7.27.10
This morning we went back to see Mr. Stefanos Karahalios in Agios Nikalos. He gave us some GIS data, a map of the Lasithi aquifers, and talked to us about some other research related information. He explained the permeability of some of the different rock types. For example, north of Neapoli most of the bedrock was karst limestone. Cracks in this rock cause it too be very permeable. Consequently, most of the aquifers in this region are contaminated with salt water from the sea and cannot be used for drinking water purposes unless desalinization techniques are employed. Neapoli sits on a siltstone aquifer which is less permeable than the karst limestone; therefore, the aquifers are more suitable for drinking. This is good news for the Neapoli community, unless they experience a drought or pump too much water from their wells. We asked him if he had any streamflow data but he laughed and said their are no streams in Crete. Of course he's right but we were just curious if they measured the flow of water during the wet winter months.
Finally, we talked to him about the soils near Neapoli. In the United States we are luck enough to have the National Resource Conservation Soil (NRCS) Survey. This survey is basically a state by state survey of soil properties (depth, type, drainability, organic matter percentage, bulk density, etc.). I can only imagine the time and money spent on this valuable project. Just about everyone in my field relies on this data for their research. However, we were surprised to learn that Greece didn't have a comprehensive soil survey like our country. He could only give us estimations of soil type and depth so we will have to look to the literature for our study.
On my way home from Agios Nikalos I stopped a bakery and picked up some baklava varieties. This one had coconut in the middle and a dollop of jam on top.
I went to the local dairy store and picked up some locally made cheese. The owner recommended this kind. She said it was called 'kefatiri' or head cheese. It was made from the milk of sheep.
From the same shop, I picked up some yogurt. I loved this creamy, tart yogurt mixed with a teaspoon of Cretan honey. Almost every morning I paired this yogurt with a slice of fresh bakery bread or fresh fruit.
Because we would be leaving soon, we got together for dinner with Mayor Kastronakis, his wife Roula, and his son Leonidas. Leonidas' cousin Giannis and our friend Giannis also joined us. We went to the most famous souflaki restaurants in Neapoli. I didn't try the souvlaki but I heard it was very 'nostimo' (delicious). It was great to talk to the mayor and hfis wife. They are both so welcoming, funny, and interesting.
When Margaret and James went back to their apartment, Michael and I decided to get some donuts. I wasn't hungry at all but Michael hadn't tried them yet.
7.29.10
Today we met with the mayor for a little while. We had to ask him some final questions about the data he had given us. We also asked him about the wastewater treatment in Neapoli. When we asked about this he lowered his spectacles, looked us in the eye, and told us that we didn't really want to know. His secretary named Christina, told us the following.
In terms of domestic waste, all wastewater goes from Lasithi (Neapoli is in this prefecture) towards Milato (the next municipality) via a pipe that’s a few kilometers long. Afterward this the pipe becomes an open channel and can be seen from far away. Just look for the large bamboo stands that have grown around and in it. The channel was first built by the Ottomans using bricks, but in some places it has been with stone. Once this wastewater reaches Milato, we weren't told where it goes. Bascially, there's no treatment plant in the municipality of Neapoli except for the treatment system connected to the three small towns of Vrisis, Cumeriako, and Nikithiano. For these three, there is a separate pipeline that goes to Limines and is fed by the wastewater from Agios Nikolos. Before the 'river', each home had waste tank that would be cleaned out regularly and taken away. The mayor said that he has plans to build a treatment plant but this depends on funding.
After lunch I met Giannis' niece. Her name is Marianna and she is starting her senior year in high school. She wanted to ask me some questions about what I study and the path I took to get where I am now. It was great to talk to her and I hope we can keep in touch. We both like to cook so I promised to send her recipes.
Michael had plans to leave early tomorrow morning so Margaret, James, and I met up with him for some dinner at his favorite tavern in town. Afterwards we went back to our respective apartments and started packing. I would be moving in with Margaret and James. Michael and I thanked Andronikos for letting us stay at his family's place. We were so grateful for his family's hospitality.
In the evening, Giannis had to leave dinner early to put out a brush fire. It was quite large even though you cannot see much from this photo. Giannis told us that natural forest fires occur once every 30-50 years but most of the fires he helps with have been started by shepherds. The shepherds burn the bushes almost every summer so the grass will grow back for their goats or sheep. However, noting really grows back; especially not the trees. The land becomes a rocky desert because the soil blows away without the support of a plant root system.
