Kalymnos Part 3

Another week has gone by in Kalymnos and we are enjoying ourselves very much. The weather has cooled down a bit, which is good for climbing, but it remains sunny. I think there is some rain in the forecast, but hopefully it won't amount to much. Elise continues to have adventures and mishaps. The bed wetting occurred on two more consecutive nights. We've decided she's been drinking more water here because of the heat and activity and it's likely causing her the need to "go" sooner than at home. Plus, she's an incredibly deep sleeper. Parenting advice we've received instructs us not to get angry at her for this - it's not her fault. Instead, we just refer to it as her "accident" and have put in her in pull-ups for the time being. She doesn't seem too bothered by it and the pull-ups seem dry in the morning.

A walk through the port town of Pothia at night.


Sunset on a harbour on the north end of the island.


A small church. There are hundreds of these scattered across the hillsides. Some very elaborate.


Elise inside. She thought this was pretty interesting.


A behavior incident: Elise found the need to use profanity (I won't elaborate, but let's just say the grandparents would have been shocked) on two separate occasions. The first time she was spoken to, scolded and put into "time out", but the second time we decided there had to more of a consequence. Problem was, we had just arrived at a restaurant to meet with all our friends - not an opportune time for discipline. We decided she could sit in the car for a few minutes and have a time out. To make a long story short, she had a bonafide tantrum, something she's not done before. This shook us all up a bit, to say the least, but it seems that the process ultimately had the right effect as we've not heard that word again nor has any of it been discussed. Of course, she bounced back quickly (probably faster than us) and we all had a nice dinner.

On to nicer topics. We've been climbing at the Sikati cave and it's great. The climbing is amazing and the beach is even better. It's super clean, secluded and Elise loves the butterflies in the flowers and the shell hunting along the shore.

The Sikati cave.


The beach is incredible.


Elise doing a BIG rope swing.


Elise at the Sikati cave beach. She wanted me to take her picture near the butterflies.


Another day saw us explore an underground cavern. This was amazing and we had to descend two ladders to enter the chamber. It was laced with stalactites and limestone features of every description. As usual, Elise was a trooper and enjoyed wearing her headlamp and looking at the rock. Best of all, she liked climbing out the first ladder (with me behind) at the end.

Pam and Elise in the chamber.



Crazy rock formations.


Yesterday, I turned to Elise and asked "Do you want to do a climb?" Her immediate answer was "yes". I guess she's been watching us and was itching to try. Well, we harnessed her up and got the rope set and she literally flew up the route. This was her first bonafide climb. It was a route called "Finger Piercing" and is rated 5.5. It was probably about 50 feet high and she did it all by herself and lowered back down without incident. The group beside us from the UK was very impressed - especially because they had just finished the same climb! Truth be told, they were new to climbing so the route is very easy. Regardless, Elise was very pleased with herself.

Elise at the top of her climb. Look very closely! She's at the top of the gray rock in the middle of the photo.


We'll see what the next week brings!

Marc