The second time I visited the island was about ten years later. I stayed in Oia. A very special location, with unbelievable views, on the caldera. My visit at the island this time was planned cause of some yoga classes I was attending at the time. The plan was to meditate and practice outdoors and in specially designed indoor spaces in Oia, where we would be staying. Our goal was to detoxify from the intensive pace of the city and to enjoy the special energy of the island. As you can imagine, it was an excursion I was looking forward to more and more every day leading to it. A day before our trip began, I went to the swimming pool to practice – I was exercising regularly at the time – when I felt I had really pushed my shoulder. I didn’t pay much attention to it and boarded the plane to Santorini, hoping to enjoy the island this time and experience everything I have been hearing and reading for so many years. When I arrived, I was enchanted by the images I had in front of me and enjoyed my first sunset. Nothing was reminiscent of the first time and everything felt completely new. I met with my team and introduced ourselves to those of us who didn’t know each other. I started feeling great pain in my shoulder, but temporarily, the excitement had beaten everything else. Once I got back to the room, the pain got worse and a minute wouldn’t go by where I wouldn’t feel it. The rest were already asleep and I didn’t have a painkiller with me. What should I do… I thought, “a little heat will relax the muscle and relieve me from the pain at least for a bit.” But of course, as I learned much earlier, it was actually the opposite I had to do. The arm was in even more pain and I managed to sleep only an hour throughout the whole night. After it dawned, I said, “New day, new hope.” I remained in the spirit of my zen team. I went out on the porch in the morning and saw, this time, the shocking sunrise image that I will never forget. The morning dew relieved me, I have to admit, since as I learned in retrospect, my condition needed ice to heal and not heat. I tried to exercise together with the rest of the group but every move felt more and more impossible. I had periarthritis. The more I held my hand still, the more it “locked” and I couldn’t stretch it at all.
Under these circumstances, as you understand, I stopped seeing anything around me, because I was in my own world of pain. During the afternoon of the second day, I decided to go watch one of the classes in a lovely specially designed room, where I would probably relax and relieve myself for a while. As soon as the class started and we began with our first breathing exercises, a company of musicians started playing outside the room, for a wedding on the island. With the music being really loud and shotguns being shot from everywhere, as the tradition commands, we all started laughing at our bad luck and me even more. I got back to the room and found a surprise form Mrs. Voula, the owner of the rentals we were staying in. It was a dish of tomato-balls. I would lie if I didn’t admit that they made me forget about my pain almost completely. Together we the food, she brought me a glass of red, produced in the island wine and said “this is truly a medicine. Drink it and slowly you’ll relax”. This pleasant surprise was truly a gift sent from heaven, as the rest of the trip turned out to be a living hell for me. It occurred to me that a great idea would be to warm my shoulder up using the hair dryer, to help it recover but little did I know that would only make it 100 times worse… I dumped both my team and my relaxed mood and was utterly relieved when I booked a ticket for the next flight going back home.
The flight taking me back home was the best part of my trip. My arm started getting better only 10 days after, since I visited many doctors most of them having different opinions on my issue.
In this trip, if I am not mistaken, I didn’t really try anything else after those tomato-balls Mrs. Voula gifted me. Only toasts and juices, my friends were bringing in my room. Cause of the pain in my arm and my early departure I missed the visits to the “Santorini Winery” and the “Tomato Industrial Museum”, as well as the local flavors everyone else got to try. Since then though, tomato-balls have been one of my favorite foods and since I want to enjoy them at all times, even when I am a bit more conscious for my diet, I prepped a recipe which allows me to do that and I am really glad to be sharing it with all of you. Santorini’s tomato-balls for all.
You have now clearly understood that the island drove me away for the second time, but I came back with a new adventure, which the third time turned out to be one of the best trips of my life, once again there in Santorini, ten years later.
