As I set on the beach near Mastichari, Greece, I reorganized my bags thinking I had entirely too many clothes. I thought to myself, "A dress? Do I really need a dress? I haven't warn it once in over four months." And then I left the dress behind.
I stepped off the plane in Norway, zipping my coat up and keeping my eye out for some Norwegian climbers that I knew would be getting on the same bus as me into Oslo from the outlying airport. Everything was as expected so far, albeit dark and I couldn't actually see anything besides the people. Ingebjørg and three of her friends met me at the main bus station. Four nicely dressed, pretty girls. We decided to go for a drink. I sucked it up and didn't think about the fact that my last "shower" was a dip in the ocean (actually, my last two). Or the fact that I was carrying a huge backpack. We walked into a bar that could have been straight from Phoenix...a trendy, microbrewery. I looked around, staring at all these strange people in jeans and normal clothes. I noted there were numerous good looking guys too.
It was at that moment that I realized a) I haven't been in any cities in quite some time (albeit Oslo is not a huge one); b) I haven't needed non climbing clothes for an equal amount of time; c) men in "normal" clothes are quite attractive and d) I was back to Western Civilization. It felt really strange.
I was pleased though by the fact that I hadn't started tossing out any of my non-climbing/outdoors clothes just yet!
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Kalymnos, Greece
While sitting at the Mastichari Port at a restaurant on Kos, I was talking to the owner and found out they had "pirate" boats that would still be running to Kalymnos regardless of the high winds and rough water. Since the ferries weren't running again, it was my only option. It did get us safely there. I can't however say it was a smooth ride. The waves were intense, throwing the small, maybe 35-40ft boat around. You couldn't see out the front windows so I sat closest to the back of the cabin where the doors were so I could see the horizon and hopefully prevent nausea. The exhaust fumes were right there though, probably making it worse for me. I was drenched in sea water from head to toe. My head was starting to hurt, my stomach felt a little queazy, and my breathing was getting shallow. We finally arrived in about 30 minutes and it took a good few hours for me to feel normal again. Hopefully no more rough water and pirate boats for me!
Kalymnos is absolutely gorgeous though! I shared a cab with an Italian family to get to the other side of the island to a town called Massouri. I asked the cab driver to drop me off at the cafe where all the climbers go. He knew what I meant and asked where I was staying. When I told him I needed to figure that out he took me to the next cafe and spoke with the owner, Artemis, who made me a deal of €15 a night since I was one person. I was too excited to start climbing to want to look elsewhere. She showed me the studio, I said sure, set my stuff down, and packed my climbing bag.
In Turkey one day I met two Americans (Colin and Jim) who I gave my email and phone number to because they were headed to Kalymnos for the month of April. I had been texting with Jim and headed to meet up with him. An English and a Scottish guy who live on the island picked me up. I said I was going to the sector called Arginonta and read the description of where it was located from the guide book. They knew exactly where it was, pulled over, and pointed to the cairn that I needed to follow to get there. I won't bore you with the other stories, but my first few days here all of my hitch hiking experiences were similarly great. One local owned a restaurant which led to multiple free drinks there over the course of my time on the island.
The locals here are fabulous...some of the nicest I have met so far on my travels. I feel like I have a second mom at the little convenient store next to my studio. The first day I walked in she introduced herself and has been so sweet my entire time here. I get lots of hugs, she makes sure everything is okay with me daily, and slips in some free food here and there.
After a couple of days on the island, I finally ran back into Addy and Dan (the Romanian couple I rode with from Turkey). We shared many climbing days, beach days, beers, and stories about life. I'm confident I will see them again someday in the future :). Some people you meet traveling and you have a good time with them and that is that, then there are others you are confident you will see again. It's part of what I love about traveling. Cultural stories about how other people grew up and live are always my favorite. I think my chin was dropped every time I heard Addy and Dan's childhood stories growing up in Communist Romania and waiting in bread lines with their ration cards.
An Austrian friend, Moritz, who I also met in Turkey, came to the island too. Five of us took a boat to a secluded part of the island so the boys could deep water solo for Moritz's birthday. A couple days later I took him up a multipitch route on the neighboring island of Telhendos. It was nine pitches and about 250 meters high. It was his first multipitch climb, and I was so excited to know enough about climbing from all of my great teachers (Nick, Dustin, and Jon) to be able to share the experience with a newbie! It's quite hot (hotter than normal for the time of year according to the locals) and we had a two hour hike down. Towards the end, we were all practically running to get to the ocean as we felt like we were overheating. We threw our bags down and hightailed it to cool waters!
My time on Kalymnos is now coming to an end and I have met so many amazing people here, quite a few more I haven't mentioned. It's hard leaving somewhere with so many great memories that have been made here. I'm actually sad that this chapter of my travels is ending for a number of reasons.
