That morning view though for my morning scripture study. So often I would read and feel Heavenly Father just teaching me patience and love and virtue and charity.
Kayaking was a bit of a disaster at first. We didn't have the right address and ended up in the wrong place. At one point I was driving backwards down a very small alleyway that cars weren't supposed to be down. That was magical. Of course it was my fault because I'm a woman. But it really wasn't. They didn't put the correct address so we had to go another day. Fortunately, we made it and had great parking for the day. Giannis and Giannis seemed crazy and we knew we were in for a treat. They were very friendly though and slightly, not really, apologetic for the address not being correct.
We chose our partners and loaded into our Kayaks. Christina wore her swim cover up and decided last minute to put it away. Giannis, "Christina. (sigh) It's a kayak not a coffee." He often barked/screamed at us in between smokes that we were a group and we needed to stay together for safety so the boats wouldn't kill us. But then we would be too close and he would bark/scream "What are you doing! Do you drive that close to cars!!"
I wasn't sure how we would kayak all day, but we did. It was amazing. Nobodies arms fell off and the weather was beautiful. We saw a good chunk of the coast of Lefkada's south side and Cephalonia in the distance as well as other islands. This, according to Giannis, it where Odysseus adventured and wrote his stories. We paddled to a cave that was very dark and all of the sudden Giannis tells us to get out and swim. It was definitely giving 47 meters deep movie vibes. But what were our options, get eaten by a shark or deal with Giannis bitching at us. Even Ella was hesitant but she didn't want to deal with Giannis so she jumped out. The water was super beautiful and there were beautiful fishes. There was not 100's of starfish as advertised, but it was still lovely. The water did glow and that was cool. As we were swimming around, Giannis starts barking again that someone is going to rock climb/cliff jump. And sure enough, someone is.
Maria.
I don't even know how she got up there, but then he made her keep going up and off she jumped. Was I terrified? Absolutely. Did it feel safe? Absolutely not. Tell me my mother in heaven doesn't keep us safe because Maria jumped and hollered and whooped.
We kept kayaking and taking breaks by beautiful beaches. It was such a lovely day and Giannis had 2 teenage boys helping out who were so polite and lovely to talk to. Eli kayaked with one of them. They fed us a simple but yummy (because we were starving) lunch with some very ripe melon Giannis cut with a giant machete while also somehow rolling his tobacco and smoking it and telling the story of the Odyssey. Giannis had many one liners. As we were leaving the cave I guess I didn't listen well enough, "Sofia. Why you not listen?" "Giannis in America women are independent and don't ask for help." "So what. In America they mess it all up and then the men fix it?" Classic.
Another one, "Joe you NEVER LISTEN!!!!!!!!"
It truly was such an amazing day and everyone was definitely tired after!!
