Beach Day

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2014 Naxos
We're still feeling appreciative of the hospitality that Dina and her family have shown us. Through these interactions, we also gain a little more insight into the Greek perspective. When I tried to explain what I used to do for a living, Dina had a hard time understanding why Canadians build houses out of wood when concrete is so much more permanent. I tried to explain (with lots of gestures) the advantages of stick frame construction insofar as insulating is concerned but she looked very dubious about the structural strength and longevity. Their experience here is about tempering the heat with the mass of their concrete walls and hoping that more concrete will withstand earthquakes better. With language and experience differences, it wasn't possible to explain to her about the earthquake resistance and tensile strength of wood frame walls  sheeted with plywood. Their experience here is in a different climate and with different materials available. For example, there's marble everywhere. Naxos marble is renowned for its quality and there's lots of it. It looks great but would be very expensive in Canada.
Dina's son is doing his practice work as a police cadet in Athens. When I asked him about crime there, he said it's much better since they arrested about 10,000 illegal immigrants from Pakistan and other poor countries a few years ago. Many of them are now confined in barracks in fenced compounds awaiting diplomatic negotiations that never happen. From the Greek perspective, this is a necessary step to keep foreign criminals off the streets. The immigrants' perspective might be a bit different.
As well Dina mentioned that there is 27% unemployment in Greece and 60% of those who are unemployed are under 30. This is a big worry. It does seem like a recipe for social unrest.
We can see this stuff on the evening news but it's always interesting to hear from those who are actually living a different experience than we are in Canada.

 Yesterday was still a bit overcast but it was quite a bit warmer. We walked along the beaches again. Anita cooled her feet by the rocks between Agia Anna and Plaka beaches.
This morning was quite warm and sunny so after we did some bookings on the internet and some laundry, we decided to make a beach day of it. On the way to the beach, we took a roundabout route through the village to pick up some more bottled water at one of the mini marts. Unfortunately, they were both still closed. Tourist season is not on just yet. So we went to the gas station. There, the old lady in the office took one look at us and said, "Water?" and pointed to the cooler. I got a 2L bottle worth 50 cents and gave her a 10 euro note, since I had forgotten my bag of change. She looked at it and at her nearly empty change dish and waved us off. Basically, she said in Greek, just take it, no problem. Very generous. We went by that way on our way home and this time her son had the change although she never expected us to come back. Smiles all around.

 We were at the beach for over 3 hours. It was hot and sunny although not crowded at this time of year. There is a lagoon behind much of Agios Prokopios beach so there are only taverns and restaurants at the far end. The rest will never be developed, which makes it very nice.

 Our room at Dina's. We really like it here. Anita has been cooking all our meals. Tonight we ate pasta out on the balcony.

 The view from our balcony over the lagoon to the beach. It's about 300m to the sea.

 The courtyard and other suites at Dina's shown from our balcony.

Anita has found a Naxos wine that she likes that's reasonably priced. Could be trouble.
Tomorrow we take the ferry to Santorini. Once again, we'll be sorry to leave here.