Hello yes please

After an 8-hour ferry through the Mediterranean, we arrived at the port in Santorini- probably one of the most beautiful places on earth. After being herded off the ferry, we were accosted by old Greek men trying to give us rides and places to stay on the island... after walking around aimlessly we found a random charter bus that would take us into town. Then when we got into town, we walked around even more aimlessly hauling all of our things, got lost like 20 times, and finally made it to our hostel. In the end it was completely worth it. Our hostel looked out over the sea, and was an easy walk to great restaurants and shops. We started our stay on the islands with a traditional greek meal and a sunset that nearly moved us to tears. We bought a zephyrhills-style bottle of wine, since we didn't have a bottle opener, and drank on our balcony, while some guy screamed greek music on his balcony nearby..
The next day we carted ourselves off to the beach in another "charter" bus, but literally there were about 40 more people on the bus than there should've been... and everyone smells lovely. But the beach made up for everything 50-fold. We went to a black sand beach, and were amazed at how clear the water was. We pretty much just layed out all day and swam.. then it got REALLY fun.
Earlier in the day we had seen some people jumping off the cliffs at the far end of the beach and being me and Kathryn, we HAD to join in. We first tried to figure out how to get up ourselves, but only attempted to climb a "cliff" like 5 feet above sea level. That was before a couple of Aussies, one of whom was a mountain climbing instructor, swam out and helped us free climb up a face of a cliff. This was after I got stabbed in the foot by a sea urchin. So we're climbing up a cliff in our bathing suits and bare feet in Greece with 2 Australian guys... doesn't get much better than that. We made it to the top of the cliff, took in the views, and after finally getting up the courage to do it, we jumped. It was something that we'll never forget.
We wished we could've spent more time in Santorini, it was amazing.. but it was back to Athens...........
Here's where it gets interesting.
The ferry ride back was quite the journey. I was seasick and about to barf the entire time, so I had to sit on the top deck where it was pouring and probably 10 degrees. Kathryn, who woke up with a sinus infection, was sitting below blowing her nose to no end and holding her face. THEN we finally make it to Athens about 2 hours after we were supposed to... check into our hotel which is right next to a CLASSY strip club and turns out......... A/C... not working. So we figured we'd solve the problem by opening the doors and windows... but no such luck- considering our room was facing the combination of I-95, I-75 and the LA Freeway, without any speed limits. So after going down to the front desk and trying to communicate what the problem was with the front desk manager, he comes up to our room with us and pushes a bunch of buttons, and says "please now it will be cold, 10 minutes." Foolishly we believe him, mistake number 1. After 45 minutes of us sitting there staring at each other, we realize the air just isn't going to get any cooler. So we open the doors and attempt to fall asleep listening to semis and motorcycles going 120 mph and beeping their horns simultaneously. I decided I'd rather blow my eardrums listening to Bleeding Love on my iPod, and Kathryn had her noise cancelling headphones on, to no avail. Somehow we get a few hours of sleep and walk down this morning. A new lady was on staff, and we tried to once again explain that our air wasn't working... so she tells us to meet the housekeeper upstairs and she would help us. I think they thought that we just didn't know how to work it... to the housekeeper spends 30 minutes pushing buttons and looking around, doesn't speak A word of english and keeps talking to us, so THEN we go downstairs again after she randomly leaves and doesn't come back. After this time we finally get a room change after we'd already asked like 5 times. At the time, we wanted to kill ourselves, but now we're laughing hysterically... only in Athens.
We go to the pharmacy after hunting down a bus ticket and Kathryn asks for Sudafed, and the pharmacist tells her it doesn't exist in Greece... so she gave her a prescription antibiotic instead. For 2 euro. WAY easier than the states.
Now we're off to the Acropolis- FINALLY. Hopefully the sea urchin barbs won't hurt too badly on the hike up, but we're not letting anything stop us now. We're on a mission: see the Acropolis and get the hell out of Athens.
Oh by the way, one more funny story. We were eating at a cafe outside, and this guy who was nearly comatose comes up to us with a pair of "Ray Ban" sunglasses to try to sell them to us. Kathryn keeps saying no while I take the logical approach and try to calmly explain that Kathryn already has sunglasses, so why would she need another pair? That didn't work... but he DID whip out a lighter and proceeded to try to light the glasses on fire in an apparent attempt to prove that they REALLY WERE fireproof. Needless to say we didn't fall for it.. but I was curious as to why you'd need fireproof sunglasses. Point is, even though sometimes everything doesn't go according to plan, it still makes for the best memories... we'll write again when we get to Rome- peaceee.