KPHTH

Who would have thought we would have to come to the south of Crete to experience our first and hopefully only snowfall of the year. And in March; and a total blizzard. Oh well, the Cretans say it is good luck. I am just glad our friends have a wood stove.

Isaiah and Diego had a big snowball fight and made a snowman. We enjoyed the amazing view from our friend's home, at the top of the village of Pirgos. The house is entirely made of stone in the fashion of the Minoans. Our Cretan friend has worked with stone for years and has also worked on many archeological sites here in Crete, including Knossos. The house is spacious and beautiful, poli oreos!

Crete is incredibly beautiful, full of huge mountains that are covered in snow, thanks to the blizzard. Pirgos is almost the southern most village on the island, aside from Tris Iklesias which sits on the sea. About one hour directly south of Irakleon, it rests on a small mountain on the southern side of a huge valley bordered by giant mountains north, south, east, and west. There are maybe 1000 residents here, all related or close friends. And at least one of them speaks English. The food is so fresh, all from people's gardens, and everyone is real friendly. We have met many friends and family of our friends, and have been treated like family in every occasion.

The home we are staying in is not quite complete but has every convienence except electricity, which is not really a problem. Candles and a gas lamp do pretty well and we can charge phones, cameras, and the messiah at our friend's mom's house nearby. To top it off, our friend has some 400 gallons of homemade wine... amazingly good, organic homemade wine.

So far we have explored a bit of Chania, a beautiful port town where our ferry docked. Also the ruins of Gortyn, which contains the oldest written legislative text in Europe. Phaestos was another ruin we explored; this is an ancient Minoan city of the same time period as Knossos. Phaestos was cool, set on top of a small mountain with 360 degree views. We went to Matalla, a beach town with Roman tombs carved into the sandstone cliffs on one side. Agia Galini, another beach town that our friend went to to be a fisherman at the age of 13. Also Tris Eklisies, probably the southern most town, a fishing village with 50 or so houses. Here lives another friend, a part time fisherman who comes on the weekends from Irakleon. We played on the deserted beach, littered with goat bones, and then were treated to a feast of spaghetti and fish. So fresh it was still moving, almost.

We are working here, helping our friend with things around his home. Planting seeds and sorting them too, hundreds of varieties. Also building a staircase to the second story using huge eucalyptus trees. Log cabin style.

We have fallen hard for Crete. Everyone is so nice, the food is delicious, the scenery is so beautiful it seems fake, and aside from the freak snowstorm, the weather is close to perfect. What else? The soil is prime for growing, there are ancient ruins, gorgeous beaches, music and dancing (graceful big dudes). The work we are doing is rewarding, and honestly, we don't want to leave. We have a week or so more and it is obvious it will not be enough. We are already trying to figure out how to come back. Well, we have a staircase to build and the maze of the Minotaur to explore still. Also Irakleon and maybe camping at the beach.

As they say here in Crete, "A ti yamas!