The penultimate weekend

This is it for Mykonos. Sumner and Joseph flew on to Bologna early this morning; Dawn and I are taking the midnight ferry to Samos. Next week all the shops and bars close, and the workers head home or hit the road until Spring.

I like to think we sent the island out in style. Last night ranks as one of the best parties I have been part of, ever.

The night started off innocently enough. We hooked up with UV and Kevin [from Iraq], and headed back to Niko's Taverna to gorge ourselves. And we did - I could barely move when we finished. Sumner, Dawn, and I went to bid aloha to Ionnis at Kastro; Joseph, UV, and Kevin went out in search of presents for the folks at home. We stumbled upon a Roman Catholic Church that was still open. I lit a candle and said a prayer for you, baby.

If I knew what the night had in store I might have said a short one for myself while I was at it.

There won't be many pics of the night, for obvious reasons, although I did post a few.

We all reconnected and headed to the Porta nightclub. It was small; it couldn't have held more than 75 or 80 people, max. It didn't look promising. The music was great, but the guys there were a strange bunch. I felt like I was on the catwalk walking in - everyone watched us file down the stairs and into the main bar. Sure we might have been a sight, but damn. And while everyone would stare, if we tried to make eye contact back most would quickly glance away. Only one guy was dancing, but he was by himself, doing little samba steps and slowly spinning in circles. For hours. Everyone else was moving one - and only one - body part to the music. Guys at the bar were tapping their legs to the music while the rest of their bodies remained perfectly still. Some guys bobbed their heads, and I think I even saw some hips moving by the back wall.

Sumner and Dawn bagged on us, and I would've joined them except for I have little resistance to peer pressure; one look by UV flashing you better not go too and I stayed. I'm hella glad I did. Because suddenly the DJ began messing with the music. He gave us Earth Kitt, and we started to pay attention. A Ziggy Marley remix got our little corner moving [I think it was Ziggy - Love Generation. I need to look it up]. And then he put on a Euro-pop version of Tom Jones' Delilah. It was strange and weird and catchy, but got us dancing a little harder.

Note to Joseph: I have the CD; I'll get it back to you when I return to the states.

And once again, we had the critical mass to draw people in. One by one people got drawn into our orbit. Joseph pulled a lot in. The DJ put in some Chicago House, and UV announced that we were going to show them how it was done. That's all I needed to hear - my shirt was off and I went into Circuit mode. And oh yeah we showed them how it was done. Soon our whole side of the bar was was getting down.

The party spilled into the alley. I met a guy from Germany, and things were going good until I accidently set my shirt on fire.

It's not a party unless someone gets tragic. I took one for the team.

I stayed in tragic mode for a bit - my flirting got me in a touch of trouble. Joseph mentionned later that Latins and some Americans can do that - flirt, dance, and move on. And I guess I've dated enough Latin boys that I've picked up some of the habit. Europeans don't get it. The German turned out to be ten kinds of messy, and I couldn't shake him. We had an altercation in the bathroom [he blocked the door, saying something about I am not sexy for you and I think you trade me for another and ... more things that don't go into print].

I escaped, and slunk back into our corner - to discover that things had gotten much more wild in my absence. My crew knows how to party. UV and Kevin urged us to join them in Den Hague and Amsterdam, and at one point Kevin even told me that I had to come to Baghdad. And I was tempted - his stories are unreal - and it wasn't the ouzo talking.

It was the gin and tonics. We had a few rounds, all of them more gin than tonic. The DJ/Bartender poured us a few. Nikko [of Nikko's Taverna] came in and gave us a shout.
The party went on, and on ... house then disco then Latin then modern soul then an unreal hour of Greek and Arabian dance music ... they finally closed the bar at 5am. We thanked the DJ; the DJ put his hand over his heart and thanked us for bringing in the energy.

In February we bring the party to Honolulu. Joseph will be in to celebrate his birthday, and UV and Kevin promised to fly in. Mark your calendars; there will be nights to remember.