Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Sworn off cabs.... now what - reptiles?

Having sworn off cabs, I decided to hike to explore Taormina and the beaches around it on the 18th. Taormina is 8-9 kms from Naxos Beach Resort and is not a long walk at all. My advisor (a long distane runner) ran upto Taormina each day here was there and gave me directions for the walk. The only tricky part, he said, was the hike up the mountain along ungravlled paths. I assured him, and my colleague, that I could easily walk 8 kms and walking up a hill was certainly not a problem.

After breakfast, properly clothed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt I began my walk to Taormina. After 5 kms I hit the trail going up the hill. The first few minutes were fine, until I hit the bushes and saw... What was that? A snake? I saw it again - it was like a lizard - coloured green and red. It moved like lighting. (Something like an Aranai, as we call it in Tamil).

Those of you who know me well can predict what happened!!! I did not wait to think. I ran up the hill as fast as my legs could take me. By the time I reached the top, I was out of breath, completely drenced and had dropped my bottle of water somewhere along the way. I crawled my way to the nearest shop and bought myself water and chilled out for nearly half an hour.

On my way back down, what do you think I would have preferred? Taking the cab back down or brave the walk?

I WALKED!!! Rather, I ran down the hill in 5 mins flat - figured my chances were better with the reptiles than in a cab!!!!!

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