7.30.10
I woke up very early in the morning to meet Giannis. We would be helping his mother (Maria), his father, and his sister harvest their onion crop. The process was really interesting. We used a hoe to pull the onions out and place them in a wheelbarrow. Then we took the onions and dunked them in sea water (Giannis had collected this prior to the harvesting) and then placed them in a sunny spot on the ground. Giannis told me that the salt water would preserve them all year long! Just before 7:45am we rode back to the apartment on his father's motorbike. It was a little scary without a helmet but I felt safer with Giannis driving. I didn't realize this until later, but the path to Giannis' parent's garden was the same concrete underground channel that Christina, the secretary in the Mayor's office, told us about. This was the 'river' (see my July 29 entry).
We thought we would have a meeting with the Mayor at 8am but he was busy with some other work so Margaret and I worked on other things in his office until about noon. We often spent our morning in the mayor's office emailing the scientists we had spoken to and trying to translate/organize the data we had received thus far. After walking back to the apartment and having some lunch, Margaret and James decided to take a nap. I wanted to get out and explore so that's just what I did. I was hoping to find a monastery we had gone to with Adonis but I never did.
Unused Sterna
I saw this on my walk and thought it was funny.
After I got back from my walk Giannis had also returned and asked Margaret, James, and I if we wanted to go sterna hunting. Of course we agreed. He took us to some sternas in the forests just up the hill from Neapoli.
In the winter, water runs over and around these stones.
Ironically, Giannis took us to the monastery I was looking for earlier that day. This was the same monastery I mentioned in my July 24 entry. The source of a spring was located just under the short white structure on the left side of this picture. A week earlier, Adonis had taken us here and told us that the image of a mermaid carved into the side of white structure was meant to scare away evil spirits that would contaminate the water. The monastery used about 1/3 of the water for it's gardens and upkeep and passed the remaining 2/3 to villages down the hill. Look at the pictures below to see the channel. By opening the metal door in the middle of the courtyard, we could see how some of the water was directed to the monastery and some wen to the channel.
An avocado tree growing near the spring inspired me. I have an avocado plant back in Ithaca and have always wondered what it will look like when it grows up.
Monument to the Patron Saint of This Monastery
This is the channel that I was talking about before. It takes the water from the spring to the village down the hill. Giannis said we could drink this water and he did. Margaret and I decided to pass. Marianna had told me that she used to take class trips to this monastery and the students would see how far they could follow the channel.
7.31.10
Our sterna tour leader (Giannis) had big plans for us today. We would go back up the mountain to find the gorge with the sternas at the bottom. Even when all the other sternas in the area were dry, these sternas always had water. The gasoline truck driver union was on strike but Giannis still had enough fuel to get us there and back.
Margaret and I were so worried that we would miss the fig season but luckily it was just starting around the time we had to leave. Giannis always asked us if we needed anything and when he offered us some ripe figs we couldn't refuse. Especially because I had never eaten a fresh fig before.
This is where the gorge meets the sea.
As we made our way down into the gorge, we set to work. Who would find the first sterna?
I walked right by but Giannis' sharp eye recognized it right away. We crowded around to see if there was any water left (Margaret, James, and Giannis). Just before we left, we placed some stones around the opening to protect the next person from falling in.
James found the next one.
The stonework was incredible.
While we were walking through the brush, Margaret lost her balance and fell over. She had tried to stop herself from falling but the sage bush she had leaned on wasn't able to support her weight (or anyone else's for that matter). She was laying on the ground unable to get up until one of us came and helped. We were all laughing so hard. 
We gathered wild oregano and sage to take home.
Giannis, James, and Margaret
Solar Panels
That evening, Adonis invited us to the village of Nofilias for a traditional Greek concert. We met some of his family and friends. We listened to a boy playing an old Greek instrument made of a brilliantly white goat skin. It sounded like a bagpipe. The rest of the mus
8.1.10
Yesterday afternoon while we ate lunch with Giannis, he asked us how our quest for data was going. We told him that we had received a great deal of information but the rainfall data was still nowhere to be found. He contacted a friend of his named Manolis Gialelakis. Manolis was a retired electrician who methodically collected daily rainfall data for the city of Neapoli. He data were used in the Agios Nikalos and Iraklio news papers which busted our confidence in the reliability of this information. Giannis arranged for us to meet Manolis and talk to him about Neapoli's rainfall. We talked to him about the patterns of rainfall during the past few years (more rapid and intense) and also asked him if he would share his records with us. He was very willing to and we told him how excited we were to get this information.
Manolis showed us his old standard rain gauge. It had been manufactured in Germany.
The graduated cylinder was calibrated to give a depth of rainfall (millimeters) rather than a volume (millimeters^3).
Later on I would gather the handwritten rainfall records and copy them in the mayor's office so we could bring them back to the United States. Later in the afternoon, I went on a walk with Giannis and he told me that most people spray their trees with insecticide (one in 5 or one in 10 trees) because of an insect that lays its eggs on the olives. A few days before I had noticed an empty glyphosate (Roundup) container in a vegetable garden. However, there are many farmers that grow their olives using 'biologikos' ( organic in Greek) methods. The organic trees are marked with little red and white flags so the insecticide spayers leave the trees alone.
