Rather than getting an expensive hotel room, we'd been staying in a 'bungalow,' at the bottom of one of the largest hotels on the island. It's a small tent like structure mounted on top of a rectangular shaped cement slab. The walls were made out of some kind of masonite or something. There was a public shower and restrooms in a separate building. It was nice to be close to the ocean. We went swimming at the beach there a couple of times.
When it came time to pay the bill after staying there a few days, Edward went to the hotel office to take care of it while I was probably getting the last shower I was gonna have for awhile. Before he walked over to the hotel, I told him to make sure the difference in currency didn't get him confused as to the correct cost of our stay. He'd been gone quite a while, a little longer than it should've taken him to pay the bill, so I thought I'd go and see what the delay was. As I approached the walk-in at the bottom of the hotel, I could hear someone yelling, as though there was a major problem of some sort. I thought, "What's going on??" I walked in just in time to see Edward putting his hand around the neck of a very distraught hotel clerk and telling him in English that he was short changing us! The man couldn't understand English and was yelling back in Greek! To fight off Edward, he had grabbed a five or six foot long club that was about three inches in diameter! I said, "EDWARD!! LET GO OF HIM!!" Now three of us were yelling. I repeated several times to both of them that the amount was correct! Finally Edward backed off as the hotel clerk followed him out, holding his club up in the air with every intention of using it... I thought, "Man... let's get out of here before someone calls the police!" Fortunately, no one seemed to be coming after us while we were leaving the island...
I was a little relieved, to say the least, after we'd caught another ferry boat and were on our way to some happier islands. By this time, I was beginning to wonder what other things were in store for us on this Greco Mediterranean cruise... One of the islands we went to was Santorini, a major tourist attraction. It had a steep mountain ridge you had to make it up if you wished to visit the small civilization on top. Otherwise, you just had an outdoor restaurant at the bottom of the steep ridge where the boats let you off at the waters edge. It's an unusually tall island with some thirteen villages strung out along high cliffs that are about 1000 feet straight up. The whole island is the remainder of an ancient volcano. Every family and form of life is perched way up on top of the cliff. The houses and all other buildings are square shaped and colored with a bright whitewash of some kind. They stand in stark contrast to the light brown volcanic rock beneath them and the dark blue water of the ocean all around them. When you're on top, you have a fantastic view of the ocean and other small islands. It reminded me of the observation post in Viet Nam on the mountain top that I had to stay at for about nine days which was as high up, or higher, on the edge of the South China Sea.
Carved into the side of the cliff, is a zig-zagging walk way made out of large cement steps that lead to the top of Santorini. If they prefer not to walk, mules are there to carry people and their luggage up for a price. There was also an old bus on the island that you could take to the top if you wanted to spend the money. As for me, I decided to take the bus up and Edward decided to walk up. It wouldn't have surprised me to see him scaling the cliff with ropes and picks and things, (just a fleeting thought.) The anecdotal hotel bill from our previous venture was still very much a reality to me and I was certain that a smooth bus ride rather than a torchursome hike up the side of a cliff could only improve my reflections at this point. However, the longer I waited in line to get on the bus the less likely it looked that there would be enough seats for everyone. Ironically, the bus driver kept telling all of us not to worry, that there was plenty of room??...
Finally, it was my turn. I got on the bus, but not as comfortably as I would have liked... The driver was literally stuffing as many people into this ancient looking city bus as he possibly could before taking us up. I mean he literally stuffed us in so tight that people were on top of one another. Some lady was yelling that she had lost her wallet or purse, but there was no way any of us could budge an inch to help her find it. People were moaning and groaning, and practically losing all sense of physical privacy. When we got out, we fell out. Another interesting experience...
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