My ship left for Rhodos noon the next day. The Kariskakis was really not a ship, just a
big boat, and my fellow passengers were local
Greek peasants, not foreign tourists.
We all hunkered down in the hull together, encircling the engine
cover for warmth.
It was noisy: the engine was loud enough by itself, but the
gregarious Greeks shouted even more loudly to make themselves heard above its
clanking and this all made for an even greater cacophony!
No one spoke English. I could only manage a little German with a
young girl + that was it for communication.
For much of the trip, I sat stunned by my quick change of events,
but fled a couple times up on deck just to get some breathing-room, both
literally and figuratively.
I was at such a loss of how to keep myself occupied that I even
bought a pack of cigarettes; but I only smoked a couple and gave the rest away
the next day. I was already counting the days till the 22nd would
arrive.
We stopped in 3 other islands along the way: small towns with no
marinas or docking facilities, so they had to send even smaller boats out to pick
up + drop off passengers.
I watched in amazement as the crew spread a board out between the
two vessels, over the choppy waves: people had to literally ‘walk the plank’ as
it heaved and hoed + they did too!
Timing was absolutely crucial in the success of these transfers for
while one boat was riding the wave’s crest, the other was bottoming out and the
walk in between was anything but secured. Even athletic, youthful
passenger-types found it difficult to
navigate this tumbling tightrope, but when a couple of seasoned, quite hefty
Greek grandmas stepped out, they gave the heaving seas little more than passing
notice and fearlessly forged the gap!
The next leg of our passage proved
to be even rougher seas, however;and as we huddled more tightly around the
engine cover, the grandmas didn’t hide their utter dislike for sailing. They
let it all out! Every time our boat heaved, they did too: their voices and stomachs
heaved together as one with the boat and pretty soon the stench in our close-quartered
hold became unbearable!
It all made for a truly memorable
journey!
But we finally made it safely to Rhodes that night. There was no longer
any Colossus to greet us; only windmills flapping their sails in the wind! Thankfully,
I got a place for the night: Nikos’ Pension: cheap, less than $1/day … but it
turned out to be for 5 days! = 1/9th
of all I had!
Rhodos is a very old, beautiful + intriguing city: Old Town is
surrounded entirely by a Crusader castle wall.
Its history has known one wave of conqueror after another. The
Knights of St John left the wall; the Turks unfortunately took more than they
gave for the following 400 years they were here.
Over my next few days, another wind blew out of Turkey… a very
cold wind + with central heating unknown in these parts, we had only Nikos’
space heater to huddle around in the common room + somehow get warm.
Other travelers were waiting for boats too: some wanted to get to Turkey
and on further to India+ Kathmandu.
A couple others had heard a boat to Cyprus was coming… just nobody
knew when… maybe next week?
I became increasingly suspicious that this ‘coming Cyprus boat’
was a mirage on the horizon + each extra day in Rhodos was only shrinking my
$45 cash-stash without getting me any further to Israel!
It seemed impossible to find a reliable and predictable ferry
schedule: one Travel Agency promoted sailings which others knew nothing about; still
other others countered that no such sailings even existed!
Prices too conflicted. Some disavowed Student Discounts which
their own brochures clearly offered.
Finally, one agency informed me they had a confirmed ticket price
for a real boat: $20!
The precise info was good news, but the bad news? …this would eat
up over half of my remaining funds!
Neither could anyone give me any information on how much money
Cypriot Customs required for a traveler to enter their country.
The whole scenario looked bleaker day by day + getting off Rodos before
Christmas seemed an improbable dream , let alone making it all the way to Israel in time to meet my
friend again!
One of the guys in the pension got very sick: a bad cold from
traveling without even a jacket; he never left his bed for next few days. I was
thankfully spared with only a couple sniffles!
I cooked all my own spaghetti to try + save money. Cats crawled all
over the kitchen; one little black monster made his home in the kitchen sink +
just about became part of the sauce!
And every day the wind out of Turkey seemed to blow harder +
colder + we waited around our heater + froze!
Things were so confusing by the 4th day, I considered
taking any boat available: either back to Athens or Turkey?
A couple travel agents advised via Turkey would be even cheaper,
but when it came to details, they gave me only speculations. Greeks apparently did
not want to give unnecessary business to Turks?
But when it felt truly hopeless, then hope + good news arrived +
was confirmed: a boat was suddenly departing
for Cyprus that very night, with an added plus: the agency gave me a generous $1
student discount!
By that time, every dollar saved was gold!
Sure enough, the Knossos
actually showed up that night, sailed for Cyprus and I was on it!
I was finally making forward progress!
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