8.2.10
In the afternoon, we helped Giannis' mother (Maria) make stuffed grape leaves and stuffed vegetables. We had told her that we wanted to learn how to make them and she was more than willing to teach us (in Greek). Overall it wasn't as complicated as I had expected it to be. Here is the recipe straight from Maria's teachings to you:
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Stuffed Grape Leaves (Dolmathakia) and Stuffed Tomatoes
from Maria in Neapoli, Crete
This recipe makes 8 stuffed tomatoes and lots of stuffed grapes leaves. You should definitely be able to feed 4-5 people.
Ingredients:
8 tomatoes (2 inch diameter, try to use homegrown)
jar of grape leaves (soaked in brine vinegar, look for them in Wegmans)
three cups of uncooked rice (try to use jasmine or sushi rice)
one medium sized onion
15 leaves of fresh mint
medium bunch of fresh parsley
cumin powder
dried oregano
pepper
salt (or not if you watch your salt)
olive oil
water
Stuffed Tomato Steps:
Put the rice in a medium sized baking bowl and wash it twice. Try to drain most of the water out. Wash your tomatoes and use a sharp knife to cut a little flap on the top. Be sure not to cut the flap all the way off because you need it as a cover. Scoop out the insides of the tomato and leave the insides in a bowl with the whitish-greenish part removed (you will need it for the rice). Place the whole tomatoes into a glass or metal cake pan. Make sure you sprinkle some olive oil on the bottom of the pan so the tomatoes don't stick. Cut the onion into large chunks and throw this in the blender with the tomato insides. Blend until smooth. Add in the mint leaves and parsley (stems are ok) and blend again until smooth. Pour this pulp into the rice and mix thoroughly. Add in a few dashes of cumin, oregano, pepper, and salt. Don't forget the olive oil (about 2-3 tablespoons) and a little water if you think the rice mixture is too thick. Mix this all together well. Lightly drizzle olive oil into each tomato, and if you choose, also sprinkle the insides with salt. Open the flap of each tomato and place enough rice mixture inside so that it's about half full. Once you've filled all the tomatoes put them in the oven for 1-1.5 hours at 350F. You want the rice to be cooked.
Stuffed Grape Leaves Steps:
Use the same rice mixture that you used for the tomatoes (above). Take the leaves out of the jar (rinse them if you like) and gently peel them apart from one another. Take about 1/2 teaspoon (I know this sounds really small but trust me because the rice expands) and place it at one end of the leaf. Flip part of the leaf over, roll in the sides, and then roll the rest. If you're confused, just imagine the leaf is a bean burrito. It's the same motion. Take a medium sized sauce pan and pour a little olive oil and water into it. You can even use some of the liquid from the rice mixture if you have some extra. Gently place each stuffed grape leaf into the pot. You should have a few layers of stuffed grape leaves when you're done. Cover these guys with a bowl (it keeps them from moving around in the hot pan) and place it on the stove top. Let the water on the bottom start to bubble and then turn the heat down. Place a cover on the top and cook for 30 minutes or longer. You will have to check to see that the rice is cooked. If you have any left over rice you can just add a little water to it and cook it on the stove top.
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In the early evening we met up with the Mayor, his wife, and his son one last time. James and Leonidas were sad to have to say goodbye to each other. I think James really looked up to Leonidas and was always excited to spend time with him. While we were talking, a man came over and talked to me briefly about his job. He was an urban planner and was working on a project with the Mayor. They were trying to update the municipality's zoning laws in order to make it more difficult for people to build on forested lands. He was also talking about developing more green space in the city.
After the meeting we went back to the apartment and enjoyed the stuffed vegetables and grape leaves we had made. They were so delicious.
8.3.10
Margaret and James left early in the morning for the Iraklio airport but my plane wasn't leaving until 9pm so I had the rest of the day to finish packing, clean the apartment, make copies of rainfall data, and help Giannis' family. I had finished all my work by 2pm so Giannis took me with a teenage boy named Herakolis, who lived in the foster home, to the old monastery up in the hills. At the foster house, I had a chance to say goodbye to Chrisanthi. She told me that she was planning to go to NYC around Easter time and I told her that I would love to meet up. I wrote about this monastery on July 24. Herakolis and I tried to speak to eachother in our non-native languages and Giannis jumped in when we needed help. We cleaned the chapel for an hour and then Giannis drove me back to the apartment to pick up my bags. Herakolis, Marianna, and Giannis all waved goodbye to me through the bus window.
My flights home went smoothly despite some sleeping in and running through airports. I got back to Ithaca on the evening of August 4th and was welcomed by the bright and smiling faces of my two amazing friends, Christine and Christian.
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