"Ah! Sotira!"

I knew returning to Athienou after 12 years was going to be tough since it'd be my first visit without my dear Yiayia around, but we were greeted by enough family to ease the pain and put a smile on our faces...side note- My grandma is one of 16 children, 12 of which lived to marry and reproduce, so my mom has what seems like a million cousins and aunts, most of which live in Athienou. It also doesn't help that Athienou is a fairly small town and my dear mom is pretty well known by just about everyone in town. Oh and apparently, I look, sound and act EXACTLY like my mother so everywhere P and I went, a voice would exclaim "Ah! Etin Sotira! Irte ei Sotira!" (Ah! There's Sotira, Sotira is in town!") and often time there'd be a shout from around a nearby corner in response "Poon tin Sotira?! Ma irte che then mas ipe?!" (Where's Sotira? She came and didn't tell us?!") Which was fun at first, but after the 5th day, it just hindered our daily plans- it'd take over an hour to go to the market to pick up milk!
Now, being stuck in Athienou without wheels is like being stuck in Goshen without a car, makes for tough living. So cousin Irini saved the day by lending us her car for the month (we love you Irini!). After a few test drives around Athienou's windy, narrow maze-like streets, driving standard on the left side of the street was no biggie and we were off to explore Cyprus.
There was much of the island that I had never seen before since going to Cyprus in the past meant hanging with Yiayia, strolling the sleepy streets of Athienou and hitting up the beach. This time around P and I explored a different town or village a few times a week, visited ancient sites, old churches, old family, young family and managed to fit in plenty of beach time before returning to my great grandma's ancient home in Athienou for each night's rest.
Tourism has taken over Cyprus in a way I hadn't imagined, massive hotels have developed almost every inch of the island's coastline, restaurants catering to tourists are everywhere you look and every other car you see on the road is a red plated tourist rental. Though Athienou has not changed too much, the rest of the island barely looked familiar!
The small city of Larnaca was our stop for shopping to replace our cheesecloth third world clothing- we had to stroll in style now that we were back in the western world! The capital of Lefkosia was our history lesson of how Turkish Occupied Cyprus (TOC) came to be- as a divided capital city, there's a lot to be said. Taking the lift to the top of Shakolas Tower gave us a glimpse of TOC and had photo explanations of historical landmarks (one of the more interesting museum spaces we've seen along this trip, and I'm not being biased!). Paphos has become the city of tourists, though there are hidden gems if you stray inland from the pier and the archeological site just a few steps from the Paphos castle holds some of the more interesting ruins on the island. Lemesos seemed like a long strip of beach resorts, hotels and tacky restaurants so we didn't spend much time there. We thought we'd head to my mom's favorite spot in Protaras... I guess the deep blue yet crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean sea allows you to overlook the hideous concrete hotels and resorts which have taken over much of the sand along this beach. We did manage to find a pretty quiet and beautiful strip of Protaras, which we returned to several times. BUT thanks to P's convincing, our attempt to find a deserted, undeveloped, pristine strip of sand on Cyprus was successful! We found a great spot,(which we'll keep a secret) where there were no other tourists in site, nor a hotel or resort, just some olive trees to provide shade, deep white sand and crystal clear water. Oh and not too far away(but far enough) back on the road, we found a great little seafood restaurant where we watched the catch come in fresh as we placed our orders to complete the experience.
So, after all, Cyprus isn't completely doomed with development after all, if you look hard enough, you can find a peaceful, undisturbed sandy spot to claim as your own for your time on the island...just be sure to stay away from ours!

* Also of special note is P breaking out of her veggie role for a few tastes of Octopus. After chewing she decided she didnt like it because "It tastes like fish!" Back to veg I suppose.

It's all Greek to me!

