I arrived last Thursday via an all night ferry ride from Pireus (near Athens) with hopes of going to Crete to see Gnossis and old ruins and the great park on the west side of the island. Those plans are gone since the morning I arrived at Santorini, it was a very hot and windy day and the owner of the pension, Anna, suggested I rent a motorbike (scooter 50cc) to see more of the island.
Santorini is considered one of the most beautiful of the 3000 Greek islands, and it has dramatic cliffs from it's volcanic eruption at 1300 bc where it destroyed quite a bit of Crete and affected the geology all around the region. There is still a volcano in the middle of the sea near the island, but I haven't seen it. I spent the morning in the museums marveling over the 4000 year old vases and statues that were excavated from Fira, the main village where I have been staying for the week.
I took my little scooter all over the island last Thursday, to three beaches- two that were very touristy with hundreds of umbrellas and lounge chairs lined up on the sand for as far as I could see-- well, at least a quarter to half of a mile. The town of Fira, was full of tourist shops, fine jewelry, fine clothing, and any think you think you would like to adorn yourself with. I haven't been in such a touristy place before, even though I've been to a few islands now. To be honest, it's too busy here for me-- the beauty of the landscape, the 1000 foot cliffs, the white houses somehow attached to the cliffs with streets that make Provence look flat, well-- it's too many tourists.
So, I planned after my long day with a finale of viewing the sunset at this village called Oia, a ritual all tourists must do once-- even I agree. I planned I would leave the next day.....
So, I scooted at 7:30 from Fira to Oia on a very mountainous, windy road that had 1000 foot drops with views of little farms and white houses.... It was spectacular and scary. People drive like bats out of hell here. I'm a good driver and was pretty scared most of the day driving my scooter. Not only the speed of the locals, but the volume of traffic here makes a scooter really dangerous.... I planned after this sunset experience to drive right back before dark and eat dinner close to my room in Fira.
Oia was really beautiful, even if the town was created for tourists. It had a stellar view of the sunset, with enormous boats out in the distance. I'll post this for now and continue with another page......
So, I'm standing with a large crowd of tourists on the edge of Oia, this village on a cliff. Like standing in a natural stadium, people are staring off into the direction of the sunset with cameras, embracing their lovers, talking excitedly, waiting for the sun to drop over the horizon. I'd heard about this nightly ritual at Oia, where people gathered every evening to celebrate the sunset and once it goes, they all clap and cheer the sun.
It was a spectacular sunset, clouds to diffuse the colors, a 3-mast pirate-style ship sailing into the horizon in front of us. We all stood together for an hour and at the moment the sun descended, sure enough, everyone clapped and some stood in reverence. I was glad to witness this ritual and then threaded my way through the masses of people through streets that were wide enough for 3 people to stand side by side.
It's a chic little village and if I had lots of spending money, I'm sure the shopping is wonderful. But I haven't bought a thing other than a little tiny bracelet so far. I left the village thinking I'd better get back before it's dark on that dangerous road back to my room.
I haven't eaten for a long time and was quite thirsty but thought I could make it to Fira. So I drive on the road, which seems to have less traffic now-- there is no one in front of me. I have my lights on and it's hard to see.. not good. After a few miles, I feel a bit confident now though concerned by how dark it is even with lights. My mind wanders for a split second as I am going around a bend. Aiee, there goes my tire, slipping and like rollerblades (I've only fallen once), I could feel the gravity winning-- I was crashing. Amazing how in a split second one has time to reflect, I was aware that I had lost my concentration- that maybe I should have had more water or food before I set out, or maybe the road was just too oily- as I had noticed on the drive there. Regardless, I wondered on the way down in my crash, how bad it would hurt and how badly I would be injured. Morbid thoughts. Then, I felt the impact, my leg, elbow and head-- flashing lights from hitting my head, but not too much pain, just burning pain from sliding on the asphalt. I slid like a baseball player into second base. Familiar but painful. I got up, worried about oncoming cars and was lucky to have a few minutes to move the bike off the road and assess myself. I knew I was OK, no broken bones. Thank God, but I didn't know how bad the injuries were-- I bloody from head to toe, literally. I looked like a perfect person for a halloween film. My ankle was the worst. Anyway, after a few minutes of waving at cars, a nice couple from Spain stopped and picked me up. They had been in a scooter accident 3 weeks ago and his wife had recently been to the emergecy room here for a fall and she showed me her purple elbow and grimaced.
They were so kind to take me to Emergency and get me some water.
Emergency was quite different from USA. I haven't picked up as much Greek as I hoped, and wish I had known more, but there were a few people who spoke English there. It was a scruffy little clinic that must have had a lot of these kinds of accidents... the first thing they said was how lucky I was. (I was just there again after 6 days now of recovery and there was a man with a broken leg who just arrived from a motorbike accident..)
gotta post this before my time is up.... to be continued...
To continue my Emergency Hospital experience. I haven't actually had an accident before and gone through this experience. I've taken other people, but not myself. It was surreal to sit in the waiting room, dripping blood on the floor and scaring most of the other patients there. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait long and I shuffled into a dingy room with beat-up O2 canisters that looked like they were from WWII and a floor that didn't look like it had been cleaned in a while (today, it looked much better).
