So it's been a few days since anyone has posted...so here's the 411.
The climbing has been UNBELIEVABLE (if you haven't seen the pictures on Facebook)! The routes run the gambit from beautiful tufas and stalactites in over hanging caves to delicate face & slab climbing for 100+ feet. One day we are kicking ass on hard routes and the next we are getting our ass HANDED to us on something that should be "easy" for us. We are all SO sore and exhausted, not only because we are climbing hard, but also just from hiking to the different crags day after day. Our BUTTS are getting a HELL of a work out :)
Anyway, we have settled in to our little routine. After our morning coffee and a little breakfast, we make ourselves a lunch to take with us and then head to the little cafe for our daily cappuccino, where we sit and peruse the guide book to decide which crag to hit. We slowly drag our sore bodies to the climbing area that we have picked for the day and start climbing. As soon as our hands and feet hit the rock, we forget all about pain. After spending hours sampling the routes on that crag, and sometimes hanging around some German's, we watch the sunset as we hike down. Soon we are back at the little "super market" with the nicest store manager ever. We get some beers, produce, gummy bears, and whatever else strikes our fancy (since we are starving by this time), make it home and begin the showering, dinner making, facebooking, & movie watching before we pass out. Just for it all to begin again tomorrow.
The weather is fickle here, guessing it's just the time of year, but it seems to be either sunny and WINDY (which is cold) or cloudy & rainy. We check the weather the night before and by the morning the weather report has changed...keeps us on our toes for sure.
On our last rest day (before today), we made it to Pothia by way of a nice Kalymnian civil engineer who told us about some sponge diving history. The "bus" system is a conundrum and we have only managed to catch it once (by shear luck). We have been lucky enough to rely on the kindness of the locals to pick us up, and they have been very informative. We get tips on where to buy sponges, where to have a nice lunch, and some of the sites to see. We rented 2 scooters (note that Ryan wanted to get a car...this is important later on in the story) and began our scooter tour of Pothia. We stop at a "big" super market before we head for home. As we hit the switchbacks Jesse and Ryan pass Amber & me on the scooters and then WRECK at the next corner right in front of us. The beers that Jesse had in his backpack EXPLODE as the skid across the pavement (I conveniently offered to pack Ryan's in my bag). So the next day it's pouring rain outside and it's windy as hell and we have scooters for our trip to Sakati Cave (the farthest crag). Ryan gets to gloat about wanting to get a car while Amber and Jesse go back to Pothia (after one scooter gets a flat tire) to exchange both. Ryan and I sit at a little cafe and drink cappuccinos sheltered from the rain (and hail apparently) while we wait. We have had the car for several days now (a lovely sky blue 4-door PANDA), and it has been wonderful to be able to reach some of the far off crags so easily. We had another rest day today and will be back to it tomorrow, hopefully a little rested up and ready to go.
It suddenly seems like the "end" of this is closing in so fast. It's hard to keep track of what day it even is. When we were in Pothia today we purchased our ferry tickets back to Athens and it all becomes clear how very little time we have left and how quickly it will go by. I will be happy to be home, don't get me wrong, but it will be bittersweet to leave this little adventure that we have all become so accustomed to. And we have actually managed to get along really well together, even with all 4 of us sharing a 20x20 room with a single bath.
The climbing has been UNBELIEVABLE (if you haven't seen the pictures on Facebook)! The routes run the gambit from beautiful tufas and stalactites in over hanging caves to delicate face & slab climbing for 100+ feet. One day we are kicking ass on hard routes and the next we are getting our ass HANDED to us on something that should be "easy" for us. We are all SO sore and exhausted, not only because we are climbing hard, but also just from hiking to the different crags day after day. Our BUTTS are getting a HELL of a work out :)
Anyway, we have settled in to our little routine. After our morning coffee and a little breakfast, we make ourselves a lunch to take with us and then head to the little cafe for our daily cappuccino, where we sit and peruse the guide book to decide which crag to hit. We slowly drag our sore bodies to the climbing area that we have picked for the day and start climbing. As soon as our hands and feet hit the rock, we forget all about pain. After spending hours sampling the routes on that crag, and sometimes hanging around some German's, we watch the sunset as we hike down. Soon we are back at the little "super market" with the nicest store manager ever. We get some beers, produce, gummy bears, and whatever else strikes our fancy (since we are starving by this time), make it home and begin the showering, dinner making, facebooking, & movie watching before we pass out. Just for it all to begin again tomorrow.
The weather is fickle here, guessing it's just the time of year, but it seems to be either sunny and WINDY (which is cold) or cloudy & rainy. We check the weather the night before and by the morning the weather report has changed...keeps us on our toes for sure.
On our last rest day (before today), we made it to Pothia by way of a nice Kalymnian civil engineer who told us about some sponge diving history. The "bus" system is a conundrum and we have only managed to catch it once (by shear luck). We have been lucky enough to rely on the kindness of the locals to pick us up, and they have been very informative. We get tips on where to buy sponges, where to have a nice lunch, and some of the sites to see. We rented 2 scooters (note that Ryan wanted to get a car...this is important later on in the story) and began our scooter tour of Pothia. We stop at a "big" super market before we head for home. As we hit the switchbacks Jesse and Ryan pass Amber & me on the scooters and then WRECK at the next corner right in front of us. The beers that Jesse had in his backpack EXPLODE as the skid across the pavement (I conveniently offered to pack Ryan's in my bag). So the next day it's pouring rain outside and it's windy as hell and we have scooters for our trip to Sakati Cave (the farthest crag). Ryan gets to gloat about wanting to get a car while Amber and Jesse go back to Pothia (after one scooter gets a flat tire) to exchange both. Ryan and I sit at a little cafe and drink cappuccinos sheltered from the rain (and hail apparently) while we wait. We have had the car for several days now (a lovely sky blue 4-door PANDA), and it has been wonderful to be able to reach some of the far off crags so easily. We had another rest day today and will be back to it tomorrow, hopefully a little rested up and ready to go.
It suddenly seems like the "end" of this is closing in so fast. It's hard to keep track of what day it even is. When we were in Pothia today we purchased our ferry tickets back to Athens and it all becomes clear how very little time we have left and how quickly it will go by. I will be happy to be home, don't get me wrong, but it will be bittersweet to leave this little adventure that we have all become so accustomed to. And we have actually managed to get along really well together, even with all 4 of us sharing a 20x20 room with a single bath.
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