Well not to M of course. But P for sure. After a much awaited flight from Mumbai to Doha, Qatar (best airport EVER) with a loooong layover to Athens, then a flight to Cyprus, we were greeted with cheerful faces of M's Nouna, Nouno, a Great Aunt and a Great Uncle. Many hugs and kisses and we were whisked away to begin the tour with the oldies. Our first day was spent sitting around houses, being fed more than we could digest, being hugged and kissed like mad, and then finally dropped off at M's Great Grandma's house where we would live for our time in Cyprus. P of course understood nothing of the conversations, but M played translator and did a mighty fine job. The first few days of Cyprus were a bit stressful as we were driven around to just about everyone's house in town to announce that we had arrived and needed to be fed. With some longering stomach issues, this did not make things easy. We were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our next visitor, Craig, while lazing the days away with M's family which basically includes the whole town of Athienou. We were able to borrow a car for the month from M's genorous family giving us the freedom to explore. With wheels and a house to our name, we felt like locals as we wathed one too many lemons fall from the tree in our courtyard. Our first beach day was oh so exciting in the gorgeous Mediterranean, but the smoke stacks in the distance fueled the search for the ultimate beach in Cyprus. The water in the Mediterranean was like nothing we had seen in the recent past so it was a very nice change from what we had become used to, The color of the water was a fabulous clear deep blue. Is that possible? We could walk out 100 meters into the sea and still be knee deep in warm water. It was pretty crazy. And perhaps boring as well as P has finally taught M the joy of jumping waves. But M has also learned the joy of relaxing and people watching on the beach, so the lack of waves was no big deal.
Let me tell you, M has got one big fat greek family! And boy do they know how to entertain! M's 28th turned into a huge party with 30+ family members she may or may not have known. It was loud, it was big, it was crazy, it was Greek! Check the photos and see the wild time. 2 days later, we headed to the airport for Craigs arrival, and brought him straight to a cousins engagement party including an obligatory session of getting lost in Athienou driving standard on the left side of the road. Seemed to be a theme of Craigs visit now that I think about it.

A word on India...

Asian Patience is a must, especially when one visits India. As M said, alot of patience is needed when one spends great time in Asia, or in the developing world in general. We are white women, and to many people the color of our skin defines the money in our pockets. And in many cases this is true. Yes, we felt annoyed and even violated. Yes, we missed the comfort and privacy of our everyday lives. And yes we shared these complaints with you, our dear readers, on this blog. But India is not something to miss. It was tough, one of the toughest places we have ever visited, but equally, India is important and I am so happy that we found enough patience to visit. It is important to find yourself out of your comfort zone and see how the world lives, not just your world. It puts some perspective into your life and changes you. There are a billion people in a land 1/3 the size of the US sharing their space and their lives. There are more people that watch Bollywood flicks than Hollywood flicks. Think about that for a second. India is beautiful and incredible. But it is poor and filthy and hot and stinky. India really makes you think and for that reason alone, it is worth all of the hassle and uncomfort to glimpse into the lives of those that don't have as much as you but somehow have enough to put a smile on their face, give a wobble of the head, and ask for baksheesh. Incredible India!

Mumbai...India gets her last licks on M

We were thrilled to be touching down, by air, in Mumbai...M especially since this meant just one more day of India before she sees Greece and Cyprus again after 12 long years. After that whole Amritsar fiasco, we were left with no choice but to purchase a last minute flight to Mumbai to ensure we'd be there for our departure flight from India. We arrived late and figured we'd splurge a bit and stay in a hotel that was a few steps up for us which was conveniently located within close proximity to the airport, making it easy for us since we had a 5AM departure flight to catch. Though we knew we'd venture into the city center, where the glaring and staring disappeared, where the architecture was stunning AND where people stopped to help two lost tourists out of the kindness of their heart, we thought spending the night near the airport was a wise decision...until...

M wakes up numerous times to announce that there are bedbugs in "this f-ing place!" P says she hasn't noticed anything and doesn't feel "creepy crawly" as M states she's feeling, so back to sleep we go. A while later P's awoken by M shouting that there are bedbugs in "this f-ing place!" and again, P tries her persuasion techniques, until a critter is spotted.

Bedbugs they were and bedbugs we had. Lucky for P, she sleeps in her sleepsack liner just about everynight, while M can't stand to be wrapped up like a cacoon and so refused to get into her sleepsack. So P finds herself in the lobby explaining to the not so nice manager that there are bedbugs in room 5 and we need to be moved ASAP before M starts kickin' ass and takin' names (ha). M managed to have everything packed before P made it back upstairs and we were moved to a MUCH nicer room, free of bedbug signs. We got a few hours of shuteye then ventured out to see some of Mumbai before our early morning flight.

