Spanish, we just didn’t have it in us anymore.  The poor guy gave up eventually, and actually moved seats when others became available.  We felt bad, especially since we had told him that we were Canadians.  I’m sure he expected better of us.  HA!  However, I did at one point confirm with him that it would take us 1.5 hours to get to Quepos.  Yup it was already starting to get dark.

While on the bus, I was replaying the whole ‘short on cash thing in my mind’ and rehearsing what I would tell our taxi driver in Spanish, to get him to take us to an ATM, before taking us to our Air BnB in Manuel Antonio.  As I was thinking this I distinctly remember saying to myself ‘You know, the best case scenario would be that wherever the bus drops us off, there will be an ATM near by.  That way we can get cash, and not worry about the taxi driver and what I need to tell him.’

Well, sure enough, after pulling into downtown Quepos, and realizing that this was where we were getting off, I spotted a bank literally right across the street.  Yay!  What a relief!

After securing our precious funds, we jumped in a cab, and I showed him the picture that I had of the map where our Air BnB was.  He said that he understood, so off we went.  As we were driving, I reviewed the walking directions from a specific Hostel in town, that was provided to us on the Air BnB booking page.  I started keeping a lookout for landmarkers as well, just to make sure that we were headed the right way.

After a few minutes, I spotted the grocery store that was mentioned in the directions, and knew that the house was just up a nearby alleyway from there.  I told the driver to stop, even though he figured that we needed to keep on going down the road a bit farther (google maps aren’t always right!). After a bit of back and forth with him, I insisted that this was close enough, and he let us out.

I have to say though, at this point, I was a little sceptical that we would find this place at all.  It was dark and raining, and we were supposed to be looking for an orange house down a dark alleyway.  Alternate scenarios danced across my mind of having to go find a hostel or something else, until we could find our way in the morning.  However, we at least had to try!  And so, in the pouring rain, we set off with our ridiculous amount of gear mostly on our backs.

We entered the tiny little alleyway with every building looking exactly the same.  It was a tiny little Tico (Costa Rican) neighbourhood with all houses made of concrete, some of them seeming to be attached to the next one.  We walked up and down a couple hills and I started to think that this was futile.  How were we ever going to distinguish an orange house in this maze?  Suddenly, a small “Pulperia” (Costa Rican name for corner store), popped up on our right hand side.  I figured that since it’s such a small little place, surely everybody knew each other!  ‘Someone in the store MUST know this guy and where he lives’ I thought.

As I approached the door to step inside, there was a small boy guarding the entry way.  He looked to be about 4.  I squeezed past him with my huge backpacks still on, and asked the boy behind the counter (who looked to be about 15), if he knew of a guy named Charlie that lived nearby.  Right away he said “No”……it’s a universal word, and I knew what it meant. But before my heart totally sank, the little 4 year old, who was now inside and standing next to me squeezed out “Si, Charlie.”  Both of us, the older boy and myself, looked at him astonished.  “Si, Charlie” he said again, this time pointing unassuradely, the way that little boys do, out the door and across the street.  To confirm I crouched down to his level and said “En la casa naranja?” (In an orange house.)  Much to my amazement “Si, la casa naranja” he said.

Wow!  If I didn’t have so much luggage attached to me in every direction, I would have picked that little guy up and swung him around.  I thanked him VERY MUCH, knowing full well that he would never know how much he had helped us that night.

We left the store, crossed the street, and headed down a tiny little steep hill that took us down to an orange house at the botttom.  The hilarious part of it all, is that at the top of that hill, there was a super bright yellow fire hydrant that we had failed to notice.  This was the next part of our directions……. ‘turn left at the bright yellow fire hydrant.’

It was like a shining, bright beacon in the night, but in our haste to find the orange house, we hadn’t seen it, and I had honestly forgotten about it.  However, our little hero saved the day and sent us off to our salvation for the night.

