Full-on Summer

 

The daytime temperature rises steadily, from dawn to dusk—and also day by day—and the tepid stir of evening, the δροσιά/drosia (“coolness”) becomes more rare and insufficient. Two days ago, the temperature reached 43 C. (that’s 108 F.) in nearby Messini, while on the beach in Finikounda, cooled by a seabreeze, the temperature topped out at 97 F.

I have changed the drip irrigation on the fruit trees (lemon, orange, mandarin, pomegranate, fig, and avocado—the latter I will brazenly call a “fruit”): from a paltry 4 minutes of drip time at 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., to a more generous 10 minutes. Several years ago my neighbor-farmer Dimitri told me: “Na mean kseroune ta dentra ta potisma”/The trees should never really know watering.” Which I take to mean: don’t let them get used to irrigation.

The main coastal village, Finikounda, is filling up with more people at night as the first of July approaches. But most of the evening “strollers” are either locals or foreigners with houses on the hillsides. For some reason that no one can really explain, tourism is down for this time of year. Which suits me fine.

 

The fall harvest is looking good

We are all poised for tomorrow’s standard greeting, spoken on the first of the month: Kalo meana (“have a good month”).

Today the 1-kilometer-long strip of pristine white sand hosts no more than a few dozen people—with the Greeks clustered by the beach canteen, the area called Mavrovouni (“black mountain”) and the suit-less foreigners occupying the middle beach, which is called Anemomilos.

 

But the super yachts are rolling in on a daily basis, most of them anchored offshore during the day, then departing before sunset for sheltered coves. (They are here in stark contrast to the standard Greek minimum wage: 800 euros per month.) The Black Swan makes occasional appearances, as does Jeff Bezos’s yacht—which last summer hosted Amazon’s CEO with guest Beyonce. The yacht owned by the CEO of Tyson Foods is anchored in Marathi cove, where I kayaked in my first days here. All of these yachts are valued at a half billion dollars or more.

 

A social schedule

I find myself getting invited to dinners, parties, and other events in my final days here. A few nights ago I was in Lahanada for my English friend Ken’s birthday party, along with a dozen other resident foreigners—from Germany, Switzerland, France—and a few Greek locals. The amount and variety of food was unreal. I got home at 2:45 a.m.

A week earlier I played music at the Evangelismos taverna with a young Brazilian-Greek women, whose voice was part Billie Holiday, part Taylor Swift. I played guitar chords for “Girl from Ipanema” and she sang the tune in Portuguese. We had a small audience by the end of the evening. She asked me to join her own band—an unlikely combination of guitar, bouzouki, trumpet, and drum/vocals—at another taverna on Wednesday night in the village of Harokopeio. But I haven’t met her bandmates and may do the honorable thing—and pass on this.

 

Kalamata

Early this morning I drove to Kalamata with my friend Niko, with two large tins of extra virgin olive oil in the trunk of the Citroen, to the shipping agent who sends our oil to Boston. The old city is full of special charms, including a 10th-century Byzantine chapel and a multitude of shops—including a few fantastic, Old World spice and nut shops.

The beach

I am squeezing the most out of my final days here, spending a bit longer each day on the beach: swimming, reading, napping. Repeat.

Today we noticed our first loggerhead (careta careta) turtle, a gentle giant that was swimming parallel to the beach, about 10 meters offshore, its head appearing every so often like a periscope, spying out a spot to nest and lay its eggs, which will happen one evening soon.

Our little red tile roof in the olive grove