Puerto Vallarta, eat your heart out!

[Tenth Female Post]  Greece! We love it. Reminds us so much of Mexico that we feel homesick. The people are warm and smiling (except for some, as in Vallarta resorts, who are in constant contact with tourists). Amusingly familiar sights are the upturned tubs to save parking places, rebar sticking up out of roofs, and people sitting on the sidewalk to goof on the minimal street events. But I have to say it’s a lot cleaner here!

It’s also hot. Still in the 80s in late September, but of course not humid. The plants and geography are more like California’s: burned-out brown foothills, Sierra-like scarps of Mount Parnassus, oleanders, eucalyptus, bougainvillea, broom, pine trees. And of course, olive trees everywhere. 

I chatted with a Peruvian (!) shop clerk here, who asked me if Mexico weren’t dangerous. When I complained about media exaggeration, she responded that it’s the same with the Greek “crisis.” She said she knew few people seriously affected by the austerity and resented the image of Greece that's being promulgated on international news. Interesting. 

To Paul’s surprise, even he loves the food. We’ve pigged out on souvlaki, a kind of taco in pita bread that comes wrapped in a paper cone. Filled with garlic sauce, tomatoes, onions, french fries (!), the cucumber-yoghourt sauce called tzatziki, and a choice of meats shaved off of vertical barbecue spits. Fabulous and cheap. In Delphi our pension served us their homemade yoghourt for breakfast, the best I’ve ever had. A crust on top, and very sour, but you add a bit of honey to it and it’s ambrosia. The moussaka, like a lamb-and-eggplant lasagne, was delicious, too. Paul has largely been spared the horror of olives, praise the Lord...

View of the Acropolis from our hotel

Our modest hotel in Athens ($100) had a view to the backside of the Acropolis, now surrounded by a high wall and dotted with huge machines repairing and reconstructing the ruins. Very romantic, esp. when lit at night. We first attempted to reach it via back-alley staircases that purportedly led up to it, but those signs were ancient. In any case, we wound through the tiniest passages imaginable, the homes’ small patios filled with older Greeks chatting in the cooler evenings. Magical. 

An over-charging cabbie brought us to the obscure bus station serving Delphi the next morning; Paul then slept through 3 hours of mostly forgettable freeway sights. But arrival in Delphi was still so exciting, even though the 48 years (!) since my last visit had altered the small town for the worse. Again, our view from our even-more-modest $55 pension was spectacular and soothing. The ruins and corresponding museum were full of tourists, but thankfully we saw mainly isolated pairs, not huge tours, and enjoyed it all greatly.

Another endearing aspect of Greece is the number of cats here, and the Greeks’ love of them! Mostly living on the street, it seems, with a loose affiliation to someone who feeds them, but they looked healthy and were usually quite friendly. We made a donation to a cat care group, of course...