We arrived to our Air BnB, knowing full well (because of previous conversations) that our host would not be on site when we got there.  However, “Aaron from Canada” was staying there at the time, and as promised, he was there to greet us.  He was happy to have some fellow Canadians staying with him (he is from Vancouver), and we were just happy to have finally arrived!

Here are a few pics of the neighbourhood that I took the following day in the LIGHT!  

The entrance to the alleyway.

Further down the alleyway.

The yellow beacon! The Pulperia is just behind me.

Looking down the driveway to the Casa

La Casa Naranja!

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I must say that although I find much value on reporting about our actual “traveling” experiences, I do realize, however, that there is great interest out there about destinations, and I should probably not call myself a “travel blogger” if I’m not reporting on the places that we are visiting.  And so, my next post will be about our stay in Samara, and Manuel Antonio.

Thanks for reading!  Please know that above all else, I aim to inspire others to just get out and see the world.  Traveling is such an enriching experience, and I can’t even comprehend how much it has shaped me as an individual.  If you have ANY questions, or need travel advice of ANY kind, PLEASE don’t hesitate to email me at the address below!  I will do my very best to help you in any way I can!  

Xoxoxo  Happy Travels!

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September 22, 2017- We Are Unplugged!!!

Well, we did it!  I feel like we have carried out a seemingly impossible, monumental task!  

In the last nine months, we have sold all of our possessions, wrapped up 4 years of started renovation projects, sold our house, sold our cars, closed two businesses and refocused our lives into a new direction. 

It has been one hell of a lot of work, but I can tell already that it was worth it!

In fact, I said to Chris yesterday that “even if our plans to go travelling didn’t work out, and we had to come back and start over, it would be worth it.”

I feel like I have cleansed my soul. Like all the burdens that I had been carrying around with me, have flaked off. 

This includes mental burdens, emotions that hadn’t been dealt with properly.  Memories that I was holding onto, that didn’t serve me anymore. Things that we both kept, triggering memories from past lives, that were keeping us both from growing and expanding. 

This includes physical responsibilities that were sometimes crippling.  I would have stints where I felt so overwhelmed with life, that I would have to just lay on the couch for an entire day. Staring off into space or numbing my mind with scrolling through Facebook all day. If I had the energy, we would try and go outside for a hike or other recreational activity, trying to escape the insanity. 

Having been self employed for most of my adult life, including opening and closing multiple home based business’, my life revolved around paper work. Deadlines to file and pay things like goods and services taxes, workers compensation reports and bills (oh the relentless pile of bills!) Business licences and insurance policies (we had 5 on the go) needed to filed and renewed …. the list literally goes on and on. Not too mention that I did all of my own bookeeping. Add this to working full time, volunteering for various community organizations, and attempting to nurture and develop my creative side by constantly having numerous creations on the go at once. 

My life was a constant push and pull of things that “needed” to get done. 
I say was, because as of a day ago, all of that is gone now. 
We are on day two of leaving Powell River, my home of 11 years, and Chris’ for 4, and of course we still talk about “our house” in the present tense, as if we are only on a vacation visiting friends. 

This morning I took a few moments to remember my thoughts when we drove away from the house. I looked in every room before we left, we hugged the neighbours, and then we were gone. Poof!  Just like that!

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We had spent our last day running around town dropping final loads at the dump, the thrift store, and returning items we had borrowed from friends in our final days. We also spent the day in a bit of a limbo as our “get away” vehicle had been in the shop for two days, and for most of the day, we didn’t know if we were leaving that day or not. 

Loading up recycling and office supplies to donate to a local community run organization.

Final Dump Run.

Off went our bed! Guess we have no choice but to leave now!

My parents had kindly driven their camper van out to us from Alberta in August, then flew back home. The plan was that we would have a vehicle to leave Powell River with, allowing us to freely sell both of our vehicles, and still have a way to get our remaining belongings (only a couple boxes and an art piece or two) back to store at our parents before we flew off. 