We strolled the streets of Mumbai on LP's walking tour as we: took in the great architecture, enjoyed being left to walk down a sidewalk without the constant hum of "hello madames... buy something!" got crazy excited over the simple act of not one, but TWO LADIES stopping to help us when we had our face in the LP to check our path, escaped the heat browsing FabIndia's great collection of goods, got some quality people watching time in as the crowds enjoyed a night out at the gate of India and caught a glimpse of the stunning nighttime view of the Taj Palace before stopping for some ointment for M's bitten up body and making our way back to grab our packs and head to the airport.

Though we wished for more time in Mumbai, we were so thrilled to have completed our time in India, we embraced in a 5 minute long hug at the check-in gate at the airport repeating over and over "We did it! we did it! we did it!" attracting many last stares from the locals. Yes, we've been traveling since October, yes we know what we're doing, yes we've been annoyed and harassed by tons of people along the way, but we truly had a tough time in India. We've come up with this explanation:

we left India to be our last stop in Asia, where, aside from Japan, we heard the phrase "Madame, hallo, madame, buy something!" over and over again and everywhere we went, it was a task in itself to find some quiet time away from it all. The truth of the matter is that our "Asia Patience," as we've dubbed it, was on it's last leg and India surely depleted it and drained it rather quickly.

And so are even entertaining the thought of making another trip back to Incredible India! to see some of the southern part of the country...but not for a few years of course, we need to build up some of that valuable "Asia Patience" before we venture back into it all.

Amritsar...not where we would have picked to get stuck

Though Amritsar's Golden Sikh Temple was stunning, reflecting off the surrounding pools and being visited by thousands upon thousand of devout pilgrims on a daily basis, Amritsar itself was nothing to write home about it. We visited the temple at a couple of different times during the day to glimpse how the sunlight changes it's appearance and decided one day in Amritsar was enough...so we thought.

As we visited the holy temple, there was some trouble in Austria, where a Sikh guru from Amritsar was shot and killed. Apparently the logical response to this is to begin an uproar in and around Amritsar where riots broke out bringing all public transportation into and out of the state of Punjab to a halt...fun. We were stuck.

OK, let's back up a bit...we didn't actually know we were stuck due to the situation just explained. We initially didn't get on our morning train (which turned out to be canceled due to the aforementioned incident) due to the violent illness that put both of us in the hotel bathroom for hours upon hours. M awoke around 6AM to begin her puke rally while P slept in 'til about 8AM before she began hers. After taking turns staring down the face of our porcelain friend for a few hours, it dawned on us that we can get our tickets refunded and book the next day's train outta Amritsar. P was finally stable enough to walk outside to bring back water for our dehydrated selves when she noticed not a soul on the streets (VERY odd for India). We later hear the state of Punjab is basically under strict orders to shut down between the hours of 12 and 5PM due to riots. RIOTS?! And here we thought our worst problem was our need to be within 5ft of a bathroom at all times. We learned that our train was cancelled and an automatic refund would be credited to our account, but as for the connection we were going to catch in Delhi onwards to Udaipur, that would be up to us to visit the "station supervisor" to arrange a refund.

To make a long story short, the next day, we felt OK to venture away from a bathroom, so we visited the "station supervisor," who proceeded to shout at us about "our problem" and how a refund cannot be granted because we didn't risk the dangerous streets of Amritsar and get to the train station at the time of our train to ask for a refund. SO...because of that, we have to file for god knows what and trust this man on his word that our money would be delivered to our address in NYC in 3 to 5 months...hahaha, yea ok. Why an urge to vomit all over this man and his 6 man posse didn't overtake M's body, we're not sure, but we were surely ready to rip him to pieces. Fortunately, P, the calm, composed one of us 2 managed to re-explain our situation multiple times in hopes for a different answer from this evil man, while M sat back turning different shades of red as she held it all in. We finally gave up and signed our ticket over and kissed our money goodbye, but who knows...maybe we'll get a check in the mail from India Rail around December and this excititing story can be retold over Christmas and Hannukah dinner!

After 5 days of hanging out at the hotel, which luckily had cable TV and English channels (whoo!!) we were free from the state of Punjab. Now our only dilemma was how we'd make it to Mumbai in one and a half days instead of the 4 we alotted...