I got up later then I intended so I had to rush out of my hotel room. I didn't have time for a leisurely breakfast at Mama's because I had my Volcano tour at 11 am. I decided to just stop for some food along the way, which turned out to be average.I was still in such a daze that I was having trouble finding the location for the volcano tour. By the time I got to the top I was already huffing and puffing. Once I got there as it turns out I had to buy a ticket to go on the cable car so I could get down to the old port. While I was waiting for the cable car I ran into this Indian family who were also going on the tour. I started to chat with the daughter Suneet who was my age, she was there with her brother, his friend and her parents. Her mother immediately sort of adopted me into the family and told me to get in the cable car with "the kids"!
The cable car ride was cool, I'd never been in one before! Once we got down the boat for the tour was already there and full of people. I sat with Suneet and we continued to talk on the way to the Volcano. The view was amazing on the way so we all took a lot of pictures. When we got to the volcano the water was all sorts of shades of blue and green. We got out of the boat and paid the entrance fee. Suneet's parents stayed behind, so I started to walk with her, her brother and his friend. The walk was difficult, I definitely should have worn better shoes. Suneet was the one with the real problems as her sandal broke. I guess her mom was feeling fit enough because next thing I knew she was next to us trying to fix Suneet's Sandal and giving her an ear full for not wearing appropriate footwear. Suneet decided to continue on with one sandal and one sock, it was hilarious. At one point she could no longer go on so her mother and I continued on and chatted along the way, which was more like a quiz, but I found it entertaining. We met with Suneet as we headed back down the volcano towards the boat. On the way back to the island, we stopped by this area which was suppose to have hot mineral water, I went down to the bathroom on the boat to change into my swimsuit. Changing proved to be a challenge because the door wouldn't lock so it ended up eating into most of my swim time.
By the time I made it out a lot of people had already gotten to where the hot mineral water was. I got down in the water, but I was afraid to swim out on my own so I went back in the boat.
When we got back to Santorini, the tour guides gave us the option of going back up to Fira on the cable car or riding a donkey for 5 Euro. Going with this new adventurous vibe I seem to have been on, I decided to ride the donkey and Suneet followed suit.We had to wait ages for the donkey's to come back down, maybe like half an hour. Some people were getting grumpy and wanting their money back, but eventually things started moving along and everyone got their donkey. I felt bad for the donkeys, they looked overworked and some were injured. Suneet got a big donkey to ride and mine was a small one. For a while both our Donkeys were keeping up with each other, but then mine started to stop for a poo and then he started to lag behind. One of the 'donkey mangers' came and was trying to move mine along, but eventually he just quit and I had to go on a new donkey. When we got to the top Suneet and I petted some of the donkeys and took pictures with them. After that we met up with her parents, her brother and his friend. We stopped by some shops in Fira on the way back to their hotel. They were going to see the sunset in Oia, so I gave some directions to the bus station.
After we split up, but I had Suneet's number so that we could possibly catch up later for some drinks. I went back to my hotel to clean up, and then I headed to Mama's restaurant for some more of their amazing spaghetti. I had the same lovely waiter from the day before, he even stopped and sat at my table to chat with me, it was great. After eating I decided to get on the bus to head of to Perissa, the red beach, but unfortunately I had just missed the bus and the next one would be after dark. Luckily I ended up running into Suneet's family as they were waiting for the bus to Oia. Suneet's mom asked me to come along and join them for dinner. I had just eaten, but I accepted the offer to come along. I wanted to get some better quality pictures with my dslr camera now that it was working again (turns out the memory was full!).The only problem was Suneet had refused to go, apparently in some sort of tiff with her parentals and working on some of her university studies back at the hotel. Her parents asked me to try and convince her to go, I called her up and asked her to come back, saying that we would have a great time the two of us. I was worried she would miss the bus, it took a lot of co-ordinating (giving her directions to find the station), but she finally made it, just on time.
When we got to Oia, we went to a small Souflaki place and ate there, then Suneet and I decided to take in the sunset away from the crowd. We took a lot of pictures, and ran up and down exploring the place. Unfortunately though, it turns out the bus comes to pick up everyone earlier on a Saturday so we ended up in a big rush to try and get back to her family and the station. They kept calling us on the phone as we were trying to make it over there. Unfortunately a lady gave us bad directions so we ended up making a huge unnecessary loop, we only just made it in time, the bus driver was about to leave without us. Suneet's mother was furious and started to yell at us on the bus, I felt like I was her daughter too, which was funny. She calmed down about halfway through the bus ride, and we started talking about other things. When we got back to Fira, Suneet and I made plans to meet up at 10 pm so that we could go out on the town.
I went back to the hotel and got all my stuff packed up as I had a 7 am ferry, the next morning back to Athens.I left my hotel and went to sit by the bus station to wait for Suneet, they had these torches with flames lit up all long the area, I didn't know what it was about, but it looked amazing. I kept waiting for Suneet, and tried to call her with no answer. by 10:30 I figured she must have forgotten and went to bed, I decided to go to this local Souflaki place to kill some time before I was suppose to meet up with Giovanni, my Italian stalker from the day before.
When I went inside Lucky's Souflaki, I ran into Suneets brother and his friend. I asked them what happened to her and that I had been waiting out there. They told me they were on there way back to the hotel and would let me know what was up. I ordered my souflaki and sat at the counter and ate. Next thing I know the owner Lucky started to chat me up, telling me how famous he was around these parts. Then all of a sudden a big glass of beer is in front of me, "on the house" apparently. By the time I reached the end of my beer another had already appeared. Then one of Lucky's friends came in with a big bottle of Ouzo. Lucky poured us some shots, then more and more and more. I kept telling him to stop, but he kept insisting on more shots. Next thing I knew, i was already drunk and taking pictures with all his friends. Lots of laughs were had, but then I had to leave them as it was nearing midnight. I also got a call from Suneet's brother letting me know that she had fallen asleep.
I went to Giovanni's work in downtown Fira, he was finishing up so I went to wait for him at the bar. I ran into some of his friends there, some Albanian guys. We chatted it up, then Giovanni came and we all had drinks. Then Giovanni and I went exploring the caldera at night. There's definitely something mystical about the place after dark especially with the torches lit all around.
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