Until the last week, the camper van just waited in our driveway. But as soon as the vehicles were starting to get sold, we used it to shuffle back and forth, moving them from here to there. (On a side note, our vehicles never did sell, at least not for what they should have, but that’s a story for another day.)

On Sept 18, the getaway van died. The fuel had run a bit lower than I would have liked, and it started chugging down the road. I thought it just needed more gas, so Chris bought a jerry can (we had owned about 10 of them!!) and went and got more gas to put in it. It didn’t help, and the van stayed parked on the side of the road that night. 

Our plan was to leave on the 20th. And although we had decided that there would be no stress, and that we could leave anytime, our families had different thoughts. They wanted to know when we were coming through to visit, so that they could prepare. Not too mention that once deciding on the 20th as our leaving date, we both REALLY wanted it to happen. 

At about 1:00 on the 19th, a tow truck driver picked up the van. Now, this is a story for small town living! We were out for lunch with friends when the tow truck driver finally called and said he was ready to meet us at the van. However we had just gotten our food, so Chris asked him if he could wait half an hour. Instead, he asked where we were eating, stopped by to get the keys, and went and dealt with it by himself, towing it to the shop!  In the meantime, we had one of our vehicles still with us, so we’re still able to get from A to B. 

Final delivery to the thrift store.

2 lonely folding chairs in the living room.

This is all that remains from a house full of stuff, and an utterly chaotic life. Add to this 2 duffels of clothes, and this is all we own!

Late that day, we stopped in at the shop to see if they had looked at it yet. They hadn’t, they were hoping to get to it in the morning. 

We had friends over that night, sitting on our patio furniture (that the new owners are buying,) in our living room. We both drank too much wine, which is probably a good thing as it allowed us to sleep that night. We were a buzz with anticipation. Most of what we felt was excitement, although some was surely anxiety about the state of the van. 

We woke up the morning of the 20th, waiting and waiting for a call. We immediately decided that the only thing to do, was to finish cleaning out the house, getting rid of the last of our items, and just acting like everything was going to be fine. And so we did. 

We live in a ferry dependant community, meaning that we can only leave at certain times of the day. Originally we had hoped to leave on the 5:15 ferry, getting us to our friends across the water at a reasonable time. The clock was ticking, we still had lots to do. 

Finally at 11 Chris called the shop to see what was up. They were just running diagnostics, and they had narrowed it down to a couple possibilities. 

We continued cleaning. Out went our recycling, our items for the thrift store, items that needed to be dropped off around town. We shuffled things back and forth, cleaning the house in stages between trips, until finally our last load had to go. Our mattress and two items of furniture that were junk, got loaded up, and we were off to the dump. 

Happy purgers running errands!

Slowly over the course of the week, my key ring also was purging itself. This is my last key, the key to my house. It was left as well, and now I own nothing that requires keys.

THIS WAS IT!  Our mattress was going!  There was no turning back!  If we had to stay another night, it would be at a friends house. We just kept moving forward, one step in front of the other. I never faltered in my faith that everything would be okay. That we had a plan, and it just had to work out. 

At 3:45 we got the call from the shop. The van was running fine. Apparently it had been running crappy in the morning when they moved it into the bay, but after running a ridiculous amount of diagnostics on it, they couldn’t find anything wrong with it, so they just started it up again. They drove it around, and it ran like a dream. 

No questions asked!  

We bolted down to the shop to pick it up. The towing of the vehicle was covered by my Dad’s extended auto plan insurance, but when we asked the mechanic what we owed for repairs, he said nothing. He told us that he didn’t fix anything, so he didn’t see any point in charging us anything. Most of a day of running diagnostics, and he didn’t see the need to charge us. We were ecstatic!  What a town we lived in!  What a wonderful send off gift!  

At this point we realized that our hopes of getting the 5:15 ferry were dashed, but we still could get the 8:45 boat, our last chance to leave that day. 
We picked the van up, drove straight to the car dealership that was going to sell my vehicle, dropped it off and went home to pack up our remaining stuff and finish cleaning the house.

