Day 10

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Day 10

Another 7:30am meeting at the docks for our ride to the site, so again I woke up at 6:50; I got changed, packed an extra long sleeve shirt (because yesterday it was pretty cold before the sun rose up over our mountain), packed my lunch and frozen water bottle, and headed to the bus. We beat Vasili today, and we waited for him for only a few minutes. Again we took the windy road up to our site and unpacked all the tools from the locked storage portable. Our prof began by telling us what groups we would have for our trench excavations (I’m with a great team: Ada, our dinner chef, Esther, our only archeology-expert, and Sara, our photographer extraordinaire), demonstrating to us how to calculate elevations (from sea level and from our trenches), and then we broke off into groups to continue the 2 trenches we had started yesterday.

I hung out and observed the excavation at the complete skeleton burial, with most of the group, while 4 other girls excavated the other trench. We’re still not sure if there’s anything in that trench, but at the one I was watching and then helped out at, our prof found the skull yesterday, Isabelle found the knee cap and I found the pelvis today! It’s all pretty cool and scary at the same time because as I unearthed the bone, I could tell it was bone! Scary how fast this archeology stuff grows on you :S We all took a 30 min break at around 10:30am, then my group continued to work on the full skeletal trench for about 1 and a half hours, and by the time our prof asked us to clean up for the next group, there was only 20 minutes left till 1pm! So by then we packed up, and loaded all the tools back into the storage portable (which had been uprooted by crane and moved closer to our excavation site to save us time and energy from carrying tools up and down the hill; which was all thought up, planned and taken care of by our bus driver Vasili), then we headed back down.

As we entered Poros again, Vasili stopped at the post office for anyone who wanted to pick up or mail anything there. Isabelle and I got off with 3 other girls; some bought stamps or mailed their postcards, and I just went to check the price (it’s only 72 cents to send to Canada!). After that we went to a few souvenir shops along the way, I picked up a few things I passed by yesterday, and we stopped for a snack at a little bakery. I had a spanikopita and it was DELICIOUS!! Unlike the ones you get in Canada, mine was still warm from the oven, the spinach and cheese came oozing out as I bit into it, but the filo crust around it was as crispy as chips (without having been deep fried; it was only baked!!). It was about the same size as a regular-sized paper back book and was SOO filling! And for 1.70 euro, I’ll be going back FOR SURE!! I was the last to finish, because it was so big, but then we made our way back to the apartments. Isabelle checked out prices to Athens from Kefalonia, and I grabbed a few maps and booklets at the travel service building (owned by Hettie’s son, Philipos). Then we walked back to our place, changed for the beach, sunscreened up and headed to the clear blue waters and white sands 😊 Again the beach was beautiful, warm and the water is 100% clear! At no matter what depth, you can see your toes and pristine white rocks we’re stepping on. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to swim in Vancouver waters again!

Once the bees and hornets started to bug us (like it happened yesterday too), we decided to head back to our apartments and get clean. I went back to my room and was welcomed with 3 new, clean towels! …And the smell of Greek cleaning supplies (at least I hope that’s what it is; the cleaning lady washed the bathrooms and the common hallways with this stuff that smells like vinegar and tomatoes, and the smell takes forever to disappear. Luckily I had sprayed citronella last night, because I saw that there was a mosquito in my room just before I went to bed.). But I’m also thankful for her changing my sheets, but she comes every Monday and Thursday and I like clean sheets as much as the next person, but changing sheets twice a week seems a little excessive.

At 8pm Gioria (pronounced yeuria, who is our Greek archeology helper) met us at our apartment “lobby” (it’s just the outdoor area where all the stairs meet down to street level and the 1st level rooms). We walked past our usual beach area, past the usual restaurants along the waterfront, and we veered left where 2 of the grocery stores are and the only bank. Just before we got to the bank, we stopped at the new restaurant opened there. According to our prof, the owners are very dedicated to the SFU Archeology Field School Program, and they had just opened up the restaurant only a few months ago. It was a grill place so we ordered an assortment of appetizers (Greek salad with feta, fried cheese, tzatziki with the bread, and some meatballs) and I ordered the combination plate (one skewer of pork souvlaki, one chicken and one sausage, fries, 1 pita cut into quarters and a little tomato/lettuce garnish). Of course I couldn’t finish it so I took the rest home for tomorrow. After the dinner, I had heard terrible bank stories from some girls that they were unable to withdraw any cash from their accounts at the ATM in Porros; so Lisa and I decided to try our luck on our way home. Everyone’s limit seems to be about all the same; close to $300 euros per withdrawal (eww, I just killed a mosquito while typing on my keyboard, what a stupid bug!! I hope it’s the only one that’s been eating me alive!). So with full stomachs and a relieved mind, we headed back home, got ready for the next day and went to bed.

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