Day 5: Triathlon Day with NOKY Club

Day 5 Photo Album Link

After a visit to Ancient Olympia yesterday, about an hour by car from Kyparissia, we enjoyed another traditional Greek dinner at the hotel. We have dinners on the patio outside, overlooking the beach, eating family style at large round tables that each seat about 8 people. Each night we mix up who sits where so that eventually we all enjoy each other's company by the end of the trip. We had a leisurely dinner with lots of conversations about the day's highlights and random comments about what students have enjoyed the most so far. At my table, Torr amazed us with how much watermelon one person could eat! To be fair, it is the most delicious watermelon you will ever eat. Not content with having leftovers from other tables, we managed to get a second heaping dish, which Torr almost single handedly demolished.

 

This morning, it was breakfast as usual, self service style, sitting outside overlooking the pool and the sea. Then Yannis showed up with his vehicle and bike trailer, and we managed to load up the vehicles with the bikes that wouldn't fit on the trailer. Off to Elsie Forest, about 15 minutes drive from the hotel, where we met up with some NOKY athletes of all ages. We warmed up with a short bike ride through the forest before starting the mini triathlon. After the warm up, I was asked to drive the support vehicle for the bike portion of the race to ensure all the athletes were accounted for, and , I suspect, to make sure someone else would be the victor:). Yannis explained to us the history behind the triathlon sport (swimming, biking, running) and for today, we did a short swim in the sea before heading to the  bikes and then a short run. The sun was beating down as the Canadians and Greeks got into the friendly competition. We were impressed by how hard the NOKY boys and girls train and by how fast they are at this sport. In the end, medals for the top three from each country were awarded to girls and boys in addition to medals to three others for their perseverance and effort. It was great to get together with many local girls and boys, some whom we had met at the dancing lesson a couple of days before at the hotel. Integrating with the local community is such an important part of this experience, one that will be repeated over the next few days during excursions and then again at the party with lots of people from the community at Yannis' place where we will have dinner outside followed by live Greek music (the reason for the dancing lesson) on Sunday night.

Afterwards, most of us couldn't wait wait to get back into the sea for another swim; after all, it's an amazing setting and the water is at the perfect temperature. After we cooled off, it was time to head back to the hotel and some time at the pool, to go for a walk into town, or relax for awhile. Tomorrow will be a packed day, including the famous Neda River walk and waterfalls. Sure to be another highlight of the trip! Weather forecast is hot, very hot (what a surprise!). Looking forward to more of Amalia's tunes from her playlist in the car!

Xavier Abrioux

Day 4: Olympic races, Archimedes and (more) Baklava

Day 4 Photo Album Link

Hello everyone! Today was day four of Greece. Can you believe we are already at day four? We know we can't. We started off our day with a nice early breakfast, and then we were off to Olympia! Olympia is the sanctuary of Ancient Greece and is where the Olympic Games were first started in 776 BC. They continued there until 393 AD. 1503 years later they were revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1894.
We started walking to the main gate of Olympia and within a couple minutes we all were thirsty (it was hot!) and had to sit down. After our break we passed through the gate and walked into one of the most amazingly ancient places ever. All we could see around us were the ruins of the historic site of Olympia. You can still imagine what it would have looked like ~3000 years ago. As we went on with the tour we learned so many things. One thing that we remember quite clearly is that if two athletes tied in a fighting event, things got pretty interesting. They would take turns punching each other in the face until one was knocked out. The conscious athlete then won the competition. Eventually, we moved onto the stadium where we all ran in the footsteps of the ancient Greeks. They also had a podium where we could pose. Once we were done with the sanctuary, we entered a museum which was AIR CONDITIONED!
As our day at Olympia ended, we had some free time to explore the village at the site. So we did typical things like getting ice cream and souvenirs, but when Mr DeMerchant was going to a jewelry shop he found out that the owner's brother had been a part of the Olympic torch relay 4 times! He had kept the torch, which happened to be at the store, and we were invited to hold the torch and get our photo taken.
In the evening, after dinner, we had some more free time around our 'home town' of Kyparissia. We got to swim in the pool, climb on crazy monkey bars at the beach and buy baklava.

Torr and Maddox

Today we visited Olympia, site of the first Olympics. I will not mention the actual visit but I did want to mention a cool coincidence that happened.While walking through the town I noticed a sign for a free museum dedicated to Archimedes. With a little time to kill I wanted to check it out as he is my favourite ancient scientist and mathematician. When in Greece as they say ...
As I was walking back one of the shop keepers asked where I was from and when I told her Canada she immediately called me back. As it turns out her brother was the fastest in the village of Olympia and the fastest runner gets to be the first one to carry the flame for the Olympics. He had a chance to carry the torch for four Olympic Games, including the Canadian Olympics in 1976. She had the torch for USSR Olympics in the shop and all of the students who wanted to had a chance to hold it and have their picture taken. A good way to cap off the trip to Olympia seeing the site of the first games and holding a torch from the modern Olympics. Cool things do happen if you put yourself out there and are open to them.

Mr D

Tonight We Dance

Yanni and the students from N.O.K.Y Triathlon club came to the hotel to teach everyone how to dance Greek style. While the dances look easy they are deceptively hard to get the timing right. After "The Canadians" had a chance to learn the steps in six time we were given a second lesson by the Greek youth. They were younger but much more experienced. You can tell that dancing is part of their culture.  The story of the butchers captured it all as we learned how people worked and then came out to dance as a way to celebrate.

