Day 5: A Change of Plans

[Editor's Note: Many words contained herein are not, in fact, actual words. I'm on vacation.]

This was the first day we weren't graced with a chanting imam in the wee hours of the morning (one of the cultural downsides of resort living, I suppose).

Becca was awake at 2:45 am. She woke up at 4 am and couldn't get back to sleep yesterday. Since she was up, I was up. At 3:54 am my Twitter feed contained a tweet which said, "JUST IN: A 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit near the southwestern coast of Turkey. A small tsunami reported." Beings that we'd planned on driving down the coastline to that very place (more specifically, to nearby Akyaka) in roughly two days--we needed to adapt.

First, we reached out to family and friends letting them know all was well as far as we were concerned.  Fittingly, Uncle Nick responded, "Darwin said that it wasn't the strongest or fastest species that survived, but the most adaptable.  Think like a cockroach."

Despite the early morning hour, I researched the cancellation policy on our accommodation reservation in Akyaka while Becca targeted Pamukkale as an alternative locale for spending the day/night we'd slotted Akyaka in.  Pamukkale is known for its collection of saltwater hot springs and the salt laden structures creating the pools.  We'd hoped to visit Pamukkale when planning out our trip, but when the going got tough logistically, we cut bait on the idea. 

Frankly, Akyaka was merely inserted in the itinerary as a midpoint to break up the heavy driving load we'd otherwise face on Sunday, July 23rd--not as something truly calling out to us.

Not to sound too cold or unfeeling, but the earthquake provided us the motivation we'd lacked prior to make Pamukkale--something we truly wanted to do--happen.

We sent a 4 am email inquiry to our top choice accommodation in Pamukkale (chosen for its top-notch farm-to-table restaurant [as the owners of the hotel are a family of farmers]).  Ultimately, we heard back in the positive (complete contents of the received response: "hi thanks four mail see you suun" [sic throughout]) so we cancelled our reservations in Akyaka (without penalty, thankfully).

While we no doubt feel for those impacted negatively by the occurrence--taking the narrow view within just the context of our trip--adapting to this occurrence only served to strengthen our itinerary at the low cost of an additional hour or two of driving.

Sometime around 10 am we mustered the energy necessary to order room service. Indeed, the times had changed in how we were living on this trip!  We ordered a "Turkish Breakfast" platter with mostly the same offerings we'd described enjoying for breakfast on other days. Dried figs and walnuts, Turkish bagels and a goat cheese rendition of cream cheese among some other new pastries were lovely additions. Another new item was menemen--a sort of egg scramble with peppers and onion and cheese. While it sounds pretty standard to United Statesian breakfast fare, it tasted rather different. It was really flavorful and moister than it'd be prepared in the States. Lastly, but far from leastly, the coffee was a deep, dark hole I was pleased to dive into.

Much (all?) of the first half of the day was spent chillaxing to the max--either eating and sipping on tea and coffee or sitting on the balcony overlooking the Aegean Sea or laying in bed writing and researching Ephesus, a major ancient Roman trading port and one of the largest cities in the eastern Roman Empire. We planned to visit Ephesus on day six of our trip (the next day), since it's a short bus ride away from Kusadasi.

The rest of the afternoon, once the sun burned off the morning clouds, the pattern was: jump in the Aegean Sea and swim/float; get out and rinse the salty water out of our eyes, noses and mouths; quick step on the hot wooden deck back to our chaise lounges so as not to burn our feet; lay on our back side until fully cooked, then flip to the other until fully cooked; then jump back into the Aegean. It was a vicious cycle lasting hours, broken only when we went up to inquire of the guest relations gal the logistics of our Ephesus plan for the next day and when we stopped by the upper deck bar for some flash fried calamari with yoghurt-y tartar-like sauce and beverages and respite from the direct, hot sunlight. 

After going back down to the deck for a bit more sun and fun time by the Sea we retired to our room to get cleaned up, get a dose of AC, and rest a bit.  We'd decided to leave the seemingly hermetically-sealed environment that was our resort in Kusadasi and venture into the greater city for dinner and general exploration.

We walked and walked. The heart of the downtown is a bustling waterfront corridor. Cars and scooters whizzed by as pedestrians chattered and walked out in front of those vehicles. Bikes and rollerbladers weaved in and out of the moving masses and, more often than seemed appropriate, a scooter would barrel up a sidewalk chock full of pedestrians like a fish violently swimming upstream.

Eventually we got where we were going--Hasan Kolcuogluk Kebab. We'd been led to believe that a fixed price multi-course meal was the way to go by our guide book.  Sweet Peter, Paul, and Mary it was! It was one of the best decisions and investments I've ever made.  Finally, the mezes kept coming and coming and it was all killer and no filler. There were upward of eight different items in the first wave alone. Then beautifully spiced beef liver, a spiced lamb empanada-type pastry, and dolma with lamb. Then a massive kebab with many meats--chicken legs, beyti (seasoned beef and lamb wrapped in lavash), and spare rib--as well as peppers and tomatoes, served over lahmacun.  Then fresh fruit and ground pistachio and sweet cheese desserts followed that.  It was a seemingly endless onslaught of food.  We were in our bunker and attempting to get up over the top and power through, but in the end we could not eat it all.  But we did our damnedest and we held our heads high in the end. It pains me to see any measure of wasted food, but our efforts were Herculean. It was a hard and beautifully delicious fight to the finish.

By the time we finished eating, I felt the urge to sneeze, but I was so full that I legitimately thought I might vomit if I sneezed.  In the end, that meal cost 134 Turkish Lira. I think that's roughly $44.  Mind you, this is an upscale restaurant and they served more food than four people probably could've eaten and it was all delicious in every aspect. 

The prices here are stunningly low for the most part. Our hotel in Pamukkale (our next stop) will be €30 ($45-ish?). It's lovely.  We're living large at relatively low prices.  The resort I've mentioned throughout?  The one in which we're living like we're much more fancy and important folk than we really are?  $100 a night.  For context, that is less per night than the decrepit and diseased shit-hole we stayed in by the SeaTac airport in which we thought we were going to die the night before we flew to Turkey.

Truly amazing.