At about 6:30, we headed down to the ferry terminal, got in line, went for dinner, and that was it!  We were gone!

The white van is our getaway vehicle. Everything we own, fits in there, with room to spare. Check out our going away sunset!!

Last meal in Powell River at the Thaidal Zone!

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It’s surreal to me that we have made this crazy transition, that there is no going back, that we have nothing to return to. That life is still going on, everybody is going about their daily business, but we aren’t.  

We have all of a sudden jumped into a life of meaning and decisions about what we WANT to do. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are details to solidify, and at some point, money will have to be made again, but for now, RIGHT NOW, we will enjoy this blissful existence. For we have literally spent the last 9 months giving our absolute all, just to get to this point. 

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

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I wrote the above segment to this post, this morning when I woke up. Shortly after, we went for a walk to a nearby coffee shop to grab a bite to eat and a coffee. Not long after sitting down to enjoy our goodies, some inexplicable tears started rolling down my face. Chris was looking at me inquisitively and I kept apologizing, not really knowing why it was happening. Always the analyzer, I immediately jumped into my head to try and figure out what was happening. The conversation in my head went something like this:

“Why am I crying?”

“Well you have sort of been through a lot, it’s okay to cry.”

“I’m not sad though, I don’t understand?!”

“It’s okay, you have been through a lot. It’s okay to cry.  This is all part of the process, just let it out.” 

I wasn’t a sobbing mess, they were just streams of water leaking out on their own accord.  Crying is one of those things that is most commonly associated with sadness, but after a few moments, I realized that it was joy. It was nothing more than utter relief and joy. 

So I sat with it.  Tears of happiness and the realization of what we have accomplished, and what we have to look forward to, just poured from my eyes. 

It reminded me of a time in Amsterdam, where we had a 23 hour layover on our way to our 6 week trip through Greece, Italy and Bulgaria, almost 2 years ago. I hadn’t travelled internationally in 8 years, and I had the exact same feeling of happiness and relief in a little Vietnamese restaurant as I watched the throngs of people walk by the windows. There too, tears of joy leapt from my eyes. 

This is it!  I have once again found joy!  THIS is what I have been searching for!  

I vow to myself to never let it go again. Sure, there will still be hard times, but my life will be lived with passion and determination. No more strings pulling me in a thousand directions. No more wrestling in my mind about what it is I SHOULD do.

From now on, we are making the rules for our life. 

From now on, we will NOT simply exist. 

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Current Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. 
Current travel plans: The next couple  weeks will see us driving  through BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan to visit friends and family before flying to Costa Rica mid October. 

If you are a traveller, and you would like to connect and talk travel, or if you just want to chat with us about our experiences, leave a comment below and we can connect!

Santorini or Bust(ED)! Part Two.

We awoke early the next morning, determined to make the most of our second day touring around Santorini. Having booked the rental car would allow us to freely see everything that we needed to. 

We got our car around 8:30, with no problems, but when we were about to drive off, the attendant explained the gas situation to us. 

“Yes, the gas is on empty, but you only need 10 litres to drive around the whole island.  So put that in and you will be fine.”

At least that is what I thought he said, Chris thought he said 10 Euros, which, we both decided would likely make more sense. The gas was 1.69 Euros/Litre, roughly $2.50 Canadian. YIKES!! Either way, it was not the typical rental agreement where you just fill it up when you are finished. 

We filled up first with 10 Euros and the blinking empty indicator bar moved up one notch. Good enough, as long as it stayed there, we felt comfortable that we wouldn’t run out. Chris had decided the night before that I was to be the one to drive. He doesn’t do the whole ‘erratic’ driving thing well, and we had seen enough of the crazy driving going on while we walked around, to make him realize that I would be more likely to maintain a cool head, and get us off the island without some sort of road rage incident. 

Our first destination was the famous Akrotiri  archeology site. An ancient Minoan civilization site that was believed to have been buried in volcanic ash in the 17th century, perfectly preserving the structures and artifacts that the citizens used at the time. The really cool thing is that not one human remain had been found, which means they had a very organized evacuation planned, before the volcano fully erupted. 

