Cyprus--Take 1

egats...had the sorta transit you never look forward to...

So a few days before leaving Rome for Cyprus, my friend Josh (who is living in Cyprus working on a peace project between the Turks and Greeks) was exiled from the country for some Visa problem. So I knew I would not be staying with him...
Oct 3- (My birthday) First, I didn't wake up to my watch alarm clock but did to the door of my dorm room closing about 40 minutes after my watch went off. So I quickly threw my things together to catch the next (20minute, $16) train to the airport in Rome. Got there 1.20 before the flight, so turned out fine, just a bit of stress. Flew to Milan, then to Beirut, and then to Larnaca Cyprus, arriving at 9pm--1 hour after all the buses stop running into the city. So instead of catching a $60 taxi to the hostel at night, I resigned to staying in the airport until the next bus @ 6am.
---We'll have to make up for this less than stellar birthday next year, eh.

Oct 4- I caught the bus and found my way to the hostel. This was by far the most seedy, illegitimate place i've ever stayed.


There was no one there when i showed up at 8am, so I put my hand through the hole in the door,

went to the bathroom,

found myself an empty bed,

and went to sleep.

Couple hours later some kid wakes me up asking how many nights I was to stay and to pay 5 Cyprus pounds/US$12 a night. So, half in a daze, I payed him the money. I awoke later and checked out the empty place--dirty, falling apart, no security, no policies, very dodgy...
Later I spoke with another guy who had been staying there a few weeks and he said he'd never seen a young kid who worked there. That it might have just been some kid off the street who knew how the place worked and scammed me....
Anyway, after this psychotic greek chick-- who seemed to be angry with everyone-- got into a fight with the manager (who made her put more cloths on, as her gigantic bush was bursting out of her skimpy, see through undies) over the presence of another greek guy who had apparently OD'd on depression meds the night before (I saw the bag of meds the next day, more drugs than I've ever seen) and who had gone through the fridge eating people's food and throwing up on the floor, the manager, fed up with both the Greeks, closed the hostel. As it should have been anyway. Minutes later he told the 3 others of us who were there that we could come back later that day, he just wanted to get rid of the two crazy Greeks. But I had already planned to leave with a polish guy I met there, Marcin. So after looking around a bit more of old town Nicosia-the last divided capital (so they say)--between the Turks and Greeks,



we caught a bus west, towards the mountains.