Corfu and the pink palace

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I arrived in Corfu early in the morning and was picked up by the pink palace hostels shuttle. When we arrived at the pink palace the check in arrangement was interesting. It felt like summer camp. We were explained the rules, given options for activities, a shot of pink ouzo, and sent off to have breakfast. (ok, so adult summer camp). This hostel is a little weird and I have come to the conclusion that it is somewhere in between a frat party and a cult. They don't allow you to have outside food or alcohol, and they make sure you have everything you need so you don't even have to leave the hostel. They pay the employees 4 euros a DAY, which of coarse goes right back to the bar for water, beer, etc and they aren't even allowed to eat or drink ANYWHERE else. But the place is huge, and it is very very pink.
My first day there all I did was lay on the beach! It was so nice, and I got a great tan. The beach is pretty rocky but they provide loungers and once you get out in the water a ways it is sandy. There is even a night club there for guests of the pink palace, so I went to check it out and there wasn't much happening.
My second day my foot was hurting pretty bad, and I wanted to take it easy, but also wanted to see some of the island, and at least make it away from the pink palace. So I signed up for a quad safari. You get a quad and the group goes around the island led by a guide to see sights hang out and mob around on a quad. It was pretty fun, we went first to the beach, then to a little old church on top a hill with great views, we had lunch, and then headed to another spot. But on the way down someone lost control of their bike and went of the road. Lucky for him he went just down the hill into some bushes, and not off the little cliff side the was just before where he crashed. When we called down to see if he was alright he replied "yeah man, I'm totally fine, I just don't know how to get out fo here to be honest!" And amazingly he only had a few scratches. So he had to wait and have the 4 wheeler towed out and the rest of us went on. Then literally 10 minutes later another guy was going too fast around the corner and tried to break, but only used the back break, started fishtailing and flipped the bike. He was actually a little messed up. It was so scary, he had road rash all down his side and a couple of good gashes, and he had to be taken to the hospital. And then the rest of us went on. I was so terrified after that I drove like a granny, and we still had off-roading ahead of us. Then one guys bike broke and he had to get another. And my bike idle was set too low so it would turn off when I was coasting down hills! Man it was a crazy trip! But the off roading was fun, once I got used to all the bumping around.
That night there was a toga party. I did want to make it out into town tough, so I met some Aussie guys and they showed me a few cool pubs they had been to the night before. When we went back We all got pink togas and went to the night club. A girl at reception helped me tie my toga and who knew it was suck an art! She made a Marylin dress out of a pink sheet. The party was pretty fun. They started with a greek dance show, with a traditional greek dance, and lit the dance floor on fire, and broke plates over peoples heads. Yes, I had a plate broken on my head... voluntarily. And once they cleaned all that up, the dance party got going. I met a guy there that I had met at the hostel in Rome! It is crazy like that. What a small world. I had even met a girl that went to Ashland high school when I was in an Irish pub in Rome.
The next day my foot was really killing me from all the dancing so I decided to do the kayaking tour. The water was SO beautiful and amazingly clear. We paddled for a while until we got to our first stop- the cliff diving rock. I really actually wanted to do it even though I am afraid of heights. I was expecting some sort of path leading up to the jump spot, but instead it was a mess of sharp jagged rocks leading up to a huge sharp jagged rock that must be climbed to reach the top. It was so hard for me just to reach the rock in flip flops with a sprained foot that there was no way I would be able to climb the thing. But I got in the water and swam around to watch the others jump.
After the jump we paddled to a little island where we had lunch. Unfortunately there was a bit of walking and tons of stairs involved but it was really cool. At the top the guide told us a bit about the old buildings up there. One was 600 years old and two saints had lived there. There was a bell that legend told you ring once for love, twice for family, three times for money, and four for the unknown. So we all took turns ringing the bell as many times as we wished. Then we were shown around the top of the island where the locals hold a festival each year. The guide had a few more stories and things to point out like the rock where it looks like a skull in the water. One of the more scary stories was about how on one of his tours someone decided to cliff dive off the top of the island, which is ridiculously high. He had told the guy that someone had done it before, and they guy went to check out the water that he would be jumping into. The guide tried to talk him out of it, but he wanted to do it. apparently the guy broke his wrist and got pretty banged up, but survived (there was a rock). Then there was another story about a guy cliff diving and he drove off, didn't break the water with his hands and his eye rolled back in his head they had to take him to the hospital. Man, I am starting to think this is the most dangerous hostel ever!
The next day was pretty mellow, I layed by the beach with some friends, and then we went into town to explore. We walked along the beach on a little wooden path to the small village. We had excellent gyros for only 2 euro and went to have gelato and crepes at another spot. Then we went to a little shop and all got woven bracelets.
They were all leaving that afternoon so we all spent time booking our next hostel, flight, or whatever. When it was time for their shuttle to leave, we had all exchanged FaceBook info, and decided to have a good by shot. So a girl took a picture of the group of us. Then she set my camera down on the bar, and I said goodbye to all my new friends. They left and I decided I needed to shower and pack and walked right out the door without my camera! I forgot it until an hour later when of course it was gone! agh!!!! all those pictures! and now I have to buy ANOTHER CAMERA!!!!! grrrrr
I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning to catch my shuttle to the port. Which is pretty freakin early when you have been staying up really late. I got about 4 hours of sleep, went to check out, and got on the bus. We got to the port like 20 minutes before it was supposed to leave and me and the other girls going didnt have tickets. I got directed to the Minoan lines store which wasn't open, so the girls and I decide to buy tickets on the boat, we asked like 4 people and each of them directed us to ask the person to their left. When boarding the boat of course they were wondering why we didnt have tickets, but we were able to get them at reception upstairs. So we get up there and apparently I cant buy my ticket with my Eurail pass, and I will have to "go downstairs at next port" Which I don't know what that means, so when we got to ignoumetisa I had to get off the boat, haul ass across the port, buy my ticket and haul ass back to the ferry. When I got back on and was sure I was going to be able to stay on, I wandered around a bit. Since I have deck passage I to literally sleep on the floor. The other ferry I was on didnt care if you slept on the couches or even in the airline seats if there was one available. So I took a nice nap on the floor using my purse as a pillow and my coat as a blanket. And there is still 18 hours to go.......

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