IN SEARCH OF SARDELES PASTES

IN SEARCH OF SARDELES PASTES: INTRO Sifnos to Lesvos in eighteen hours. Andrea doesn't believe it can be done in less then two days. I insist that if the timing is right and everything is on schedule, we can make it. We are sitting at a cafe drinking ouzo and eating octopus on the Western Cycladic island of Sifnos, making our plans to get to the island of Lesvos, next to Turkey on the other side of the Aegean Sea. .....

MYTILINI Last night we got on a boat that was full of young men in casual clothes. By morning they had been transformed into uniformed soldiers. Lesvos is a few miles from the coast of Turkey and there is a strong military presence here. I watch as a soldier who has been waiting patiently by his jeep salutes one of our fellow travelers now in the uniform of an officer. .....

VATOUSA & XIDERA Andrea's sister Pamela has bought an old house in Vatousa, a traditional mountain village on the main road to the beach village of Erressos, the birthplace of Sapho and Mecca for the more widely known form of Lesbian. So camophlaged by the use of indiginous stones for building, and clinging to the side of a mountain, one might not even notice it as you round the bend and continue to the coast. .....

EFTALOU Pamela can take a day off from the house because none of the workers are going to show up since we have already seen them working on the house next door. It's a struggle for her because she has to track them down in the cafeneons and drag them to work, and then she has to stay on the site to make sure they do. .....

CAMPO ANTISSA The girls are going to Anna's for lunch. I forsee an afternoon of chatting about the tiles in Pam's bathroom and the dreaded ceramic icons with the cracking paint so I let them know that I plan to venture out alone. Andrea wants to come but there is no way that Pam can bring Amarandi back on her motorbike unless she is sandwiched in between them. .....

SKALAHORI By the time I drag myself out of the ruins of Yaya Stasa's house there are ominous clouds gathering all around. We were planning to go to Erressos, for no better reason then to buy a USA Today so we can get the full story of Dole falling off the podium, of which we had a sketchy account from a villager who had come into Thanasis' after seeing it on television. .....

GAVATHA Not only is it Election day, but today is the day we have to visit the house that is for sale next to Pam's in Vatoussa. The owner is coming at two. Pam and Andrea decide to spackle the shutters of Yaya's house. Amarandi and I go for a walk in the back yard where we find a big fig tree in the olive grove beyond. We eat a few figs and take some pictures of what's left of the house until it's time to go. .....

ERESSOS The wind begins blowing long before dawn, howling through the hills and banging the shutters. I'm too lazy to completely shut them and anyway it's too stuffy if I do. I have forgotten about the wind here and this surprises me because at times it can be such a constant companion in the Greek islands. I fall asleep and wake up twice. Both times I dream about the wind. .....

SKALA KALONI - SARDELES PASTES We plan to leave today but with Pamela needing our help to pick up hinges and tiles from Kaloni we realize that going will only complicate matters. So despite the fact that Andrea has not had a good night's rest since we arrived in Yaya Stasi's terrible house, we decide to stay one more night. When we get to Kaloni it's like another world .....

SKALA SIKAMINIAS Last night Andrea was bemoaning the fact that she doesn't spend time in the village. We are always going somewhere. She'd like to walk in the fields around Xidera, and visit people and have her coffee grounds read. Today she can't get out of town fast enough. She's packed before I have finished my coffee .....

SKALA THERMIS There was a Grand old Hotel in Skala Thermis. It was built nearly a century ago next to the ancient hot mineral baths. There were beautiful gardens with tropical plants and palm trees and next to a large fountain a band played in the late afternoon and early evening. People came from all over to stay in the hotel and to bathe in the therapuetic waters .....

MY BIRTHDAY The political cry these days seems to be "lets do it for the children". Let's clean up our mess so that our children won't have to deal with it. Let's give hope to the next generation. But I really wonder how much the children really care about us. Amarandi likes me insofar as I am useful to her, if I buy her choclate milk or hold her or take her to the bathroom .....

RETURN TO XIDERA It's amazing how after a few days of rain of Biblical proportions the island begins to look like Ireland. The fields that when we left a few days ago were parched and brown after a summer of sun are now a light shade of green as fall grass begins to grow. .....

EPILOGUE It's easy to forget that despite it's simplicity and beauty, the warmth of it's people and their generosity, Lesvos is an armed camp. The soldiers are everywhere. You might not see them all the time but they probably see you. But they are just kids in their late teens and early twenties, quick to smile and wave, even on sentry duty .....