Have’s And Have Not’s

It didn’t dawn on me at first because perhaps it is the natural state of man. It didn’t seem missing since I never need it. But when it came to me, I looked around and realized that Patmos is one of three places in the world I have been without a single chain or fast-food outlet. No golden arches, no KFC, no Pizza Hut, no Starbucks, not a 7-11, not even a Carrefour.

Gas stations too. No Shell or British Petroleum. Just an Argo – a little like ARCO – but take one look and you know it’s not that….

Patmos is 100% genuinely free of all modern chain stores.

I have witnessed this before in only the most third world and undeveloped of places – Nepal and Laos. It’s been a few years since I’ve been to either and who knows if the Colonel hasn’t slipped a bucket of wings into Vientiane. We’ll investigate that in a few months.

Emily mentioned something today about the Slow Food Movement. And it hit me – the movement won this island, or more accurately, it never lost it. I suppose with a permanent population of only 2800, it would be hard to sustain a chain store year-round. The advantage of the mom and pop operations is that the folks pack it up by November and either enjoy the fruits of their labor until March, or work some other business like olive farming.

We suspect our hotel owner is one of the permanent residents of Patmos. He has our studio hotel and one other guest house on the other end of Skala which he drives to in all of two minutes. Every time he drives through town and sees us walking to or from the hotel (which happens a lot), he offers us a ride which seems silly except that he’s just so damn nice we really can’t refuse him.

On one such ride two days ago, he showed us his “garden” – a small farm he has hidden near the hotel behind some fig trees (aka Feigenbaums). Chickens, roosters, numerous hutches filled with rabbits and bunnies (which he and his friends eat), figs, squashes, plums, grapevines and several other fruit trees. Yesterday morning there was a donkey over there – we didn’t ask.

But this is rare for Greece. Elsewhere, we’ve seen it all. Little Rhodes alone has two Starbucks about two blocks from each other.

Of course, there are costs too. Competition here seems stagnant in the food department. So, while everyone is cooking food and serving it fresh, they’re also all making the same rather limited menus. Today, Emily and I walked along checking menus for cost and variety only to find that everyone has chicken souvlaki for between €6 and €7 and a Greek salad for about €5.

These may sound great to you – and they are great. But there aren’t that many things we either want or can afford like the local fresh lobster at €50 a plate or the heaps of deep fried calamari and shrimp. The menus lack the variety and depth of the other islands where restaurants had different specialties and featured dishes. People stood out front telling you why their food and menu was best.

And we realized that the bigger islands offered more for less. Probably better supply chains and higher demand due to higher population are at the heart of it. But I have to wonder if, like the unliked spider who does a service by killing those pesky flies, the international fast food chains don’t keep the tavernas and restaurants on their feet? And yes, I too am shocked that I just wrote that.

But as perfect as Patmos is physically and as pleasant as it is to us, there are problems in town that even Mayor McCheese can’t fix.

On our visit to the local bank today we were helped by a well spoken guy of about 25 years old. I asked him if he speaks English and he replied quickly, “Only when I have to.” But he showed no signs of minding. In fact, it came out that not only is he certified to teach English but he also has proficient command of French, German, Norwegian, Japanese and Italian. He earned college degrees in each of them.

“I studied English literature and even translated the entire book of Sherlock Holmes.”

“Why are you working here?” I asked him. “It’s probably a waste of my talent. But it’s very hard to get jobs here in Greece. People only get the good jobs if they have the right families and connections. People like me don’t get recognized. It’s also very difficult right now in Greece….”

I asked him if he had looked at using his EU citizenship to his advantage. Surely there must be a job in Brussels or somewhere for someone of his talent. “My wife speaks three languages even better than I do. But our families help us. It’s very hard to leave our families and get away.”

At the same time, on the other side of the bank, an Indian man who sells bootleg DVD’s around town – walking into restaurants and cafes asking if anyone wants to buy a DVD – was in line to make a deposit with a wad of cash in hand.

I wonder, as usual, who is better off? Who here are the have’s and have not’s? And when my chicken souvlaki meal comes with the usual side of fries they serve here, can I super-size that?

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