one night while we were at mikes a strangely familiar face walked in and straight up to the bar. jacqueline and julianna recognized this young man from the orange festival. he was one of the talented greek dancers up on stage. we introduced ourselves and he welcomed us to haraki. the next night while we were enjoying the usual crepe at mike's restaurant we asked where spiros was. all mike said was that he was working at another bar in the next village over and before we could say anything else he offered to drive us over. we had no other plans in store so we accepted the offer not sure what the night would entail. we talked to spiros and once formal introductions were out of the way he asked us our plans for the rest of our time in greece. we told him our plans to travel to rodos town the following day. before we could say another word spiros offered to drive us the 50 minute trek from haraki to rodos town just as spiros had promised he was waiting for us at mikes bar to take us into rodos, he showed us around old town, we ventured through local markets and the harbor and looked in shops. we saw many of the natural beauties greece had to offer such as the fields filled with poppies, the beaches and caves. spiros took us to one of his favorite restaurants called pita papu, meaning grandfather's pitas. i think it is safe to say those were the best pitas i have ever had. it was such an amazing experience and a privilege to have our own local tour guide showing us the ins and outs of greece.
the next day as our wonderful trip was coming to a close we lounged on the beach and hiked up the mountains and hills surrounding the little village of haraki and were blessed with the sight of the sparkling water distant islands and the rolling hills abundant in wild flowers. hiking and lounging with no agenda to adhear to was so peaceful and relaxing. the day was ours and i spent part of my time hiking alone and sat overlooking the water just reflecting, praying and thinking. i am so extremely blessed to have had this opportunity to travel and meet amazing people and be presented with challenges that i know i can overcome. this lifestyle is just a completely new way of living for me and i have enjoyed it to the utmost!
speaking of challenges one of the minor ones i was faced with took place at the airport in rodos town on my wat back to pisa. my suitcase was 5kg over the weight requirement. i could either pay 35 euros or think of an alternative plan. my good friend jacqueline also encountered the same problem. after several trial and errors i literall walked through security with a bar of greek olive oil soap in each one of my pockets, two tank tops, a shirt, two sweaters one tied around my waist with toms in the pockets of my sweatshirt, tennis shoes on my feet and my hands filled with my devotional book and journal. oh ryan air, how i will miss you! we got through security just fine and i proceeded to take apart my creative masterpiece of clothing and reassemble my suitcase's previous contents. our flight was delayed two hours so we got some free samples at the duty free store and got a few games of good old fashioned cards in! one thing i have learned, never travel anywhere without a deck of cards! this spring break was so amazing and one i know i will remember for years to come.
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