I awoke at noon expecting to feel much better, but I was still in bad shape. It was as if the flight had stirred up and intensified all my symptoms. My ears were clogged with pressure, and my head was burning up. I really wanted to go out and see the Acropolis, but my health was my first priority at this point.
We left the studio only to get food and orange juice, and the heat outside was unlike any I had ever experienced: take the humidity of a Deep South summer day and combine it with the heat of an Arizona desert and you might find what we were experiencing in Athens. In the daytime, this place looked much more run-down and beat-up than it had last night. Most of the buildings were vacant and covered in graffiti, and there was trash everywhere. I am sure there are nicer parts of Athens; we just couldn’t afford to stay there. We grabbed a few groceries to get us through the next twenty-four hours, and headed home so I could take the second installment of my Z-Pak.
Ash was as bored as a kid at a Homeowners Association meeting. She decided to go to Zara. I didn’t like the idea of her going alone to a store half a mile away, but I had little energy to argue with her. She is an expert arguer, like me, but being at half health, I was no match. I soon fell asleep and tried to let my antibodies go to war.
I awoke to Ash wiping drool off my face. She had the look of a dog that had just shit all over your Persian rug. Oh no. “How much did you spend?”
“I made you some pasta!” she said, skipping into the kitchen. I knew I was in trouble when she was in a nurturing mood. Eventually she admitted she’d spent 150 dollars on clothes from that Spanish asshole Zara. Midway through her extensive explanation on why she needed all these rompers and already ripped overalls, I told her I just didn’t have the energy to care.
I couldn’t believe I had spent the only day we were in Athens in bed, but I didn’t have much of a choice. We did have a nice view of the Parthenon from our window. I just hoped this rest and relaxation was going to pay off in Thailand.
We watched the finale of Game of Thrones and called it a night in preparation for Bangkok.