soul searching in paradise

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I've been told, by people wiser than myself, that traveling is not just about wandering the globe, soaking up sights and experiences that one cant get back home, but its also about self descovery. Finding out what kind of person you are, weather your the type that wants a nice hassle free trip, bereft of the unexpected with everything planed out, or if your the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type, who makes no plans or reservations, but figures it out as you go allong. in my case it was a happy mix of the two.

But I leared something eles about myself, on the island of Mykonose, on the days where the sun was obsucred by a thin layer of clouds, enough to take the bite off, and the wind was blowing hard enough to cool the normaly stiffling hot days. On those days where it was to cold to just lie on the beach and sipping beer, with your new found friends, the bar just a few feet away, doing nothing but sun yourself like a lizard on a hot rock. yes there was plenty of that that took place on the appropreatly named paradise beach, as well as splashing around in the icy clear blue water of the ageian sea. But on the cold days i learned that I am part man and part mountin goat.

when it was to cold for leasure I would spend my days hiking, and climbing around the rugged and unforgiving coastline of the Island, bounding from rock to rock and cliff to cliff like a mountin goat. At those times ther was no room for doubt or clumsieness. one needs to be as sure footed as a mountin goat, for some of the jumps, if not successful would result in crippling pain, broken bones and sometimes death. It was on these days, after my shoes were ripped and torn, my fingers, knees and forearms cut and bleeding from digging into the rock and from the nearmisses when you feel that adrenilan sugre, this was wher i learnd i was part mountin goat. Sure, its a lesson that i could have learned in other palces, but it was here that it was realized.

Aside from the bounding, climbing and exssessive leasure that took place on mykonose, There was also culture. With a fellow canadain I met, we took a pilgramage to the island of delos, wandering around the extensive ruins of the place, and basking in the glory of an island that served as the birth place of the God Opollo, god of light. It was a good four days and night on Mykonose, and I can see how some people come only to stay for a couple of nights and never want to leave.

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Photos

just after i discoverd i was a mountin goat
check out the wind blowing my shirt horizontal

me and a statue
its totaly what you think it is

me and the pink pelequin
a few minnuets after this it tried to bite me