we arrive to the island of Samos with the dead weight of dry sea air and the smell of grilled fish while the heavy afternoon sun bakes our every pore and salt filled hair. taking care of ferry logisitcs is first and foremost on our agenda and we inevitably find that most are full for the next couple of days. we then find an overly large watermelon to take the edge off. in greece unlike turkey we have to really search far and wide for fresh produce. well at least on this particular island. i end up finding three potentially rancid watermelon at the bottom of a 4'x4'x4' box at a super market smelling of cleaning supllies and deoderant. one is brown and looks like it may take over the universe if opened and the stench were allowed to spread throughout the air. the other two have the remains of other melons that had sat atop them for the duration of their stay. very sticky and the smell of rotten fish in the air. well the fish section of the store was close enough that it could have gone either way.

with my inability to come to grips with my insatiable watermelon addiction and the quality and shear size of my options i thought to look elsewhere. though most of the stores are closed around the noon hour and the grociery store i walked pass earlier with its closed doors, dim lights and fresh basket of melons linguiring in the window brought a daunting and potentially futile endeover wafting in my future.
i decided to go ahead and try and fish a melon from the box (no pun intended) and see if a little wash might remedy the problem. maybe someone would see me and tell me i'm crazy and that these melons are of ancient artifacts that only the most highly proffesional team of archeologist may dispose especially by the use of special gloves with a liberal application of antibacterial solution.

it turns out the lady in back washed it for me with no questions asked. gave me some paper towel while after letting me also wash my hands. the melon actually was still good. just a bit over ripe.

soon after searching for a quiet cove to wash my sunburned aching body i find myself roused from a dreamless sleep atop some primitve makeshift boardwalk jutting out into the wave washed sea. my eyes slowly blink and flicker open to closed. water softly rises into the air after rinsing the rocks and moving tiny pebbles from side to side on the almost perstine bottom. my feet slowly notice the variations in temperture and conclude to lay peaceful and undisturbed. i focus on the beach at its inhabitants. the sun bathers applying thick loads of sunblock, wearing flowered brimmed caps and over prices generic sun shades that easily could take up more then three sets of eyes if need be.

after a long period of mindless observation for the spectical before me. i begin trying to recollect how i got to this specific place and what it could possibly mean to be lying here half awake with the grapes of wrath resting warmly under my left earlobe. creating subtle creases in my skin.
just then a man comes trodding through the water at a very close distance to my left. i manage no intention to move. just watching this newly found perspective of this heavily tanned human being with clumps upon clumps of back hair slowly wobble his way back and forth along the tricky stone manuovers awaiting one foot to the next in the indecernable haze of spackled sunlit water. i thought maybe i must have paid some kind of admittion into this fantasy world of sand and water......like how one may take a sightseeing adventure to observe dolphines frolicking the waves waking from the tail of a motorboat...... or whales spouting clouds of freshly caught see water into the morning sun....... or sea turtles laying their eggs on some ultra protected beach to ensure the utmost urgency and privacy of their endangerd nature.

at last i was over my desire to reevaluate the human species and the sun swept beaches in the ancient art and indeterminable habitat of the thriving tourist. to see yet again the bottom of the ocean the best way possible and find some refreshing momentum to continuing exploring the remainder of samos city.