I'll try to sum up the retreat center I'm now at in a nutshell. I found out about it online while doing general research about Greece before I came out here; so I had everything arranged already to be here for two weeks. I'm doing work exchange, which means that I work about 5-6 hours per day, and then get one day off each week (which for me is today).
The retreat center basically holds workshops that each last a week, and are hosted by different people that come from elsewhere, mostly from Europe, along with most of the participants. So it's really a mix of all sorts of different subjects, i.e. last week I think there was a tai chi workshop, next week is one called circle dancing.
Things change quite a bit depending on what workshop or workshops are going on. At the moment there are about 20 people here, including the manager of the retreat, a few people who have been here for several months, then a couple of other people who are doing short work exchange stints, such as myself and a couple from Canada, and then the paying participants. But then a bunch of people are taking off tomorrow since Fridays are when things change over, and then a new group of 15 people are coming for that dancing workshop.
Part of the idea of the place is to have a somewhat cohesive group of people, rather than just a group of staff who are serving the retreat participants. So even those who are paying to be here participate in a limited amount of chores, such as helping with a meal and clean-up, watering the garden, etc. But then during the day they are doing whatever workshop they came for. Then everyone gets the afternoons off after lunch, in which case most people go to a nearby beach; and those who are working come back for a short shift from 6-8 in the evening. Greeks eat dinner really late, so dinner is at 8:30, but even that is actually a little early for most Greeks.
I will have been here a week tomorrow, and then have another week after that. It's been great to hang out with a group of people as a change from traveling solo (although I did meet some cool people along the way as well). But now I'm getting a bit excited about heading out again to do more exploring of the islands. The good news is that the Canadian couple who are here leave the same day as me, and are planning to head for Athens. They are traveling in a camper van (all over Europe) and said they would probably have room for me and my bike if I wanted to get a ride back to Athens. Hopefully that will work out, because that would save me massive amounts of hassle in taking two buses from here to there, including wrangling again with bus drivers who clearly don't like the bike much.
That's all for now, it's getting on lunch time and then I'll probably be heading down to the beach for the afternoon. As I said, I'll be here at Kalikalos for another week, which means I'll be leaving most likely next Friday, September 11th or else perhaps the day after that, but probably Friday. Then for now, I've got my sights set on the island of Milos as my next destination, which has 74 beaches and really cool volcanic landscapes, and there's a campground there where I can stay. But of course plans could change depending on what other options I might come across in the next week.
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