TURKEY LESSONS #112: Laugh it off
Kayaking in Olympos: Weathering the storm
So its been a while since my toe was broken and I’ve been stuck indoors for the most part, so I figured a healthy outing was in order. So what did I do? I kayaked my arms, back, butt, and abs to their breaking point! Coming back earlier, I was so exhausted I just broke out in a fit of delirious laughter.
Molly, one of the guests here at Bayram’s, and her friend Diego and I went from our beach here in Olympos to the next beach around the peninsula. Admiring the magnitude of the vast deep blue waters - oh wait, what? Guide who hardly speaks to us? Oh, you forgot to mention the beach was not around the first point, but the second point, a faint sandy blob in the distance. Oh okay.
We press onward and, in my stubborn effort, I catch up with the guide and he finally speaks: “Tired?” No fucking comment. I’d rather catch my breath, thanks. When we got to the beach, we relaxed in the clear blue-green waters and I meditated on yet another surreal turn of events. A year ago this time I was homeless in my own city - blessed with great support from friends and family, but a bag lady nevertheless. Now I’m on a private beach on the Turquoise Coast. Thanks, life.
After an hour of so it was time to go. I decided I would ride the double kayak with Molly since she wasn’t experienced enough to ride one alone. But then the clouds blocked out the sun and the calm blue water began thrashing around us as we sat a mere 3 inches above sea level. I looked around for the presence of a comforting sea-soaked compatriot, ie our guide, but he was gone! Fucker just took off! Didn’t even bother to glance back. Woot.
Waves are thrashing us around, Molly’s having a hard time keeping up, fucking thunder is roaring and - well, look at that! - it starts to rain. Guide homie is still paddling along in his own little world. Diego is way out from the rocks, getting into some even heavier waters and my triceps are about to burst open like a couple of putrid fruits in the summer sun.
Ok, so then we get to shore. What say you silent wanderer? We are to follow you up the river? Ok, my broken toe that’s on the mend will love that. So Molly and I get out of the kayak and haul the fucker up river and we just cant stop laughing. “Where is he?!” she yells out between breathless laughter. “I don’t know!” And just as I say that, I look up and there he is. At the meeting point, our final destination, hands on hips, just watching us struggle along in the rain. We could not… stop… laughing. When you’ve already kayaked through a storm, paddled your ass off, started to imagine your final moments of life as your kayak fills with water, and hauled a kayak up a river, there’s not much else you can do.
Finally arrived and the moral of the story is this: I may have added a couple weeks onto my broken toe’s recovery time, but sometimes all you can do is laugh it off.
