Rats

I immediately feel excitement. It's almost a full moon night. Bars line the half moon shaped bay. I mean bars. I have a hard time finding a place to eat. I heard the Greeks drink until 10 pm then eat but where do they go? It's just the opposite in Turkey. It's packed with restaurants and tea houses.



Finally I find a little cafe and I have cabbage stuffed meat in a creamy dill sauce. That with a nice cold beer is all I need. Almost everyone speaks English and you can say I'm a liar. I didn't practice any Greek before coming because I didn't know I was coming until about a week ago. I don't plan on picking it up either. I won't be here long enough. Nor did I practice Turkish before coming. I didn't think I'd be in Turkey long. I did get a Russian phrase book and that's what I was practicing for the "Stan's".



It's way more expensive here. My shit hole of a place costs $25. Believe me I looked around. In the middle of the night I swear something heavy like a rat crawled across my legs. I froze. You know that freeze when you have to force yourself to wake up and move. Finally I switched on the light and it took me awhile before I had the nerve to check under the bed. I couldn't find anything but I left the bathroom light on and shut the window. I had a hard time falling asleep.



I thought of the girl in Vietnam who got bit and had to return from this mtn. village to Hanoi to get a rabie shot. It also reminded me of the rat the size of a cat that ran across the beam which held the mosquito net over the bed in Thailand. I was having an affair with a Swede 14 yrs younger than me. He threw a shoe at it. Some of my SF girlfriends know about him but probably not the rat story. They only read the unmentionable parts aloud from my journal one night. Having a good time of it at my expense.



I planned on leaving this morning, not wanting to stay another night in that dump. But when I walked out on the street this morning I loved the scene. Narrow streets packed with interesting shops and cafes that were all closed last night. The day is warm and clear. My capuccino is perfert. There are churches, castles, parks and museams I must see. So I'm staying put.