But It's a Dry Heat

Greetings from Egypt! Alison and I recovered from the flu in Istanbul just in time to fly to Cairo and meet up with our friend Jon. He had been to Egypt before and had the holiday time to join up with us there again. We have greatly appreciated his escort services as this is a mostly Muslim country. If women don't keep their legs and shoulders covered, they get hissed at. Sarongs are our savior in115 degree heat (that's 40 Celcius for the rest of you)! We spent three days in Cairo where we czeched out the pyramids, the market, and the famous Cairo Zoo (beat that Tim Dennis!). The zoo had a wonderful collection of the rare canis familaris, some random birds (I think they were ducks) and the largest collection of guinnae pigs I have ever seen. These guys were, by far, the healthiest animals there. If I was a guinnae pig, I would want to live in the Cairo Zoo. Our night life consisted of sitting in the local "pub" drinking Turkish coffee and playing backgammon. Alison and I have really improved our skills and now Jon has to work to try and beat us! Right now we are in Aswan and plan on taking a felucca boat trip down the Nile. I will send you another newsletter at a later date, just wanted to let everyone know we are well and in safe hands here in Egypt.

Love, Carla

One Million Dollars...I Mean Turkish Lira

We are constantly quoting Austin Powers here, with the ridiculous currency, so many zeros! The exchange is 1.6 million Turkish Lira to one US dollar. Anyway, even though the prices seem huge, everything here couldn't be cheaper. We haven't paid more than 5 dollars a night for hostel accomodations and we have stayed in some very nice places. So much nicer than Greece! After leaving our home at the Tango Pension in Koycegiz, Alison, me, and our new friends (Aussies Karen, Pete, Brigid, and Canadians Marnie and Karla) went on a 4 day boat cruise down the coast of Turkey to Olympos. We shared the boat with 8 brilliant Aussie blokes from Melbourne and Sydney. We all got along phenomenally and right from the start felt like a big family.

Our crew on the Sempatik didn't speak much English, so other than the occasional point to, "Underwater city!" or "cave...swim...20 minutes" we were on our own to entertain ourselves. As Marnie summed it up, "We would cruise, stop in a bay, swim, eat....cruise, stop in a bay, swim, eat." We gave the crew nicknames--Sketchy, Skippy, and Captain. It was a fun, relaxing 4 days and I did quite a bit of snorkeling, got over my fear of heights with cliff diving, and earned the highest compliment of "Legend" with my new Aussie friends.

In Olympos, we are all staying in Treehouse bunks at Bayrams. Yesterday Karen, Pete and I went on a 20 km trek in the mountains to the lost city of Olympos. Last night we checked out the fires of Eternal flame that never go out. Some gas in the rock ignites when it comes in contact with oxygen. Brigid and I sang the Bangles "Eternal Flame" over and over until a tarantula came out from under a rock scaring the crap out of us. A Turk came running over yelling, "No kill! If you do 7 brothers come!" I wonder how he knew exactly 7 more tarantulas would come after us?

Tonight Alison and I say good-bye to our friends and catch an overnight bus to Istanbul to meet up with the Hash House Harriers. Turkey is really a beautiful country and the locals are wonderful people. Alison put it perfectly by stating, "Turks have a saying, you are not a tourist, you are a guest in their country." This is definitely a place I hope to return to someday.

Hope you are all well, I send my love.
Carla

So... Have You Ever Been To a Turkish Prison?

That was meant to be an Airplane quote, in case any of you are concerned I may have made it into a Turkish prison. Yes, Alison and I are in Turkey right now, in a charming little town called Koycegiz and having the time of our lives.

We left Greece after visiting Santorini and Rhodes, deciding that Naxos was our favorite island. We did meet some very nice Canadian men who treated us to drinks (just drinks!) on a very nice bar right on the cliff. Radek called it the "James Bond bar" and he was right. He challenged us to find a view just as nice as the one in Santorini and then email him the photo. We intend to do our best! We also had fun hanging out with Jeremy there, a guy from LA, who pretended to propose to me in Ia for a photo op. by Alison and shocked this random woman, who thought she was witnessing a special event.

Rhodes was quaint with it's old town and nicer beaches than Santorini. It was my turn to sunburn my a** on the nude beach. The hostel was just crap, though, and I nearly told the guy running it so. What can we expect for 8 euro a night?

We get to Turkey, though, and it is just paradise. The hostel is so clean, the staff friendly like family, and everything is half the price we were paying in Greece. Yesterday we borrowed bicycles and went to a waterfall where me and a Canadian, Karla, impressed the local Turk boys there with our flips off the rocks into the pool
below. Today we went on a boat for the day and saw Turtle beach, swam in the lake here, and visited a mud bath. Just wait until you see us covered in mud! My skin has never been softer. Alison and I are hanging out with 2 Aussies, 2 Canadians here that we met at the bus stop. The local Turks are very friendly also and we went to a bar tonight and watched traditional dancing and I drank too much Uzo. I just wanted you all to know how beautiful Turkey is so far and how you should all put it on your "must visit" list for the future. It is the best of Europe by far. We haven't even made it to Istanbul yet!

My love and thoughts to you all!
Carla

Greek Island Hopping!

