A week in Dakhla, the desert in our heart. First day.

This trip is dedicated to Freeda. We had the most wonderful life toghether and now that she is gone, she has given me the freedom to travel without having to worry about where she will stay. Be well my wonderful fantastic, free, dog companion. 

On the first of December we took a plane to Dakhla.

There is a different exhitement when you visit another continent.

This is not Europe, your comfort zone, this is africa, more over Morocco, an arab country.

You feel like an alien, a christian in a muslim country (I'm not at all religious, but I know THEY are), a white woman in the south, a head uncovered in the middle of mantilas... All these questions keep spinning in your head.

But you have to get out of your confort zone. I have decided to anyway.

My companion (lets call him K. for the rest of this trip) is a kite surfer so he knew the place was the Mecca of kite surf. Our plan was to spend a week there. He would kite and I would sleep, eat, read, listen to music, swim in the pool, whatever.

The weather in France was beggining to get cold. We got our big coats, scarfs, bonnets and gloves and off we went!

Lyon - Casablanca, Casablanca - Dakhla.

We arrived in Dakhla in the middle of the night at 00.45.

Our driver was waiting to take us to the hotel. In the car radio, a kind of berber desert music like Tinariwen but a lot more traditional and with terrible reception. The guy does not speak engligh and his french is incomprehensible so we quickly stopped trying to make small talk. In silence, we took in the smells and the humidity of the air.

When we arrived to our hotel, we were greeted but the manager. They were all wearing hoodies and flip-flops at one o clock in the morning! In December! As he was talking I took one small step back and there was NOTHING and I started falling back! It was a small place where you could rinse your feet from the sand. The water tap met my thigh and I was sure I would spend the next days with a nice bruise! Fortunately no more hurting at that point. We'll go to bed and we'll see tomorrow. Our room is nicely decorated. The hotel is called Dakhla Evasion in case you wanna visit their website.

December 2nd at Dakhla. 

We get out of our room and there is fog everywhere. You don't see anything and everything is really eerie and very very wet. 

The desert wants to keep her mystery until the sun goes up...

Here is what everything looked like when we got our of the room. 

We ate breakfast in a wonderfully decorated restaurant, served by a wonterful man. Psemen, the arab pancake, french pastries, handmade bread, fresh fruit, cake... OMG the breakfast was sooo big! I never eat that much in the morning but everything was so delicious, I could simply not stop! For the next six days, we would be eating this delicious breakfast. Every effort I made to lose weight before coming here is lost. 

     

Happy belly, off we go to explore the place. Everything is still covered in fog, but we don't care! Fuck we are in DAKHLA baby!

We are always dressed as silly europeans, closed shoes and warm clothes. Soon we will do as the locals do. Walk around in flip flops and carry around a small jacket, not for the cold, but to cover from the sun. 

This first morning is the best! The fog is giving everything a touch of mystery and I feel like being in a dream, in a film, in another reality. It is not the european fog with its' cold eeriness. It is a warm desert fog filled with the precious humidity that feeds the wonderful cactus plants. 

Our hotel is in front of the sea so, despite the fog, we go towards the sea. I will soon take my shoes off, I need to feel this wet sand. It is chilly but not cold. And there are some wonderful tiny white shells everywhere! my senses are full, and the sun starts to win over the fog. 

Behind the hotel, there is a small dune, where you can climb and see the view from a height. The sand was virgin. Walking on virgin, untouched sand with your bare feet is better than sex. Your feet touch the ground and it feels like walking on a cloud. Words are poor to describe this amazing sensation. I would spend a week walking on sand! I am in heaven on earth.

Meanwhile, the fog is completely gone and the sun begins to warm our bodies. We start to see the splendour of the place, the immensity of the Dakhla lagoon. 

There is not much wind to kite surf so we take the rest of the day to walk in the sand and have a look at the swimming pool before going to eat for the second time. The pool water is cold for me so I just take the sun in. 

