Santorini, Greece

What could be more perfect than spending a day in beautiful Santorini, Greece? As we sailed toward the island, snow seemed to appear as a blanket of white on the ground. When the ship moved closer to the island, we could see the gleaming white houses built so closely together that they appeared to imitate snow. It was a stunning sight!

With our guide, we began a walking tour of several small villages. In one village, some of the residents were walking to their neighboring Greek Orthodox Church. As we weaved our way though the quiet streets, we declared the whole atmosphere as one of quiet beauty.

What could pry our minds away from such beauty? The dreaded donkey trail could!! We had three choices given by our guide to get back to the ship from the top of the moutain. One was waiting in a long line and then gliding down the mountain in a gondola. Another option involved decending a steep, cobbled-stone trail while riding on a donkey (scary). The third option--walking down the same steep trail that the donkeys also used. We chose the latter.

With confidence, we began down the trail. The sun beat down ferociously on us. We slipped as we tried to navigate the rocky trail. The worst part entailed staying alert as we gingerly edged our way along to avoid the donkey poop and urine that was splattered laviously along the trail. It was everywhere!

Paul and I eventually made our way to the bottom of the trail, slipping on the rocks and almost falling several times. I truly think that I had heat stroke by the time we completed the mile and one-half of trail.

Later, on the ship at dinner, we compared notes on our day's excursions. Mary Ann, our friend who is usually challenged and excited about adventures, went through the same awful experience we did a little later in that same afternoon; however, she added a new spin. She actually fell down on the trail and landed in a big pile of donkey poop. She was covered with it and had to decend the rest of the trail smelling the foul mess, which was smashed all over her clothes and skin.

Typically optimistic Mary Ann usually finds a silver lining in any venture. She said to me, "Well, with all the wet donkey waste on my clothes from head to toe, I had a natural airconditioner from the donkey urine to cool me for the rest of the trip."

You had to be there to get the full sensory effect. Those of us who shared the experience laughed for the rest of the trip about our donkey disaster.