FULL FATHOM NONE: Patmos - Double-Edged Beauty

Wednesday, June 26, Skala, Patmos, Greece

Patmos. Still air, humidity. Heat. Kind of like a cross between the Island Greece I've been experiencing and what I've always imagined Mississippi would be like in the summer (but not quite that oppressive).

I'm camping at a campground called Stefanos, just outside the island capitol/port of Skala. This is easily the hottest, most consistently humid place I've been in the Greek isles; it doesn't really even cool off that much at night. I woke up this morning at around six and for a while just lay there atop of my sleeping bag looking out thru the white mesh of my tent. A lot of the camping spots are separated by stands of bamboo. Between this and the hot still air (no morning freshness at all), the place seemed swamp-like, malarial (adding to this feeling was the slight head cold I've picked up). Strange feelings. Not particularly happy ones. This was the first morning I've woken up and really didn't want to be where I was …

All of this ties into my generally confused feelings about this island—it's not quite what I expected and overall I'm not enjoying it all that much. It's a beautiful place, greener than all of the others I've visted. The light is different here too: it's richer, more varied: hues of pink and orange crowding out the lemon yellows that dominate places like Crete, for example. It also has nice beaches, still as ponds, tucked deep into inlets, rich pale greens, deeper blues … But there's a cultural vibe here that's rubbing me the wrong way—the place is a little snooty, while also being a touch conservative. There seem to be more rules here than other places in Greece I've been too (when I'm saying this I'm not quite sure what I mean—I'm dealing more with general vibes more than anything I can quantify). There seems to be too much money here, both local and imported (it reminds me a bit of a little Greek Santa Barbara). Fancy yachts in the harbor poking my inner Marxist. Cruise ships anchoring off shore, dumping off tourists (including many Americans, who I otherwise rarely run into in Greece) so they can shop in town, buy the same crap they can get pretty much anywhere (is this all these kinds of travelers experience of the islands they visit?). Bah! …

Yesterday I had what turned out to be terrible idea. I decided that it might be interesting to explore the island on bike, so I rented one (for 4 euros a day). I quickly discovered, though, that the mountains I had to cross were way too steep. This combined with the heat made things pretty miserable. Including about an hour and a half stop at a beach on the north eastern shore, I was out with the bike for about six hours. Despite the fact that I drank a lot of water, I was completely dehydrated by the time I turned it in. I was also exhausted. The dumb thing is that the inclines were so nasty I probably ended up pushing the bike for a bout a third of the distances I covered—I paid money for the privilege of pushing a bike! Still the downhills were stunning and it was a good work out (both the hills I rode up and those where I had to push). I WILL NOT be doing that again, however. Not unless I find myself on a relatively flat island …

Leaving here tomorrow, beginning my southward trek. Not sure where I'm heading yet. Leros, the next island to the south seems interesting, quiet, laid back, comparatively empty to what I'm experiencing now. I'm also thinking of just plunging into the touristy aspects of these islands, just to experience it full on, which would mean going directly to Kos, which looked ritzy, but also absolutely beautiful from ferry (it stopped there on the way to Patmos). Not much planned today. Think I'm going to hike up to the old acropolis above the city. Maybe I will also go to an inland town called Hora, which looks like it could be interesting. But again, the heat is making me lazy: I could just find a cool place and hide today …

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the stupid night I had in Rhodes Town on the way here. The ferry from Kasos got in at about two in the morning. It was a Saturday night and Rhodes Town (on the northing tip of the island of Rhodes), which is a major party destination, and it was going off: bad, Euro-electro disco was pouring out of bar after bar and drunk people were staggering everywhere. But every potential place to stay was locked up tight. So I ended up hanging out with this Chinese-Australian girl (very cute) who came in on the same ferry, mainly because we both just needed someone to kill time with. Forever it seemed we tried to hunt down places to stay and then we finally settled in at an eatery that stayed open till four. After that we just hung around the town waiting for daylight, for something open up (which didn't happen till even later than usual because it was a Sunday). I didn't get to bed until about nine that morning. Long, weird, sleepless night. Half fun (because of its weirdness factor mainly) and half annoying …