9/17/07
Ucagoz, Turkey 5 pm
We are here in Ucagoz right now, in this incredibly beautiful place.

9/18/07
Ucagoz, Turkey, 7:30 a.m.
I just took a nice walk around town this morning, followed by 2 village dogs, which I dubbed Mustafa and Max. I rambled on the ruins and woke up the town by waking all the sleeping dogs and roosters We are trying to decide how to procede with the trip in light of Emmett being sick and lack of water.

Yesterday was pretty beautiful- we arrived in the morning, got a nice pension and breakfast of toast and spreads and soft boiled eggs. I like how they serve tomatoes and cucumbers with every meal here. It’s nice to have veggies with breakfast. After breakfast, Sinan, James and I went for a day hike along the Lycian Way, but it was way too hot to hike, and we couldn’t find the ruins we were looking for. We did swim, however, and it was refreshing in calm waters after the heat of the hike. The terrain was very desert- like; arid, flat, with no shade at all. But, it was beautiful and the ruins and grazing goats made the scene complete.

Lunch was a welcome reprieve- we sat for hours overlooking the harbor at a restaurant eating calamari and an assortment of cooked veggies. Yum! It was the best lunch yet, and I finished it off with a magnum ice cream bar and a game of hearts. After a nap, we wandered through town a bit, then went to the store to buy a few necessities.

I’m having a great time with my traveling companions, and at the same time, I’m tired of planning as we go. I need to work on letting go of control.

9/18 continued
4:00 pm
I am now in full relaxation mode in Ucagiz, chilling at the pension and watching the boats come into the harbor. We went on a boat tour this morning to see this cool sunken city and went swimming in a bay with ruins all around. It was pretty dope. We saw tombs from the Lycians in Simena, then the sunken city in the island of Kekova, which no one is allowed to live on or camp at because of the ruins. The city has both Lycian and Byzantine ruins, which you can tell apart by the fact that the Lycians built right into the rock, and the Byzantines, who took over, heaved the stone into buildings. We saw blue, pencil thin fish, little angel fish with yellow tails and bright magpie type birds with bright red heads. Later, we explored the ruins right here in Ucagiz and saw chameleons scampering away into the shade of rocks, and a pregnant cat napping on top of a castle. I like it here in Turkey so far, and am at a good point in my travels where I feel like I’m really relaxed and just simply psyched to be here. My goals now for the trip are just to 1) Be with loved ones, 2) see beautiful places, 3) hike or swim to stay active, 4) eat well.