Cyprus--Take 2

Escaping the hustle and bustle of Nicosia, we caught a bus up to the Troodos mountains, hiked up and then hitched down to little town called Platres--a quiet and scenic mountain-side town. Where we shared a reasonable priced little hotel,

It was great to find a town without the fracas of a city--the first in a while for me. Marcin taught me 1000, a popular card game in the Middle East.
Went on a little hike up to a waterfall,

and, thanks to Marcin's ability to speak 5 languages (English, Polish, Russian, German and Chinese--so jealous), we were able to hitchhike down to Lamissol, a beach town on the south coast.
We went over to what are supposed to be some of the oldest ruins in Europe, dating back as far as Neolithic 4000BCish--predating continental Europe. Although the ruins we saw dated back as far as 300BC. Apollo was a hit here.

In Limassol, spent some quality time diggin into 'Atlas Shrugged', which I've really enjoyed despite the fact that I disagree with Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism--which argues the inherent morality of selfishness and free market capitalism.

Jumped off the pier into the crystal clear water of the easter Mediterranean that is so salty even I float and after you get out and dry off, a thin film of salt covers most of your body.

Cyprus is littered with cats who were originally introduced to control the indigenous snake population and now, of course, run rampant.

Went up to a town called Aiya Napa where I knew my weak US $ (.4 Cyprus pounds) would disallow me to stay at any of the Hotels (no cheap options here). I did find a cheap little 4 hour boat cruise where we went around the coast and jumped in the water.

After which I scouted out a secluded piece of beach to stay for the night.

Despite it being very warm during the day, though, by 4-5 in the AM it was so cold I could no longer pretend to sleep that I got up and walked around till the sun came up. I knew it would suck, but thought it a chance to experience some suffering; get some of the perspective one needs in order to appreciate what we so easily take for granted. (Evidently I'd forgotten that lesson since I did it in Bali a few years ago, where I ran out of $ the day before my flight.) Anyway, after the sun came up, the beautiful Mediterranean beach quickly erased the cold night...
After returning to Larnaca, where there was an affordable place to stay, I took the long way to the airport and walked a few hours around a salt lake to find the beautiful Hala Sultan Tekese mosque on my way to the airport by foot--a first.

My departing days were much nicer than my arriving...

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.