I understand the concept now! Alison and I are in the Greek islands after spending 5 days in Athens with the hashers. Why 5 days in Athens? Well, Jim was so accomodating, took us to 4 barbecues in 2 days and to the island Agistri, where Alison had her first nude beach experience. We are so white we could signal airplanes from above, but I don't care. #30 sunscreen is for me, especially when it comes to the ass. Just ask Alison about that one....We went to Acropolis and saw the Parthaneon. It was a little anti- climatic, with all the scaffalding. The rebuilding project has been going on since 1983. Guess Jim was right, Greeks can be regarded as lazy at times. So now we are in Naxos, with it's beautiful mountains and hiking trails and gates of Apollo. The legend says when Istanbul is returned to Greece the doorway in the gate will miraculously appear. Friday we will be in Santorini where two hashers are hoping to meet up with us, then Monday we will be in Rhodes for a few days before taking the ferry to Turkey. Well, internet is almost as expensive here as Scandanavia, so I gotta log out now!

All my love,
Carla

Czech You later!

We spent a week in the Czech Republic, and had so much fun. It's amazing how often you can use the word "czech" in your everyday sentences! We stayed with our hasher friend, Geri, who works for the Austrian Embassy. She set us up with all the tourist comforts we could ask for, even a phone card! The astronomical clock in the square was anticlimactic, but the view of the tourists staring up at it from the top of the clock tower was very entertaining! We "czeched" out the castle and the cathedral, rented a paddle boat on the river, and visited Petrin Park with a fellow hasher/tourist, Dario from Italy, and Zhenya, Alison's friend from St. Petersburg, Russia. We went to a hash weekend in Kutna Hora with Geri (feel free to "czech" out the write up on the hash link atwww.crazyhappenings.com) and had an absolute phenomenal time. We made so many great new friends who are now like family to me that leaving was almost a tearful event. It's utterly amazing how many wonderful, generous people there are in the world. I feel I am the luckiest woman alive to be a part of their lives. Right now we are in Bratislava, Slovakia for a day or two, before flying to Athens, Greece. We were going to train it down, but realized the route take us through Yugoslavia, where a visa is required. I'm sure my family is most relieved I won't be traveling through Kosovo!

Love to you all!
Carla

So I guess I'm Latvian?

Your great grandma was from White Russia. Possibly Latvia area—Hanna Horowitz-- Her mom was Sarha Dorkin. No wonder they liked you, you are kin!!!!!!!! - email from my Aunt Carol

That message was just toooo funny not to share with you all.

Right now we are in Krakow, and had a nice time chatting with two kiwi girls (from New Zealand) who gave us heaps of good advice on Turkey and shared their wonderful tourist stories from Croatia, and Bosnia. They are very adventurous, Alison and I couldn't imagine us taking a bus around Sarajevo. We heard from a Stockholm hasher that the hash there (yes, even Sarajevo hash a hash house harrier club!)can't set false trails as it makes the local military groups nervous when they see random people running all over the city in different directions yelling to each other. We spent the day yesterday in Auschwitz, quite intense. We couldn't believe how huge the place is, and with many of the original structures still standing. Today we're going to check out the Jewish neighborhood, where only150 Jews are left since the devastation of the holocaust. Next trip is Prague, where we are meeting up with hasher friends (the running club again!) and joining them for a weekend event in Kutna Hora. Thanks again for everyone who forwarded me my previously written email. And I still love hearing from all of you who respond, even if it's just a line. They all make me smile.

Love, Carla

Hello from Latvia!

Right now we are in Riga, Latvia. I'm actually checking my email from the US Deputy Ambassador to Latvia's downtown apartment in Riga. She's 37, and she's in charge of the US Embassy, next in line after the ambassador. She's a hasher, that's how we met her. All the hashers here were SO excited to see us arrive at a hash, we are the first American hash visitors since they started the hash a few years ago, so we got a huge warm welcome, and she threw an impromptu party so we could all hang out some more. We also met the Latvian Ambassador from the EU!! What a riot! I explained how to upload photos to yahoo so his wife can see their new apartment before she moves here :)

We extended our stay in Latvia for 3 more days cause it's so fun. Tonight we are going to Karaoke at the main beer tent in town, and tomorrow we are taking a day trip somewhere to get out of the city and tomorrow night we are going to see this hasher (latvian but Russian descent) sing in an Irish band. The other singer is English, there really is no Irish people in the band. Should be a hoot!

After we leave we are headed to Lithuania. A guy we met in Estonia is meeting us there, then we go to Poland, and then to Prague! The hash is having a huge weekend event 2 hours outside the city. We are going to that, and then a hasher invited us to stay at her apartment for a few days. Literally, our luck HAS to run out soon. We have met so many nice, nice people. At almost every hash we go to, someone knows someone from the Boston hash, or someone we have met along the way. By the time we get to India, we might already know half the people at the hash event in Goa!!! Mom, not to worry, everyone looks out for us because they think we need someone to look out for 2 cute women traveling alone. It works out quite nicely!

Another funny thing, everyone thinks Carla and I are lesbian lovers. Okay, not everyone, but 3 people on 3 different occasions have asked us if we are girlfriends. They think we get along too well to be just friends.

One more thing, Alison and I just uploaded tons of photos to the newsletter yahoogroup, check them out. They are funny!

Miss you, love, Carla