We Greeks, don't really like pools and you might be wondering what on earth are you doing near the pool when the sea is just in front of you? Well, the Dakhla lagoon is really shallow, you walk for kilometers and the water is still around your ankles. It is really impossible to swim, you can do it in the afternoon when the tide is at its lowest but at this time of the day it is windy and it's too cold to swim.

We are not hungry at all, but we are on full board so we will eat. There are tables outside and it's hot enough to stay outside. A refreshing salad and then.... Friday is couscous for everyone in Morocco. So we had the royal treatment with a royal couscous. Semoule at the bottom, vegetables around it and meat in the middle. A mountain of colours of which I managed to eat one third, given that I was not that hungry...

This was our first day. No kite surf, but nice food, walking in the sand and taking it easy. Dakhla was a discovery for me, I never thought I would go this far. Africa was my dream and I am in Africa. 

A dream come true. 

PS. I made a video compilation of all the small videos I took during the week in Dakhla. I hope you enjoy it!    

Thinking of Skyros

I did not want to leave Skyros.
Three weeks were not enough.

On my last night, I went to Korfari, the little bar by the sea, run by Dimitris, an interesting guy to say the least. 5-6 locals and me. This is what they do when the tourists have gone and winter is coming. We spent the night youtubing and drinking wine. Everyone contributed a song. We DJed altogether. I sung for them. I was always amazed by the Skyrians' good taste for music. Blues, rock, soul, they all know very much about music and they are passionate about it. The Skyrians are generous, talkative people and they know how to have a good time.

Dizzy as I was from the wine, before I went to bed, I decided to walk on the beach one last time. The sea was calm and the stars were shining bright. As Clio put it, a romantic night with myself. I contemplated all these fine moments on the island. New friends. New experiences. Beautiful images. I also said goodbye to Adonis. All the things we did
together on this island three years ago. Life goes on. I was emotional, but with a sweet feeling that will always come to me when I think of Skyros.

Six o clock in the morning I was up again. I had a long way ihead of me. Four hours of sleep and I still managed to come home safely. I guess I' not so old yet, I can handle it, he he!

I want to say a special thank you to Clio, my new French best friend. She gave me two riding lessons, but I learned even more, spending time with her everyday. She is only 24 but she is a great teacher. She builds confidence in you and the horse. She is very intuitive with horses. But intuition is useless without knowledge. She has worked hard, she has studied and travelled for years. As the years go by, I can see her blossoming into a charming lady, who knows a lot about horses. I am a bit jealous that she found her path so early in life.

I'll never forget our road trip on the mountains of Skyros. Our walk to the beach were Dimos drowned. Our night out in the village until 7 in the morning. Our HUGE breakfasts at 9 in the morning, when fresh bread arrived. We could not move because we ate too much. Her motivation in cleaning the farm. Every day was a new project. Every day was full of laughs and smiles. Everyday was an adventure.

Sweet Georgie, the 19 year old volunteer from Brighton, UK, who knew
a lot about poneys. Always eager to help, always with a smile on her face, always wearing shorts in cold nights, making the old ladies in the village cross themselves as she passed by! One day she worked with Pyrros and made him jump! Here is a lovely picture of the two of them...

I miss Ruth's laugh! The way she used to talk and joke about almost everything... having to repeat herself because I could not understand what she said! Ruth, darling, make sure you tell me the whole sentence next time! You were strong and eager to help, hope we meet someday in the future...

I cooked for the girls everyday. Spinach with rice. Chickpea soup. Trachanas with feta cheese. Pastitsio. Cockerel in wine with pasta. Brocoli and cauliflour au gratin. Pasta bolonaise with pepers from the garden. Rocket salad with cherry tomatoes and walnuts from the garden.
Dimos's garden was alive and producing. My speciality became a sweet I call salami. Chocolate with biscuits inside. when you cut it, it looks like salami. One day, I found an aubergine that looked like a chicken! It went into a pasta sauce, but will be here for eternity, as I took a picture of it!

