I had been climbing for a while. It was hot. I was thirsty, and I was pretty sure Jessica was going to be upset with me for leaving for such a long time. But I just had to find this beach. I was on a conquest, and the longer I walked, the more time I invested into this personal challenge (that was now seeming more and more stupid),….the more certain I was of two things. Number one….there’s no way I can stop now, and number 2…I really don’t think the water is going to be way up here. Then the path ended and I did another dumb thing…I continued to climb. Higher and higher…the sensible voice in my head no longer a whisper, but a yell, was screaming…. The beach is not up here you moron!” and also, “hope you like vacationing alone.”

So lets flash back about two hours or so, to a better time. A time when Jessica was still speaking to me.

The morning had been nice. We’d easily caught the local bus back to the port (about 3km away) and had decided to walk to a beach. The guide book said you could do it, so by golly we were going to try. We had a map (not very helpful when it’s in Greek- but I didn’t want you to think we were going at this exploration thing completely unprepared). We asked a cute old man who was sitting out on his porch for directions. (What is it with all these cute old men?) He pointed us in the right direction, and we began to walk. We had our beach stuff with us- towel, ipod, book, snorkel stuff…you know, the essentials. I had opted for a nice little water bottle, so as not to be weighed down by my heavy Nalgene. Who needs water anyways…it was only another 90 degree day here in the Greek Iles where the sky is always cloudless….Man I’m smart when it comes to this survivor stuff. After walking about 15 minutes along the gorgeous coastline, we saw a great beach spot….below us. Not the beach I was looking for, Katergo, but a nice secluded beach, nestled between two giant rocks….very nice. We made our way down and laid out our towels…sharing the spot with only 6 or 7 other people….perfect.

But within 5 minutes I was restless. I wanted to find the beach from the book…supposedly the best beach on Folegandros. I was feeling very Kate like from Lost (ironically she’s the character who in my opinion always does the stupidest things and gets herself into trouble). I took a drink of water, slung my camera bag over my shoulder ( filled with all my survival gear…..my new great camera :)) and set off to scope out the area and report back to Jessica. Now in my defense, we never did specify a time to meet back up, and also….oh who am I kidding, even I would take Jessica’s side on this one. I wasn’t very respectful of the feelings of my travel mate….I wasn’t thinking clearly, I was obsessed, a woman on a mission.

The first part of my journey was so great. I passed a nice beach called Livadi, which probably would have been fine to spend the day at, but next to that sign was another one, pointing the way to Katergo…yes! I turned right instead, and set out along a mainly deserted road completely out in the country. The mountains and fields ahead of me the blue water behind me, and of course the scorching hot sun above me. This part of my adventure was my favorite. There was a breeze, I wasn’t dying of thirst, and I made friends with all kinds of farm animals along the way. Mostly goats who I think are so funny. Also some ugly sheep, and two sweet donkeys. Occasionally a moped would pass, or I’d see a few people working out in their fields, but mainly I was happy to just be by myself, taking in the unique scenery of Folegandros.

Now, I will say, I was a little confused by the way the sign told me to travel. Wasn’t the sea behind me? In front of me was great beauty, but nothing even remotely beach like…we’re talking straight country here. I pushed the thought away and continued to walk, always hoping the beach would be around the next turn. This wasn’t the case, and I was just about to turn around….admitting defeat when God sent me two angels, ok, not angles, but two girls, dressed in beach attire, sunburned, and hallelujah, they spoke English! Conquest still on! They were just at Katergo, and said I was close to the path that would take me there. Well, I wouldn’t say close girls…but thanks for pointing me in the right direction. After going down a few definitely wrong paths, I came to a sign….ok, not a sign, but the word KATERGO written in sidewalk chalk, or maybe a sharpie, in the middle of the road with an arrow pointing up….so that’s where I went. So really if you think about it, I wasn’t doing anything dumb, I was just following someone’s crappy directions.

So the path straight up ended and I kept climbing…positive by this time that there wasn’t going to be a beach at the end of this little fiasco, but just prideful enough to want to make it to the top of the mountain I had been climbing. Now very thirsty, and also very aware of the time, I thought of my friend Jessica sitting on the little beach where I left her, Oh man was I in trouble. I was running now. Dodging little dry bushes with their extremely spiky branches, trying to blaze my own trail to the top. Thank goodness I had slowed a little before reaching my final destination, otherwise I would have fallen straight off the towering cliff to the sea below (sorry for the image mom). I will admit, it takes a lot to scare me, but this did. What a drop off….gorgeous of course….but terrifying. That was that. Conquest over…now about saving that friendship. I took off running down the mountain. Wow, gravity makes you fast :) I slowed just long enough to talk with a couple who pointed me to the right path to the beach. Said thank you, cursed a bit under my breath and continued to run. When I got to the road I took off my shoes, trying to make the run a little more interesting. The animals I had met earlier seemed to now mock me with their bleats and funny looks.

I made pretty good time back to our original beach. Jessica wasn’t too happy with me, and I really wasn’t in the best mood either. Going all that way and still never finding the beach was a little depressing. So I sulked for a good hour or two on the beach. All the while formulating a plan to go back and find Katergo…I just couldn’t let it go. I mustered up some courage to ask Jessica if she wanted to go looking for the beach with me….we hadn’t really been talking much, I assumed she was still a little irritated. She surprised me by saying yes and the two of us packed up our stuff and set off….again…down the dusty country road. This time around I would not be disappointed. After following a not so well marked trail up another mountain, we came to an overlook and spotted way below us the most beautiful beach. Katergo at last!

The walk down to the beach took a while, but the view was breathtaking. Once at the bottom we walked around all the other beach goers (who we later discovered had gotten to this great spot by boat), dodging the topless and the couples….turns out it was a pretty romantic beach. We found the perfect spot and relaxed for a while, taking in our beautiful surroundings. We did go on one mini adventure. We swam out to this huge rock in the middle of the sea and then preceded to climb to the very top of it….we’re pretty tough. My only complaint was how thirsty I was the entire time. Never again will I travel without my trusty Nalgene. The baby water bottle just didn’t cut it. Surprisingly, the trek home went very quickly. We made it back to the port just in time to grab a water and a diet coke and catch the boat back to Hora (that’s what they call the town center).
We ended the day having a Gyro at one of the many outdoor restaurants, and then watching the Bachelorette online. What a great day on Folegandros!