Today I was supposed to go ride donkeys but on account of my actions the night before I was unable to get out of bed until noon. I'd been on the fence about doing the famous Santorini donkey ride in the first place, to me it seems cruel to make the donkeys climb up and down the cliffs all day, so I wasn't bummed about missing out. Kelly went without me and had a great time, plus they stopped at the amazing gyro place Dave kept talking about, which I never ended up going to. I should mention the donkey stench. Yes, Santorini is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been however, while you're enjoying the breathtaking sights, occasionally an overpowering donkey smell lingers in the air. I guess the paths they lead the donkeys on are covered in donkey poop and inevitably it's not an easy smell to cover up. Add in the nice breezes of the island and the poop smell gets whisked around quite a bit. It's bearable, but definitely noticeable, especially while enjoying dinner at an outdoor restaurant.
So this morning was the true beginning of my battle with the Contiki plague. My throat felt like it was closing up on itself. I'd taken a liking to stealing honey packets during breakfast and downing those throughout the day to soothe my throat, and on this day I ate about 5 of these before I was able to even get out of bed. When I finally got up I threw on my bathing suit and grabbed some nail polish to go sit by the pool and touch up my nails. I figured everyone had gone on the donkey ride so I'd be alone but I was happy to find Teneal, Layne, the Kazzies, Dominique and Alex out at the pool. Teneal had even picked up a ham and cheese croissant for me for breakfast, that's why I love her! Today was a lazy day just lounging by the pool and listening to music. When everyone got back from the donkey ride pretty much all of them came out to the pool, too. I definitely needed a day like this to recharge and relax, I didn't even drink anything all afternoon (unbelievable, I know).
That night was the optional excursion to the village of Oia to watch the sunset. This is a gorgeous little town famous for its sunsets. Personally, the sunset wasn't any more amazing than the ones we'd seen the past few nights in Fira. But this optional was still worth going on, I think the whole group went, and this is when we took our group picture. Plus it was a cute town and I took tons of pictures that came out great despite me having zero photography skills. Dave brought along a picnic for us of a bunch of different cheese, crackers, chips and of course wine. Everyone just stood around in this little square waiting for the sun to set, it ended up getting pretty crowded in there the closer it got to the actual sunset. There were a few stray dogs hanging around that we kept feeding. It always makes me sad to see stray animals but I think these two dogs had a decent life mooching off of tourists.
Most of the group ended up going back to Murphy's to watch a huge soccer game(I refuse to call it football!). I think it was Germany versus Spain (I'm such an American). I was planning on going but on the bus ride back to Fira I was falling asleep and felt horrible. We did have on board entertainment on the ride back, a few people got on the microphone on the bus and sang acapella. Jose had to sing a Backstreet Boys song because apparently his donkey came in last place and that was his punishment. Then Staker sang Endless Love, I think both the male AND female parts, it was pretty damn good. I can't remember who else sang, but I do remember Scotty was passed out during all of this and he was sitting right at the front of the bus where people were singing, I swear he can sleep anywhere. I got off the bus with a handful of other people who were calling it a night, I decided it was better to rest up for crazy ass Ios where we'd be heading the next day than stay up and watch a soccer game I had no interest in. This was by far the most tame day of the whole trip, but I think staying in this night is what saved me for the next 3 insane days.
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