My body got stronger and my skin darker. October was hot in Skyros.

Every morning, 7.30, we would go out to the field. The ponies were waking up. The stallions were waking up. The sky would be pink. The moon was out there. As I went into the field, a pony would come and say hello. I would hug and kiss the pony on it's nose. The nose of a horse is soft and tender.

For a couple of days I was saying goodbye. To the cats. Hitler, Hunter, Charlie, Martha, Mary, Stachti and the rest. We buried Muesli. He died a few days before I left. I found him just as he was leaving for his next life. Goodbye to Heidi, the goat. I'll miss you. Goodbye to the mares.
Sylvia, Kaya, Marika, Milly, Nefeli, Glyka, Clio, Lavender, Georgia... Goodbye to the stallions. Victor, Apollon, Ermis, Dias, Dimos... Goodbye Pyrros and Ira, the big horses... I wish I had more time to remember all 38 horses and all 15 cats with their names. Goodbye to the dogs, Ruba, Chara, Filio. Goodbye chickens, thanks for the food! Goodbye to all the strange creatures of nature, especially this praying mantis that looked like a piece of wood... He was scary, but beautiful...

It was indeed strange being in the farm without Amanda and Stathis. I missed all the conversations I had with Amanda. But then again, it was a different experience.

My last night on the island. My last morning on the porch of their house. My last sunrise. Waves gently touching the shore. Going out of the house, thinking you will hear the traffic. But all you hear is the waves. Last moments. For now. Next time, I promised myself a vacation on Skyros. Not working, just enjoying the beach, the people and the wine.

I drove back. Alone with Freeda in the car. Aretha Frankin. Etta James. Loud music. The sense of freedom. I am driving myself home. I have to thank myself for the gifts I am giving me. Being alone and strong. I deserve the joy. I deserve life. I deserve the things that make me laugh. No more compromising. No more waiting for help from out there somewhere.

I miss them already. The people, the animals and the smells. The harsh earth beneath my feet. The warm sun in my face. The stars. The sea. I
miss them all. I'll come back, I promise.

Divine food in Sifnos

What is the fisrt thing a traveller looks for in a new place? Sleep. We covered that part already.

What is the second thing a traveller looks for in a new place? Food!

Sifnos is one of these places that still makes is own traditional cheese. The cheese I tried first is called xi-no-mi-tzi-thra (try reading that out loud!). It is a soft sour and salty cheese that goes perfect in a tomato salad and anything else. It is made by goat and sheep milk. Unlike feta chese, it melts on the tomatos and mixes with the olive oil and whatever is in the salad! I do like dipping fresh bread in olive oil and xinomitzithra!

Another divine food that they make here in Sifnos is "mastelo". It is goat or lamb roasted in a wooden oven for hours and hours. The meat is soft like butter and is has a smokey flavor I have never tasted before... As for the portions they serve here they are more than enough! They are so big, that even Freeda had the chance to taste it!

And then there is pasteli. It is a traditional sweet made from sesame seeds and honey. It is soft and has a tiny bit of cinnamon... The best pasteli I had in my life! (back in Italy, Jim was making fun at me because everything he made was THE BEST I HAD ΙΝ ΜΥ LIFE ha ha ha, Jim, I hope you are reading this!)

There is still a lot to taste and see, but is is going to be a long summer, so I'm taking my time trying everything. My next mission, foodwise, is chickpeas in the wooden oven and more cheeses to go...

Most vegetables are local and eggs taste like real eggs! It's really different from Athens...

I do enjoy my work at the shop, because I am surrounded by beautiful objects I get to arrange as I wish... Very creative... I get to meet people from around the globe and be in the busiest street of Sifnos!

Today is the biggest day of the summer! Hope you enjoy the rest of it!

(BTW I do know that this post is full of exclamation marks, but I am in awe if what I see and taste...)