Keeping Cool in Kaş

In Olympos yesterday, Robby & I went kayaking in a nearby bay. The waters were very choppy, so, of course, I got sea sick, and all of my breakfast (sliced bread, tomato, cucumber, fried egg, & tea) emptied into the Mediterranean. On a good note, on our way to our destination, Robby and I spotted dolphin fish jumping out of the water. Robby did a little snorkeling at the beach, and he kayaked back with another tourist while I rode back on the guide's motorboat. We caught three fish on our way back to shore. Back at the bungalow, I took a dramamine pill to get rid of the nausea, and it knocked me out for a good 2 hours. So, unfortunately, we've canceled the cruise from Olympos to Fethiye. Robby is a bit disappointed - he is an aquarius after all. Now he is proposing that we rent a car for 5 days from Selçuk to Izmır. We are tired of our reliance on buses that always take longer than they estimate.

This morning, we caught a ride to the main road from a few American friends we made in our pension. Iza & Brad were siblings from Boston who were taking a vacation before starting grad school. They gave us a lot of good advice about our future destinations, since they had traveled down the west coast from Istanbul (the opposite direction of our journey). We also happened to meet a Chinese Canadian, Sandra, who had been traveling since January 2007. She started in China, then to Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, India, & Iran. We had lots of questions about Iran, and we admired her independence & sense of adventure. She plans to travel until December. We hope she has fun traveling through Syria & Egypt after Turkey.

Anyway, Robby and I found the right buses to Kaş, a small town which was recommended by Jenn Hu (Robby's school pal). She raved about it, and she was right! We found a laidback pension with a host who said he had friends from Humboldt County, California. The streets are windy & steep, and the town center is full of boutiques. While we meandered in the oppressive heat, we stumbled upon a street where nearly each store had a dog or cat slumped in deep sleep. The heat here is hardly bearable, but at least we're humans - we can request a room with air conditioning instead of lounging in the shade on the sidewalk like those cats & dogs. We found a large open air market behind the otogar (bus terminal) & bought some peaches, nectarines, & plums. The fruit in Turkey is fabulous!

1. Jeanne loves her lemon popsicles!
2. Extreme heat makes Robby sad ...but the Kaş marina is pretty, no?
3. Met a nice kid selling spicy sausage things as his summer job (as we learned through a rather broken conversation with many hand gestures).