Our first 'incident'

We decided with Laura that we should explore the island on quad bikes so we arranged to meet for breakfast at 11am. English Alex arrived first saying Bree (another Australian girl) was coming as well, then Laura and Jake (another bartender at Francescos from the Gold Coast) arrived and we all had breakfast and then headed off. We tried to hire a car because English Alex didn't particularly want to ride quads as it's the number 1 reason and place for Australians to die abroad, but we all vowed to be very careful and set off! Laura had her own bike, Alex & I and Bree & English Alex shared. We headed off towards Koumbara Beach on the east of the island as it was really windy. We filled up the quads and made it to the beach. The water was freezing so English Alex threw Laura into the water and then went to get Bree, she ran off down the beach and we saw Alex finally grab Bree and fling her in the water... What we didn't see was that Bree fell awkwardly, rolled her ankle and landed on Alex's knee which dislocated. We didn't see Bree trying to wave us down, so she dragged Alex up onto the shore and than ran over to us. We ran over to him and then I ran up to the restuarant and called an abulmance. Trying to describe and demonstrate a dislocated knee to a non english speaking person is pretty hilarious, I pointed to my knee cap and then pointed it to the inside of my knee and he finally got it. We waited with Alex for the ambulance which took forever, they finally arrived with a wheelchair but we were about 150 metres down the beach... They arrived barely speaking English and told him to get in the chair, I had to help him up! Oh and Alex is a big dude, he's 6'3 and would weigh about 90kgs. 

They strapped him into the ricketty chair, with no support for his knee and pulled out these metal arms out of the chair so it was easier to lift, they got the chair all ready, turned to my Alex and said 'lift?' So Alex and the little Greek man carried English Alex to the abulmance which was hilarious! English Alex took it like a champ and kept trying to physc Alex out! We got him into the ambulance and Bree went with him, so Alex, Laura and I drove the bikes to the clinic after them. Bree said the ambulance ride was hilarious/terrifying, his chair was sliding all over the place, she was trying to holding on while making sure Alex wasn't going to go flying. The wheels were going all over the place and the driver didn't slow down over bumps! 

When we arrived at the clinic, English Alex was still in the abulmance, they were waiting for my Alex to help get him out of the ambulance, all on Greek time, never rushing! They pulled him up a very steep ramp, thank god for the seat belt cause he was pretty out of the chair because of the incline. They then smacked him into door and wall, all while he was making jokes like 'safety first' and 'keep arms and legs inside the vehicle'. 

They finally realised it was serious after they x-rayed him and saw his meniscus was inparing the dislocation and would need surgery to fix it, so he was off to Crete that afternoon to the major hospital there. He got two jabs of morphine and was happy to be out of some pain, then they finally bandaged up his knee for more support. We were all shocked and so sad that he would have to leave, Laura and I came back up to the village to pack a bag for him with his passport and a few clothes. We got him some lunch and said goodbye, hoping it wouldn't be our last... 

The latest news is he's having surgery on Monday and will stay in Crete for a few days after that. We don't think he'll continue to work here anymore, he was replaced by an Aussie guy last night who just wasn't the same. We didn't go out... We were mourning newly departed friend :(