Well, our trip is winding down. We took a bus back from Mesolongi to Athens. T-shirt contender on the bus: 15-year old boy wearing “Porn Star in Training”, with a bunch of icons of sexual positions below and their labels, such as “Double Penetration” and “Reverse Cow”. On the second bus, from the station to the Metro, we had a run in with a Metro Cop. We were crowded onto the back of the bus surrounded by people and suitcases, and so we couldn’t get to the one machine on the bus up front to validate our .50 tickets. Of course, when the cop saw the tickets I gave him, he said they were no good and wanted to see my passport. Then he and his partner asked us to get off the bus at Omonia, and told us we had to pay a @0.00 fine each! Of course we protested this, explaining in Greek the situation, then Sandra asked if we could speak with his boss (“Not today.”), and then he asked me if i was Greek. It ended up fine, but I think our speaking Greek, my descent, and the reality of the bus situation (which they experienced as well as us) helped.
We went to Loutsa for two nights to spend time with Anna again. She enjoyed talking to us (in English) and is definitely not mainstream, as we are not, so we had a lot in common. I was surprised, though, to hear her blame the enormous trash problem on the Albanians, primarily. Another person we had talked to said that the problem with the Albanians was the when the borders were opened, Albania released all its criminals from jail and sent them to Greece. This and Anna’s comment reminded me so much of the way most Americans perceive Mexicans and other Spanish-speakers (remember the Marielitos?) and Blacks. All in all, though we had a great time with Anna.
Our last day in Athens was spent shopping for books and music, for us and friends, and we booked a room at the Art Gallery Hotel, where we had spent our first 3 days. We got together with Nasos and Katerina, whom we had met on Amorgos. they insisted on picking us up in their car and taking us to the waterfront in Pireas for dinner. We had a wonderful time over a long dinner, talking, In Greek, about all kinds of things. It turns out they like classical music, and Katerina even teaches piano, so that was another commonality. they’re both very decent, warm people, and this was a great way to leave the country.
