Reflection Camp Story 5. Part

In October of that first year I returned to Istanbul to work and make a bit more cash to at least get the camp in working order for the next season. In June of 2003 I opened with one completed bungalow and a couple of tents. Ahmet, Cigdem and Sayan helped me finish up the first bungalow and when it was done they looked at me and said “You have a bungalow man!” Perhaps a week later I received my first guest. I cooked, cleaned, fixed, shopped, whatever it took to run the camp.

In the summer of 2004 I met Isil at the camp. We worked together for the next two seasons, running the camp and improving upon it. In the winter of 2005-2006 we stayed through the winter: I worked to replace all of the old bungalows that I had built while Isil carried pebbles from the beach in her backpack twice a day, every day for two months straight with which we built the stairs. We lived through some of the craziest, most wonderful storms that existed (and nearly lost the kitchen roof in the process!). But in the end we were ready for the next season with a much nicer camp.