greece is effing hott. today we went to the sounin cape, where the temple of posideon clings to the barren, rocky, windswept shore. it also served as a military outpost to protect the incoming shipments of insular grain. the ruins themselves were bleached white and very beautiful. looking out westward the view was of the ocean and also very beautiful. the terrain of greece itself is largely ugly up close. olive trees are scraggly at best and scrub brush is never pretty. greece is pretty in the way that poverty is pretty - or, better perhaps, in the way people romanticze poverty to be pretty. it's not really. lesiure isn't a product of luxury but a product of lethargy - there is nothing to do. the people are easy and friendly because they are too feverishly drowsy from the heat to do anything else. swimming is a necessity because this is the type of heat that kills. you step outside and everything feels like it's burning, even the bottoms of your body parts. you shower twice a day.

anyways - being with the family is tough, what more can i say? tempers run high and spark quickly. i can't wait to go to crete because when we get there i plan to never leave the water.