It was all going so well, and then....

First, the trip over was seemless. Lufthansa was great, we were checked in and through security in 45 minutes. The cats were well behaved, barely a peep out of them the entire time. Cleo did pee in her carrier, which was kind of gross, but other than that they were absolute angels. I have no idea how Rikki held it that long, but he did. I have a whole new respect for my cats. All flights arrived and departed on time or very close to it, and we were met in Chania by all of our luggage and a lazy/non-existent customs crew who didn't even notice that we had two cats with us. Better safe than sorry, but it turns out I didn't need any of the veterinary paperwork I had with me. We were met by the car rental agent who had a nice, new Huynda (sp?)for us, and we made the trip from Chania to Drapanias quickly and without any wrong turns. The guy that I'm renting the house from met us there, and we went to bed tired but happy that we had actually made it and completely unscathed.

And then...

We drove into town the next day to explore, and I didn't see the steep ditch/hole in the side of the road when I made a sharp right and plunged the back end of our car into it. The jarring and screeching told us that this was no minor incident, and physical inspection confirmed that I had pretty much destroyed the back bumper.

I would be posting a picture of the damage right now, but we left the camera at home to come into town today to use this internet cafe. We're at the internet cafe because after having wrecked the rental car, I managed to blow my computer up by apparently using the wrong combination of adapters in conjunction with the electrical converter. We have an appointment at 1pm at a local computer shop to see if there's anything that can be done for it.

All in all, I think yesterday is going to run me $1500-$2000 before it's all over, between the insurance deductable on the car and possibly a new laptop.

We drank a lot of beer last night.

Oh...and we have a date for Wednesday at 3pm to go out on Adonnis' "ship". We met him over lunch yesterday when he bought us shots of Raki. We met him at George's restaurant...that's all we know about him other than his phone numbers, which I'll leave here in case no one ever hears from us again: 2822024363 & 6972845016. Hey, he has a business card, he must be legit...right?

The cats are settling in well. We have gained some permanent guests on the back patio...three skinny kitties looking for food and undeterred so far by the fact that we're not giving them any. The landlord gave very strong instructions not to feed the strays, which is absolutely killing Merit but she's complying so far. It's tough to be so cold, but if I ever want my cats to be able to come outside with me, I need to deter these visitors as much as possible. They're flea-ridden and probably have respiratory disease and I don't want to expose my cats to that. They're very persistent though, waiting by the door and meowing loudly each time they hear us making food inside. Merit gets upset when I make loud noises to shoo them away when they try to run in the house.

The house itself is nice, but will take some getting used to. The hot water is only available in the morning, there is no AC or ceiling fans (the landlord is supposed to be picking up a floor fan for us), and we can't flush TP as the sewage system here can't handle it. Merit is really disgusted by this:-) I've got a European washing machine, but the dryer is three clothes lines out on the patio. The second bedroom is really more of a sitting area with an incredibly uncomfortable pull-out bed. Merit finally determined that putting the seat cushions on the floor is more comfortable than pulling out the bed. If I can find an air mattress I'm going to pick it up for future guests.

I've been able to use some of the Greek I learned, although it's more of a courteous gesture to the locals than anything actually useful. When I've come across someone who doesn't speak any English at all, communication is still very difficult.

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully I'll get my computer situation straight soon and be able to post the many pictures that Merit has taken (I have yet to take one, because I've been so distracted by the logistics and unexpected events of yesterday).