This post is originally from September 27, 2019

Today is Friday which is the last day of work for the week. Lucy and I spent most of the day in the warehouse sorting through clothes and again came across some real doozies of outfits. We seem to literally get caught  with our pants down as every time we find a hilarious get up we can’t help but try them on. Today as I was trying to pull a pair of shorts off (the shorts had more material than Lady Di’s train) and I was caught yet again by a resident who volunteers in the shop. I think I gave him quite the scare because he ran by saying ‘sorry, sorry, sorry’.

At one point we came across a box of pants that was riddled with mouse droppings. It was quite disgusting and we made the executive decision to just get rid of the contents of the box.

There are a few residents who have started little businesses in the camp. Like a small coffee shop, a place to buy cigarettes and a falafel shop. Today we ordered a falafel before leaving for the day and boy oh boy was it delicious. The man who makes them was so grateful so I’ll definitely have to order more for lunch next week.

With our volunteer schedule, it leaves little time to do a weekend getaway. We don’t leave the camp until about 3:30 so organizing transportation from Chalkida is a bit tricky. We were successful though – we were able to figure out connections from Chalkida by train to Athens where we’d catch the metro and switch lines to the port. From there we caught a ferry for a 2 hour journey to the island of Hydra. We weren’t sure how much extra time we’d need so we literally went straight from the camp to the train station.

All was good by the time we got our tickets at the port. We even had a bit of time to spare before leaving so we decided to grab a drink and some ice cream while we waited. We got so caught up in chatting at the coffee shop what we nearly missed our ferry. Our ferry was supposed to leave at 7:30 and at 7:15, Xenia noticed the time. We quickly scarfed down the ice cream  poured the water from the glasses back into the bottles and made a mad dash to  find our ferry. We thought the number system would be straight forward but unfortunately these massive ferries take up a ton of space. The four of us were running in among the car lanes frantically trying to find our boat. And by running I mean the 3 other girls were a mile a head of me while I trailed in the back looking more like a grandma as I can’t properly run on my ankle. Run Forest Run!!!!! There’s nothing like catching a ferry by the skin of your nose.

We arrived into Hydra after the sun set but from what I can tell it looks absolutely amazing. White washed buildings, cobblestone pathways, adorable cats and no vehicles. The only mode of transport on Hydra is by foot or donkey. Giddy up!

I’m looking forward to tomorrow where we can go to beaches and explore the island.