Although Evia was a long time ago, the beauty, confusion, and tragedy are all still quite clear in my mind. We will be returning to Taso's village on Wednesday to finish up the program and present our findings on the fire at a sort of Symposium where we will be inviting most of the village. Sadly, we weren't able to set up a fund to raise money for any victims of the fires, but we're hoping that going back and showing our appreciation through a small festival will at least make some people smile. When the festival was happening a few weeks ago, it was cut short and everyone left in a messy rush because we had heard fires were nearby. As you can see from above, Evia is a breathtaking place, we went to this very local beach by a tractor owned by Taso's cousin. Knowing this is a beach I'll probably never be able to go to again made me appreciate it even more. I dont have a picture of the tractor, but that should be coming soon when I get pictures from people in the group. But the picture of the truck is good for now.
When I think small town, I usually think Camas. But Evia is the type of small town that you see in the movies. C'mon, we rode a tractor to the beach! I know Vitalo (The town's real name, it's so small you just refer to everything as Evia) has changed a lot over the years with the addition of electricity to the village and all...but it still remains quite untouched from commercialism and the outside world. As we walked around the village, small one-way streets and old stone houses were scattered about with the impressive countryside in the background. It's obvious that everybody knows everybody and everything about them, which is one thing about small towns that I can do without. It's also amazing how simple things still are around here-for a minute I really did think we were in a movie...There was this great moment where Taso's cousin stopped the tractor so we could lean over and pick fresh figs from their trees...Did you know that the island is a huge producer of figs? We walked by many houses where there were hundreds of figs on tables in the yard laying out to dry. It was surreal. Then when the fires started happening I really had to stop and wonder for a minute.
I spent a lot of my time a few weeks ago trying to explain everything that happened during the fires, but I hope my pictures can explain some of it enough. It was deva-vu from Katrina, I could see the fire in the distance, but had no way of understanding what was going on because I couldn't understand the Greek newscasts. Between all the phone calls made on Morgan's cell phone which probably cost a fortune, the looks of worry on people's faces, and bouts of power outages, we got through it. We go through so much of our lives feeling safe and sound, and it's the moments like these where you have to stop and think for a second...and it's hard now to go back and remember all those feelings I was having during that night. Of course, just like Katrina, we all got through it okay...but the aftermath was the worst. How are you supposed to feel when you ride into a town and all you can see is endless green on one side, endless blue on the other...Then leave only to see a charred black and grey hillside? It was one of the only times of the trip that our entire group grew silent. I hope these picture can explain the beauty and tragedy that lied within our trip to Evia, because a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment