We took sleeping pills to wake refreshed, if not bewildered, having lost seven hours amongst the stars. To be ready for invasive security and difficult questions that took so long we missed the shower, that wasn’t really a shower but a Turkish bath. But we didn’t mind because the air was the good kind of hot that leaves your skin dry and warm.
The bus was slow only in its arrival, careening out of control around blind corners and over bumps to the chorus of honking horns. Our stomachs leapt and we buried our faces in books in the way pulling a blanket over your head produces a false sense of security.
And after a rather brutish set down we arrived, stowed our bags, and walked along the narrow streets, which looked more like alleys. Foreign sights and smells assailed us. Colors and sounds amused us. Until hunger pangs attacked us.
The little man that sold olive wood statues directed us to a place with clean floors and cleaner hands. And there we waited, with a table full of plates, until the others arrived and we swapped our plates for wine glasses and laughter.
Waiting till the wee hours of dawn to tumble back into sleep.
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