On Saturday though a new chapter will begin in Norway. A Norwegian friend I met in Turkey, and who was also in Kalymnos while I was here (Ingebjørg), has invited me to travel Norway with her for three weeks. (The flight was only $60...and Greece and Norway are not close!) I'm not excited about the extremely high prices of absolutely everything there, but I'm definitely excited for everything else! I've yet to really consider where I will be going after that though (which is how I prefer it). I have to be out of the Schengen Area (most of Europe) by May 25th and can't re-enter until my Visa resets on June 28th. I have about three weeks to decide my next stop. Scotland for trekking? Croatia for climbing or better yet to find a sailboat to work on? Asia? Finally get to Australia since I do have a Visa there? Who knows! Only my next whimsical thought (maybe combined with flight prices) will be able to tell! ;-)
Kalymnos is absolutely gorgeous though! I shared a cab with an Italian family to get to the other side of the island to a town called Massouri. I asked the cab driver to drop me off at the cafe where all the climbers go. He knew what I meant and asked where I was staying. When I told him I needed to figure that out he took me to the next cafe and spoke with the owner, Artemis, who made me a deal of €15 a night since I was one person. I was too excited to start climbing to want to look elsewhere. She showed me the studio, I said sure, set my stuff down, and packed my climbing bag.
In Turkey one day I met two Americans (Colin and Jim) who I gave my email and phone number to because they were headed to Kalymnos for the month of April. I had been texting with Jim and headed to meet up with him. An English and a Scottish guy who live on the island picked me up. I said I was going to the sector called Arginonta and read the description of where it was located from the guide book. They knew exactly where it was, pulled over, and pointed to the cairn that I needed to follow to get there. I won't bore you with the other stories, but my first few days here all of my hitch hiking experiences were similarly great. One local owned a restaurant which led to multiple free drinks there over the course of my time on the island.
The locals here are fabulous...some of the nicest I have met so far on my travels. I feel like I have a second mom at the little convenient store next to my studio. The first day I walked in she introduced herself and has been so sweet my entire time here. I get lots of hugs, she makes sure everything is okay with me daily, and slips in some free food here and there.
After a couple of days on the island, I finally ran back into Addy and Dan (the Romanian couple I rode with from Turkey). We shared many climbing days, beach days, beers, and stories about life. I'm confident I will see them again someday in the future :). Some people you meet traveling and you have a good time with them and that is that, then there are others you are confident you will see again. It's part of what I love about traveling. Cultural stories about how other people grew up and live are always my favorite. I think my chin was dropped every time I heard Addy and Dan's childhood stories growing up in Communist Romania and waiting in bread lines with their ration cards.
An Austrian friend, Moritz, who I also met in Turkey, came to the island too. Five of us took a boat to a secluded part of the island so the boys could deep water solo for Moritz's birthday. A couple days later I took him up a multipitch route on the neighboring island of Telhendos. It was nine pitches and about 250 meters high. It was his first multipitch climb, and I was so excited to know enough about climbing from all of my great teachers (Nick, Dustin, and Jon) to be able to share the experience with a newbie! It's quite hot (hotter than normal for the time of year according to the locals) and we had a two hour hike down. Towards the end, we were all practically running to get to the ocean as we felt like we were overheating. We threw our bags down and hightailed it to cool waters!
My time on Kalymnos is now coming to an end and I have met so many amazing people here, quite a few more I haven't mentioned. It's hard leaving somewhere with so many great memories that have been made here. I'm actually sad that this chapter of my travels is ending for a number of reasons.
On Saturday though a new chapter will begin in Norway. A Norwegian friend I met in Turkey, and who was also in Kalymnos while I was here (Ingebjørg), has invited me to travel Norway with her for three weeks. (The flight was only $60...and Greece and Norway are not close!) I'm not excited about the extremely high prices of absolutely everything there, but I'm definitely excited for everything else! I've yet to really consider where I will be going after that though (which is how I prefer it). I have to be out of the Schengen Area (most of Europe) by May 25th and can't re-enter until my Visa resets on June 28th. I have about three weeks to decide my next stop. Scotland for trekking? Croatia for climbing or better yet to find a sailboat to work on? Asia? Finally get to Australia since I do have a Visa there? Who knows! Only my next whimsical thought (maybe combined with flight prices) will be able to tell! ;-)
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| Joe at Grande Grotta with Telendos in the background. |
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| Fish and beer at a restaurant in Arginonta. I had hitched a ride from the owner earlier in the week. He gave me a free beer every time I visited. |
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| Edward on a 7c at Sikati Cave. |
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| Adi on the multipitch route on Telendos. |
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| Moritz on the multipitch on Telendos Island...his first multipitch and his birthday present from me. :-P |
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