Live Now, Sleep Later

Jonathan and Lucia left Spetses with Dyan and Zoe in the morning, traveling on a rusty ferryboat that plys the narrow stretch of the Saronic Gulf that separates Spetses from the Peloponnese, arriving at the small port of Kosta. 

They said their goodbyes to sister and niece and then drove south through the Peloponnese, arriving in Akritohori, in southernwestern Messinia, by 4 p.m. They managed to stop briefly at the DIY store in Kalamata, where they chose paint for the house, and then at Carrafour, the French grocery chain, where the security guards had their hands full keeping tabs on the Roma who walked the aisles filling their pockets with groceries. They would get caught red-handed and tossed out of the store, only to be replaced by the next wave. The grocery store security guards, who wear bullet proof vests, follow each group from aisle to aisle in what appears to be a cat-and-mouse game of shoplifting.

The two arrived with ample time for a  long, late afternoon swim at the big beach in Finikounda.

The night before, while eating dinner at a cousin’s restaurant in Spetses, the plateia was abuzz with fact that Kobe Bryant was eating dinner at the table beside them, for which father and daughter were utterly oblivious. Their neighbor was tall, athletic, and apparently not Greek—that was all they noticed. Later they were told that Michael Jordan had been on the island the summer before. Apparently Yiayia’s childhood home has become a hangout for NBA greats!

The two were welcomed back in “their” village on Thursday night. They continue to meet new people, both locals and resident foreigners, each day—and the vow to return home early from town was quickly broken. Dinner at their favorite taverna was by candlelight, because the power company had a one-hour “strike” in solidarity with coworkers who had lost their jobs.

Despite the fatigue of such a long drive, J and L blew out the kerosene lanterns at 2:30 a.m. On average, it was a relatively “early” night. Their friend Niko reminds them that they will have time to sleep after they die, a quintessentially Greek explanation for late nights.