And so it continued

Day 2: Following the late night the only thing that was missing was sleep. Despite only 3 hours of rest and an 8 a.m. start we were all looking forward to the next leg of our weekend activity getaway. We had an hour’s travel to Latsi (North of Pafos) where we had rented out a boat for the afternoon.

By the time we arrived at the coast you could feel the suspense and eagerness to get started. The summer heat was onto us and we just wanted to dive into the sea and cool down a little.  But first things first, we got that cool box filled up with ice and beer. Once we saw the boat we knew that it had been worth the wait.  It was more than we had bargained for, and we knew that once away from shore we were in for a decent time.

So we were all aboard and ready to go. Gio, one of the ’infamous six’ was going to sail us out. We had our booze, inflatable ring, water skis, and our music jamming. We started out by cruising and then made a couple of stops to sunbathe and swim, most notably at the blue lagoon, before we started with the water sports.

First up the inflatable ring. What do you get with Gio steering the boat and one of us on the ring? A crazy guy crashing upon waves, and swerving 180 just to make the other either bounce off the ring or swallow some sea water. After all of us got a turn on the ‘crazy ride’ it was time to ski. Now this was my first time and decided to do it with one ski. The result….fail. Then I tried with two skis. The result….fail. I was always of the opinion that I could do anything if I put my mind to it, but it sure is harder than it looks. There I was, with no balance or composure at all, and when the boat slowly accelerated instead of slowly coming up onto surface I was just sinking deeper. Either way, it was a good laugh and well worth the camera shots. We topped our day off with lunch at a local restaurant before heading for the villa where we would all get a little rest in.

In the evening we had a paintballing session set up. It was 9 p.m. when we got there. The venue itself was pretty impressive hosting three battlefields filled with barrels, abandoned cars, worn down shacks and floodlights were turned on giving the total experience a little bit more twist. Before we got started though we were given a briefing of what we can (basically mouth expletives) and can’t do (shoot in the sensitive areas) from the instructor before we were handed out our gear and split into two teams of five, the only distinction between the two teams being the different colored helmets.

We fuelled ourselves with Jager shots before entering the battleground and getting into position. Once the ref gave the go ahead I must confess to thoughts of camping it out to make sure I was the last man standing from my team and and gain bragging rights as the survivor of the team. But when I saw my team mates go for it I did the opposite and went gung ho.

The first of the five battles was over and we were in for a long night. We left the field giving each other banter followed by more shots and downing beers to prepare for round two. This time, after being accustomed to the field there was more thought going into the general strategy, initial positioning of each paintballer, where we would attack from, who was going to cover and who was going to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the team and go all solo without a game plan! Tiredness combined with alcohol had started to take its toll but we kept going on pure adrenaline.

Past midnight and after round five, a declared winner, 4 pints down, 3 jager shots and buzzing ears from who did what and ‘I killed you but your too much of a chicken-sh*t to admit it’ we sat down on a bench outside the briefing room where the hosts prepared a bbq for all of us. The hosts of the venue were just great and let us do our own thing and enjoy the whole experience. Good company, guns, booze and all you can eat. What more did we need?

Three day holiday weekend in Cyprus

After a hectic summer period it was about time the guys and I had a weekend away. Up until now we were used to going away within Europe, being Budapest and Krakow, but this time we thought of keeping it local and headed towards Pafos.

The plan was for us six guys to rent out a villa, have all the food and booze required for our stay, and to hang out by the pool when we had time to kill. On that front, time wasn’t much of a luxury as hanging out and getting a little breather were a commodity given that our three day stay was intensified with activities to do from the start.

On Thursday, the first day of our stay, we arrived at our villa at 3 p.m. and begun to unpack. Given it was 35 degrees Celsius outside we all agreed we had to dip into the pool. So out came the corona’s and in we jumped. By then we had already felt that we are actually away from home. Time for play, pranks, immature jokes, guy talk and of course a little competition in the pool.

We came up with a bright idea of playing water polo. Considering the combined I.Q. level of the group and the drinking to add to that, we didn’t find anybody objecting to it. Of course there were modified rules since none of us had the slightest knowledge of the game. Now, verbal abuse was allowed, as was choking and drowning the opposition. Two minutes into the game you could see how serious some of us were taking it. Boys will be boys. I can swear by the end of it we drank so much pool water that it was just pouring out of our noses. Getting out of the pool was the hard bit. We actually had a decent work out to the extent that we dragged our way to the sunbeds, popping open some more bottles and just lying down in the summer heat.

By 7 p.m. we had to be well rested and ready for our first main activity. We had booked for go-karting, and it was going to be at a pretty unusual track. This track boasts 1600 metres in length, a tunnel, a bridge, and combining that with the 35-40 mile karts top speed along with the sharp turns we were in for a load of drifting. We had made the track our own. Competition was going to be stiff and the adrenaline levels were high. You could tell from the start line and that smirk on everyone’s face that by the end of it the only way you were going to get away from the banter was by ending up first place.

During the race tension was high. By that time the sun was down and the floodlights were on, just to give this an extra twist and the ultimate condition. We were all looking for top speed, swerving our way on the tar whilst looking through the rear view mirror to make sure that anyone from behind would not overtake. Going through the tunnel which was placed beneath the bridge was always going to be hard and where the race would be won. The karts would have to slow down in order to turn 180 degrees, so anybody at high speed at that point would just drift into the tyres on the side. Any time that someone would crash into the tyres or one of us would overtake the other there was a little mockery or obscene body language to go with it to provoke the opposition. Home stretch 15 minutes later and nobody in front I knew I would be the one with the largest grin at the end of it. I played it cool, didn’t say a word till later on, and just let the rest of the guys give it out to each other.

We then headed back home and time to get the BBQ ready. As I had said earlier we came well prepared. We threw halloumi, sausages, mushrooms and peppers on the grill and well as some pitta bread to accommodate the dips for our starters. Following that we had some pork and chicken kebab with salad.  Once the food was done out came the rum and vodka along with the poker cards and chips. We had a knockout series and sat on till 4 in the morning although the game itself was pretty much one sided. Winner takes all and our American buddy had the last say.

 

To be continued……