I had read about this in our Lonely Planet guide.  The words used to describe it were “Gob Smacking”, and I was very excited to see this spectacle. It was REALLY the only sight that I had pre-planned seeing while on Santorini. 

We wound our way through rolling fields and along the edge of the Caldera, taking in the scenery. Signs directed us easily to the site, but when we arrived it looked very quiet, and I realized that it wasn’t open yet. 

There was a gate with a sign so Chris went and looked at it. He came back to the car and announced, “It’s closed on the 25,26,27th.”  

“Oh no!”  I announced, immediately followed with, “Oh, wait!  It’s the 28th!”

He looked at me perplexed and returned to the gate. “Oh, it’s closed on Mondays.”  He said on his return. 

Aaaaaargh!  How annoying!!  I was so sad to not be able to see this ancient sight. I creeped the car out of the parking lot thinking “Now what?”  I felt like a rug had been pulled out from under me. I drove slowly, staring out the windshield with a mix of utter astonishment, and total disbelief of our terrible luck. To top it off, the gas indicator had resumed its blinking ’empty’ status already, which made is both very uneasy.

 This initiated the first of many discussions about whether or not we thought we had put in enough fuel or not. We tried to calculate how much we had put in compared to litres back home, and how many days that would have lasted etc. It was decided that at some point, we should put 5 more Euros in, which would bring the total LITRES added to nine, a happy medium considering neither of us were 100% sure what the rental guy had said. 

Hmmmmmm okay, moving on. 

We followed the road back out and went to another town called Pyrgos. I had read that it was a village worth seeing, and we wanted to find a coffee shop or something that was open. 

Pyrgos is perched on the top of a hill that is capped with an old Castle at the top. We started to ascend up some stairs from the road, and were greeted with incredibly cute and quaint little walkways winding their way up the hillside.  

The alleyway we walked up at Pyrgos.

 People lounged outside their homes, along the passageways, and it was impossible for us Canadians, who have the luxury of huge yards and much privacy around us, to not feel like we were somehow trespassing. We would say hello in a shy quiet English, embarrassed to still not know the Greek version after our two week Wwoofing stint.  

A lady sits on the stairway in front of her house.

   

   

The tunneled entrance to the castle.

 
They didn’t really seem to care that we were there stomping around in their village, but they certainly weren’t into making us feel welcome either. Like I said, it did feel like some sort of strange trespassing.  

Reminds me of Middle Eastern architecture.

   
 We made our way up to the top where the Castle was located, and took in some fabulous vistas below.  

Looking North on the island. Oia is in the far distance while Fira is mid island.

 After going back down and having some coffee (and Ouzo for Chris) we decided to go to the very Southern tip of the island, where there was a lighthouse, to look at the view of the Caldera from that vantage point. As we were still a bit bummed with missing Akrotiri, we just sat in the car and ate a snack, taking in the view, and didn’t even hike out to the lighthouse. Which I now regret a little.  

Looking North along the Calderra edge

 I think it’s safe to say at that point that we both felt a little deflated. It was 11:00 in the morning, and without being able to see Akrotiri, there wasn’t a ton left for us to do with our day. 

The mix of emotions was very strange indeed. We jumped from sadness and frustration, to immense gratitude for what we were looking at, to regret for possibly missing something special in Peloponnese. 

We sat and stared at the view for a bit and then headed off to Kamari, and the sight of Ancient Thira. This was to be another popular archeological sight, located on the steep slopes of a mountain near Kamari. I had also learned that Kamari had black sand beaches from the lava rock, always worth checking out. 

Because it is located at ocean height, and on the opposite side of the Caldera edge, Kamari itself is probably one of the more popular beach destinations. It wasn’t much of a surprise that the town would be pretty quiet at this time of the year, clearly not beach weather. 