If I was a Howard Hughes fan, I wouldn't have stayed there, but I wasn't and was greatful to have someone, anyone help me wash these wounds and access the damage. I was not as much in shock as I thought I'd be. My fall from a papaya tree in Hawaii many years ago was much more frightening, even though less bloody. (sorry for the kids who might be reading this...). So, these woman hover over me, speaking Greek faster than the Spanish speak Spanish. English is a slow language in comparison, especially when you grow up in Iowa... I wonder what they are saying. They shake their heads and one says, "You are very lucky."
"Yes," I agree, gratefully.
"It could be much worse," the nurse says, nodding with a serious frown. They asked me what happened and they all said, "Oh, you could have gone off the cliff... no cars behind you... you were lucky."
"yes," I nodded, shivered and felt the cold metal table under me.
For the next 2 hours with lots of interruptions, they cleaned all the woulds. From head to toe, dabbing 3 different stinging, burning things. The last thing they did for the superficial wounds was spray it with something white that smelled like burned skin. One of the nurses began stitching up my elbow while another staff member looked on. I couldn't tell who was in charge. Finally, half way through this very slow process, she said something to the other young woman (who turned out to be the doctor) and gave her the needle and thread and left the room.
The doctor told me, "The nurse has had a hard day and asked me to finish."
I was glad the nurse said something instead of doing a bad job. So the doctor continued and had a little therapy session with the nurse (in greek of course) and the nurse left after a while while the doctor continued to stitch. At one point, I felt she was hitting my ulnar nerve with the needle and told her. She said, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, that is my ulnar nerve. It is pretty superficial."
She shook her head but I explained my previous work in massage had inflamed that nerve making it more superficial. She nodded and seemed to respect my knowledge of my body more and took her time stitching my arm over the next hour... We talked about medicine in Greece and how she would love to go to the US, but how difficult it is for a woman doctor in Greece. We talked about alternative medicine, and she laughed saying there is no alternative in Greece. "Maybe you can go to your grandmother for herbs, but no. We laugh at homeopathic medicine here. You cannot find it."
If I were to say anything about the Greek medical system, I'd say it was spartan. They don't coddle you and there was one nurse (the one having a hard day) who seemed to look out for me. She brought me water after I asked her, which was really nice.
After this long clean-up, the doctor said I should stay over night because they needed to xray my ankle and the pharmacy is closed at night so I would need to get medications tomorrow (antiobiotic and antiinfammatories). You would think a hospital would have things like that, but they didn't.
I was wheeled into a room by a busy street (it was as noisy all night as Athens). Once I had my water, I asked for another pillow to prop up my swelling foot-- this took a while. Needless to say, I was grateful just to have a safe place to be. The room didn't seem very clean either but after being on survival trips, as long as I would get some antibiotics-- eventually, I should be ok with a dirty floor and questionable bathroom.
After a few hours, a young woman in great pain, maybe from miscariage or something where she was bleeding and clutching her stomach in pain, joined my room. The doctor came in smoking a cigarette and I immediately felt nauseus from the smoke and wondered how this woman who looked green could tolerate the smoke. This certainly wasn't america and the doctor looked very sternly at this woman who was moaning and frightened. People weren't trying to calm her. These people were tough. Even the young woman's mother (I'm assuming) stayed by the foot of the bed, with a concerned look, but gave her space. The staff would come in and inject her with something and just watch. It was stressful and even though I was in spasm and uncomfortable, I was grateful not to have whatever she had.... even though I was alone...
While the experience was challenging, I had to buck up for these Greek people. They really are tough. They seemed to show me some mercy for being alone, female and in a foreign country. The scooter people who I rented the bike from, would pick me up from my room to take me back to the hospital and helped me get some groceries at the market. So, I am doing OK now. Recovering much better with the ankle and elbow slowly healing-- the rest is scabbing nicely. Anna, who runs the pension where I'm staying scrubbed all the oil and blood out of my clothes, like MacBeth- "out, out damn spot"-- but she was successful. I kissed her on each cheek and she was very proud of all her scrubbing.
I think so often of two of my clients who recently broke their ankles and what they have been through. And many of my clients and friends who have difficulty moving and chronic pain. This minor injury has made me appreciate the simple things in life, just getting up and walking ten steps to the bathroom, being able to get out of the house, and enjoying the sunrise as I did this morning. I've been reflecting on the many wonderful people in my life and so grateful I can have these memories and this moment . Hi to J.F. are you reading?
So, here I am in Santorini. Sitting still while tourists scurry and flit around like bees released from captivity, much like I did a week ago. I am eventually headed to Turkey. Sometime. Until next time, I hope you are all well and enjoying your precious life.
Annie Thoe is an Assistant Feldenkrais Trainer and Practitioner in the Feldenkrais Method with 22 years of experience in bodywork. She has taught numerous modalities of massage therapy, supervised students and practitioners, and teaches locally and nationally. She is on the Board of Directors for the Wilderness Awareness School in Duvall, Washington. In addition to her outdoor naturalist study, Annie has an extensive background in martial arts, sports, and music.
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April, 2007
