Naxos Day 2

Definition

By Mayo Clinic staff

Hypoglycemia is a condition characterized by an abnormally low level of blood sugar (glucose), your body's main energy source.

Hypoglycemia is commonly associated with diabetes. However, a variety of conditions, many of them rare, can cause low blood sugar in people without diabetes. Like fever, hypoglycemia isn't a disease itself — it's an indicator of a health problem.

Immediate treatment of hypoglycemia involves quick steps to get your blood sugar level back into a normal range, either with high-sugar foods or medications. Long-term treatment requires identifying and treating the underlying cause of hypoglycemia.

So. It turns out I am super hypoglycemic. When I was younger, and my dad and I would spend the day down in Santa Cruz, he would get low blood sugary. I had no idea what that meant of course, and I had no way of knowing. We would have to either get food immediately or drive back home, without music or talking. I didn't understand it then, but now I totally do.

I can only describe it like this. It's like when I don't have enough food with enough sugars getting to my body, and I'm spending hours upon hours waling around in the hot sun, my body shuts down. I get really weak and cranky. It's almost like an addict suffering withdrawals: the physical side effects are horrible.

I would have been fine today, except no one told me that we would be waking up, getting the same crappy breakfast that we've been getting here the whole time, and then driving, hiking, and baking in the sun for 5 straight hours, with no rest stops for food or bathroom. I'm not stupid, I know how to pack healthy snacks and water. But not when I have no idea what we're doing.

Not that I mean to complain or anything. I just need people to understand how I'm feeling when I get like this.

At the first site, there was almost nothing left, and what was left had been reconstructed. It was the Temple of Dionysus.

This was the whole 'site.' Seriously.

What is this, Holland or something?

The second site was a Temple to Demeter.

The third site was an ancient quarry, where there were remains of a large unfinished koros. I didn't take any pictures because by this time I was dead on my feet.

Sorry I don't really have anything to say about these sites! I didn't learn very much today.

The second half of the day was pretty nice. We went back to the beach that we were at yesterday, and I fell asleep about five minutes after we got there. I woke up like an hour later in a pile of drool and a slight sunburn. There was a Mexican food place right on the beach! The owners are Greek and Canadian, and I guess that equals a Mexican food place on the beach in Naxos! I got chimichangas! The waiters were Australian and we met a man from England. And I accidentally started talking like him.

English man: "I had wanted to hire a scooter."

Rachel "Oh yeah we wanted to do that!"

Erica: "Do what?"

Rachel: "Hire a scooter…. I mean rent a quad."