We drove through town pretty quickly and pulled up to the beach to get out and take a look at the sand, and stretch our legs for a bit.  

Black sand composed of many different bits.

 We were part of only a handful of people wandering around, and the beach front buildings were completely borded up and much to our disappointment, the mini golf was closed, which would have helped us to at least kill some time. 

We could see the spectacular sight of where we were to go to see Ancient Thira from the beach, and I eyed up the steep switchback road with much intrepidation, I must say.  

The dark green section is the scary switchback we are about to drive on.

 We knew that before heading up that road, we DEFINITELY needed to put the 5 Euros of gas in. We proceeded to the nearest gas station and the attendant literally squeezed the pump for 30 seconds, and we were done. To our utter disappointment, the blinking empty light did not go away, but we felt a bit better about the situation anyways. 

We headed over to the start of what may be the scariest road I have ever driven on. Of course, the sign at the bottom announced that we were entering Ancient Thira, and that it too was closed on Mondays. Neither of us were surprised by this, but the road was open, so we proceeded up anyways. 

At the start, the road had a small 2 foot high median at the edge, which made us both feel a bit better. The switchbacks were literally stacked on top of each other, and there was hardly any room to pass, had another car been in sight. Thankfully we only came across one other vehicle, and it was at the top when we were leaving. 

I hugged the cliff side as tight as I dared, and Chris mentioned a couple times that he was concerned about our tire getting caught in the foot deep gutter that ran down that edge. Although that would have sucked as well, we both agreed that the alternative on the outside edge was far worse. Especially when we reached the top 1/4 of the road, and there was no median, and the asphalt was crumbling away on the side, falling into the abyss below. “White knuckling it” doesn’t even begin to describe what my body was doing. Maybe more like “entire body seizing up from utter fear” would be more accurate at this point.  

  

A taste of the switchbacks nearing the top.

  

The bottom portion heading up. Notice the nice wall on the outside?

  

Somehow we made it up to the top, mostly because turning around WAS NOT even an option. The top platform was pretty much just big enough to hold a few (like 4) cars, and I was incredibly thankful, again, that we weren’t fighting traffic and many other cars that I am sure the high season brings with it. 

We got out of the car, after checking the parking brake about 4 times. We walked up the hill to the gate of Ancient Thira, just to see if we could see something. Of course, we couldn’t, but my body was happy to relax a bit and my shaking had subsided somewhat.  

Thank goodness for small cars! This is the top.

  

Looking West to the Calderra.

  

Looking East over Kamari.

 The views below were breathtaking, and we could see Kamari and the East coast below us, as well as the Caldera edge and the rest of the Island beyond. We took a few minutes to capture some photos, and then decided to head off. 

As we discussed leaving, my body automatically resumed its seized up state, as I realized the going down part may be incredibly scary, likely scarier in fact. I put the car in first gear, and we slid down the mountainside like a slug sliding off a plant, barely breathing, let alone talking, the whole way down. 

By now, we had officially seen everything we needed to. The only road we hadn’t been on was the alternative route (the one the taxi didn’t take the day before) to Oh Yeah (fuc?ing Oia!) that ran along the east side of the island.   We thought we “may as well” take the road, and see if we could find a place to stop for lunch on the way. By now it was about 1:00, and we were both getting hungry. 

We passed through Fira, and followed signs pointing to the East, that said Oia. We got about 3 km when we came to what looked to be a happening town that may have an open restaurant. We parked the car and walked around for a bit, not finding anything. We finally ducked into a little convenience store and asked if something was open. The young girl inside said “No, only in Fira there are open restaurants.” 

Oky doky!!  We headed back to Fira for lunch. While there, we ate in a beautiful spot with a lovely courtyard. We discussed the possibility of just dropping off the car and wandering around Fira some more, and not bothering with the other road. As we ate I just got more and more frustrated with the whole scenario, and finally said that we have the car, we may as well use it to see whatever else there is to see.  

The beautiful restaurant we ate at.

