Hot IS Cool

Common theory says that coming from a hot climate somehow affects your personality. Well., that was what Dad always said. He used his warm place of birth, Dubrovnik, Croatia as the reason he was so damn hot-headed. And to tell the truth I tend to use that sometimes too. I mean I wasn't born there, but you know heritage and all that.
After two months in very warm places though I am beginning to wonder about all that.
The coolest, most laid back people I have seen have come from Bulgaria near the Black Sea, Turkey (all over) and currently Galatas near the Island of Poros, Greece.
Everything is slow and happy here. People stop and chat no matter what. They smile slowly, eat slowly (and very, very late) and just take time.
I still think it is the sun's influence. It makes you mellow, it makes you happy, it says, "Slow down man, there's lots of time and sunshine." In Canada those fleeting days of sun and warmth have the opposite effect. Instead of taking it easy and chillin' we rush about taking advantage of every ounce of brightness. We know it could be days before we see the sun again.
When you know the sun is going to shine every day it gives a cooling effect. The sunshine is like an extra room in peoples' lives. They live and breathe the sun. And at least here in Greece they ride about in it, mostly on motorcycles.
Every morning as AJ and I take our morning coffee on the patio opposite from Hotel Papasotiriou and this is what we see...

Weathered old men on bright green, skinny bikes,
Very large men with their tummys hanging onto their waists carrying little kids chairs over their arms
Gorgeous young women with thick, black hair flying, carrying three shopping bags, talking on their cell phones
A family of four the youngest eating an ice-cream ( no one hanging on or wearing helmets)
Old, old men on three wheeled motos blightly scootering along, never stopping, pausing, or looking to left or right. Just smiling, and waving.

This is what the sun does to you. It makes you mellow. We certainly are. After ten days in Galatas (on the Greek Pellonpenis penninsula)just a one minute ferry ride from the island of Poros we are "Getting Greek." We sleep late, eat an unhurried breakfast, and then make the tough decisions about what to do with our day. Today we just drove and found an old sign it said "Volcano." "Really, we both said. We followed the arrows and arrived at a dead end with an arrow pointing up, up, up. We were of course a bit suspicious. We've been misled before by signs. We scrambled straight up for about 30 minutes (elevation about a 200 meter gain) in 40 degree heat. "Damn, we both said, "hope it's worth it. IT WAS! We followed arrows, and sign posts and eventually arrived at the crater. The pictures (which we hope to eventually post) tell the whole story. Absolutely, amazing.
And what was truly remarkable was that there was no one taking tickets, charging you anything, no guides, no booklets for sale, no one telling you history of the volcano no one saying, "No flash!!" Just this amazing collection of volcanic rock, huge boulders and stunning, picture-perfect lava flows. Off in the distance was the brilliant blue Med, dotted with unreal looking little white sail boats.
We stumbled down after taking about 40 shots of him and me in the crater, on top of the crater, beside the crater.... The warm beer we drank at the bottom was the best I've had for a long time.
There is something about the sun and its hot,hot glare that just makes me feel better. In my other life I know I was a gecko.
We are off soon to Croatia, then Italy, France, Spain and Portugal and we hope lots more of Mr. Sol.
I definitely want to be cremated - the hotter the better!