Symblegades Petres

After our moped almost died going up the hill, we walked to Symblegades Petres for a relaxing day on easy routes in the shade. I did the varied and very fun KVM a vue and a few other 6's on the other side. Afterwards we went into Pothia to find duct tape and foam to make my superclimbingfancypants. It took a little searching but eventually Chloe and I found a hardware store. It was packed from floor to ceiling with so many things that the guy working there (who was a large fellow) couldnt really move around the store. Instead of a ladder, he had a little gripping device on a pole which seemed to be completeley useless. After knocking down several paint cans for the previous customer, he managed to almost drop a large roll of duct tape on his head! I would say that it is a system that could be improved.
Later on we went to the mother of all sponge shops. Kalymnos used to be a major source of natural sponges, but a blight of some kind and the availablity of cheaper sponges from southeast asia and the US has since changed that. They dont seem to have any lack of sponges though!

After buying a few sponges, I asked if I could take a picture of the owner. It became obvious that I was not the first person who had asked this, because she scooted on over to a little wooden bench, picked up a stick, and pretended to whack the sponge. It was a little eery: a bit like watching a human wind up doll. I was sorry to have put her through that, especially because the photo didnt turn out very well.

As the sun was setting I saw a group of boys in a rowboat cruise through the harbor. They would start gesturing and pointing towards the occasional boat that came back to port, start paddling madly towards it, and then start lobbing firecrackers on board.

We had dinner at Barbagiannis, where a mangy dog circled the table

Later that night I made the superclimbingfancypants by taping sections of a foam sleeping pad to the inside of the pants.