 We set off again on the road to Oia. We wound and twisted our way through lovely green fields, and caught glimpses of the Aegan Sea to our right. 

At some point, we were following a car, probably a little too close. It wobbled slightly to the left and by the time my brain had a chance to react, a pigeon walked from the ditch, DIRECTLY INTO my front right tire. We felt the bump, bump and I looked in my rear view mirror to see a burst of white feathers erupt from the back of the car. 

“Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh” I wailed, immediately putting on the brakes, frantically trying to figure out if we should stop, or keep, going or what. 

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!”

“What do I do?  What do I do?”  I said over and over. 

There was a car behind me that was also following quite close to me, close enough in fact that he likely got a puff of white feathers all over his windshield. He had stopped and pulled to the side of the road, and was now getting out of his car to go check on the situation. As it was a pretty narrow road, I felt that it wasn’t smart to stop, we were already 100m or more away, and hopefully the other guy would make sure it was out of its misery, if nothing else. Although, based on the whole scenario, I don’t think there was any suffering going on.

“Why, why, whhhhyyyyy did he do that?” I asked the universe (of course referring to the pigeon, and already deciding that it was clearly MALE.)

We decided that it MUST have been suicidal!  What else would possess it to do that?

“Wwwwwaaaahhhhhhhhh” I continued to wail. Still completely shocked and horrified by the whole situation. I couldn’t help but think if we would have just dropped off the darn car, the poor pigeon would still be alive (although if it WAS suicidal, I’m sure it would have found another innocent bystander to successfully horrify!)

We continued to drive the coast line to Oia, then headed straight back to Fira, completely defeated and OFFICIALLY DONE with Santorini!  We just wanted to go back to our room, and curl up in little balls, fly out the next morning, and be done with it!

We dropped off the car in Fira. Of course the guy wanted to turn the key to look at something…….the blinking gas light perhaps??  Still not sure on that one. Either way, they asked if we were sure we were finished, as it WAS only 3:00 after all. 

“Oh yes, we are finished!”  We both announced with much gusto. They tore up our damage deposit slip and we were off. 

As we walked away I mentioned something to Chris about the fact that I supposed there were no pigeon feathers stuck to the undercarriage, or I’m sure they would have inquired about it. 

We decided that the sun was shining, and we may as well take in the stunning views of the Caldera once again. We headed out there, and were thrilled to find that more places were now open, than had been on the weekend. We managed to sit on a balcony with a spectacular view, and we had a drink and let the warm sun shine down on us for a while. Not much was said between us as we both just stared at the view and contemplated what had transpired over the last couple days. 

 

Enjoying the warmth of the Santorini sun one last time.

 
I think the sun helped to cheer us up, as we had regained a little bounce in our step as we left. Or maybe, it was just the booze. Either way, our mood had improved and we were already starting to recover, mentally,  from our crazy Santorini adventures. 

We walked back towards our hotel and found a great dinner spot that we hadn’t gone to yet. This place turned out to be the cheapest, and best spot that we had been to since arriving on Santorini. By now we had over spent our budget by a lot, and we were very happy to save a bit of money for our last night (but of course also wishing we had found it sooner.)

Just around the corner from our hotel was a little convenience store. As we walked by, I decided that we needed to get something to help us forget the crazy day that we just had. We ducked in quickly, and came out with a tiny, cheap bottle of Ouzo. The plan was, in my words; “We are going to go back to our hotel, and we are going to drink this and celebrate that WE CAME to Santorini!  And we are going to be thankful for this trip!  And we are going to put this whole crazy show behind us damn it!!”

As we rounded the bend, we were presented with the mostly full moon, left over from Christmas. There was a small pullout off the road, a concrete wall to lean on, and a spectacular view before us.  As the moon glittered off the ocean, we stopped, drank our tiny bottle of Ouzo on the road side, and marvelled at the spectacular place we were in, and how lucky we were to be alive!  

But wait!  We haven’t left Santorini yet!  Stay tuned……..we are not quite finished.