A game of capture the flag ended the night with everyone running around the field by the hotel. Off to bed for a good night sleep to take on the adventures of a new day.

Day 3: Beach Morning, Old Town and NOKY Pool

Day 3 Photo Album Link

“Totally gnarly dude!” as Crush would say.

We had an awesome night sleeping on the beach last night. Yanni invited us to his property to have a sleep on the beach. We were greeted with some of the best watermelon we have ever tasted. Students ate their hearts fill and then played a game organized by Matt called World which gave them a chance to play with sticks while conquering other people’s country.

As the sunset some great pictures were taken as we were blessed with another awesome sunset. Everyone snuggled into their sleeping bags and prepared for a good night’s sleep. The stars were amazing as the Ursa Major, Ursa Minor and Orion were watching over us as we slept.

The Archleon Society asked us to not come as a large group looking for the turtles at night so several of us went out for look with nothing visible as late as 11 pm. Mr DeMerchant awoke at 3:15 am as dew had moistened his sleeping bag and went for a walk. He met with some members of the night shift from the Archelon who were watch a turtle dig a hole for her clutch. He was invited to share in the experience and learned how they measure, tag and check the turtle. 45 minutes later he was back in his sleeping bag.

The next morning the group packed up after a breakfast of baklava and bananas on the beach (we are on vacation...). We found the day shift from Archleon and watched them move a clutch of approximately 83 eggs to a new nest. Students learned how to measure the hole, count the eggs and the process followed by the volunteers. After completing our morning of science we were off for breakfast at the hotel.

After returning to the hotel for a late breakfast and a chance to freshen up (aka brush our teeth!), we braved the midday sun to hike from our hotel up to Old Town Kyparissia and the castle. It was a short (2-3 km) but steep climb, and after a few much needed water stops (and photo ops) we arrived at the local ruins dating back to the 13th century. We had a chance to reflect in the ancient amphitheatre on the 800 years of visitors who have walked the same path. After taking in the amazing view of Kyparissia and the surrounding bay (and a few more photos), we headed downhill to the local triathlon club (NOKY) and their beautiful 50 m outdoors pool. We spent a very refreshing afternoon playing marco polo, water polo and a team relay race. Divyesh’s spider monkey dive was definitely a highlight! We gathered bikes for a quick ride downhill back to the hotel. No pedalling required! We then had some “down time” for students to nap, explore town and relax at the hotel.

The evening ended on an even higher note as Yanni and local children arrived to teach us Greek dancing. More on that tomorrow from the students!

Mr D and Ms Cade

Day 2: A 'Turtle Conservation Day' at the Beach

Day 2 Photo Album Link

Hello everybody! It’s day 2 of the 2017 SMUS Greece Trip, and our first full day in Greece. A few of us started off the day with a gentle jog on the path along the side of the beach that is near our hotel. This was then followed by a delicious breakfast consisting of bread, feta cheese, eggs, and fruit salad. At 9:00 a.m. the group traveled to an environmental center where we witnessed a presentation on Loggerhead sea turtles. A key point that I took away from the presentation was that for every one thousand eggs, only one Loggerhead sea turtle hatchling will survive the trip from the egg-laying area to the deeper portion of the sea. This helped me to realize that it was important that we did what we could to help optimize the survival rate of these turtles by trying our best to eliminate unnatural sources of hatchling death such as illegal beach parties that emit bright lights which disrupt the path of hatchlings from the egg-laying area to the sea. A fun fact is that Kyparissia is now the largest breeding ground for the endangered Loggerhead sea turtles. After the presentation, we ate our lunches and went to Vounaki Beach where we were separated into teams of two to help clear garbage out of the beautiful beach. After a tiring time picking up garbage in the hot sun, we were rewarded by being given the opportunity to spend the rest of our afternoon swimming in the Ionian Sea. What a treat!

Divyesh

Swimming in the Ionian Sea was so much fun! Everyone was quite tired after cleaning up the beach, and it was also really hot out (about 30 degrees), so swimming was a great way to cool down. The water was a very nice temperature, cold enough to cool us down but still a lot warmer than at Victoria. We had to be quick when we were walking back to the cars though, since the sand was so hot that it nearly burnt our feet. Swimming was probably one of the highlights of my day so far, although I did really enjoy learning about loggerhead sea turtles in the presentation done by the Archelon Sea Turtle Preservation Group. I am really looking forward to sleeping on the beach tonight, as well as helping the Archelon group with their daily turtle nest surveys tomorrow morning. I think that we’ve had a really great second day in Greece, and I really hope that we get to see some turtles on the beach tonight or tomorrow!

Anna

Day 1: We made it!

After 27 hours,  3 flights, a few cat naps and many caffeinated drinks we have arrived in beautiful Kyparissia. We quickly explored our surroundings before having a delicious dinner overlooking the Ionian Sea. Off on an ice cream hunt now. More details and photos soon!

Day 1 Photo Album Link

Some Photos to Get Us Excited

Before We Go

This week in exploratory students are finishing their presentations and will have the chance to sample some Greek cuisine. Only 18 more sleeps!