Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Time to go home
It's my last week in Italia and I'm starting to get anxious. Anxious about saying goodbye to the terracotta-olive-lavender-mandirino landscapes and the goosebump-inducing feeling of walking upon the dust of history everywhere I go. Anxious about getting back to my new/old hometown, putting on my grown-up pants; and finding a job, a place to live, and new friends. Anxious about having to watch Fox news again and be surrounded by a country where everything moves in fast forward. I'm the only WWOOFer left on this farm and the sense of finality is so tangible I can taste it. The other two went off to Berlin and Boston to begin their lives again. I feel like a left-over right now, in limbo between this dream world and the real world. It's a bit lonely, but a good time to reflect on this amazing trip.
Allow me to descibe the last few (6) weeks... I last wrote during the end of my stay in Chiavari. So much has happened since then! I'm going to write about it as I remember it, with only brief and colorful flashes. I will try to leave out the little details because there's a lot of ground to cover. I last mentioned something about my heart. In Firenze. So we'll start there.
FIRENZE: I met Ryane's amazing family. They adopted me. Ate too many truffles. Dances and kisses in Babylon. Too much smoke, too many lights, heart confused again. Halloween was a wet, cold and sparkly night. The cobblestones glittered. I wore my tiger hat. Went on a wild treasure hunt for the only Vegan restaurant in Florence and after much wandering, found it. DOLCE VEGAN: glowing in the middle of a deserted street. The owner was a sweet and quiet 26 year old girl who didn't hand us a menu, but simply asked us what we felt like eating. We stuffed ourselves with delicious vegan homemade pasta and chocolate cake. Then made friends with some American film makers who bought us wine. Said goodbye to Firenze for what I thought would be the last time.
AREZZO: Miso, Miso. Went to work with Dario on a miso-lentil-wine-soy sauce farm. Big red vats of fermenting soy beans. Stirring, splashing, pressure washing and being generally wet and cold all day. Big ochre sunrises and pomegranate sunsets over the hills. 10 hour days. Big blackish rubies of dried grapes clumped and stiff after the wine pressing. Everything smelled fermented. I was all alone on this farm. The only succor for my lonliness was a book called The Monster of Florence and an iphone game called Zombie Farm. Needless to say I didn't last long. Went with Dario to the farmer's market in Firenze, and skidattled. Back to Ryane's house.
FIRENZE, again: Spent a week here looking for a new farm. Sleeping foot to foot on Ryane's giant gold/green leviathan of a couch. Caught up with all the shenanigans of Sookie Stackhouse and Rachel Barry. Had too many Tegan and Sara sing alongs. Ate truffle-infused sausage. Yes. Sausage. Stirred up a pot of broken hearts and drama, and decided to leave it there for good. Cut all the strings, except the one attached to Ryane and together we went to find some new adventures in....
BOLOGNA: Couch surfing with Aurelio, who wondered why he couldn't find a girlfriend with similar interests: computer games, chain smoking, and quantum physics. Beats me. We cooked for him his first taste of Mexican food, which he loved. Then we played dress-up and took him to his first gay club, Il Cassero, which he also loved. Bologna by day is an intricate labyrinth of colors and music adorned with art deco metalwork twisting through all its nooks and crannies. We tramped around and made some new friends and on the last day, we woke up and impulsively decided to seek out my relatives in...
VICENZA: With only 4 hours notice, my relatives graciously arranged for us to come visit. Heart thumping with anticipation, I pulled out my cleanest dirty clothes and and tried to look like a nice girl. (The key word here is TRY. It's a bit tricky when one has been farming and living out of a backpack for 3 months. They could have cared less.) We arrived at the train station, a sleek black BMW with a Dolce & Gabbana leopardprint-clad Indonesian super-model in the passenger seat pulled up. Thinking this couldn't possibly be my family, we kept walking. That's when Lucca got out of the car and looked at me expectantly. Long blonde hair, big blue Della Valle eyes and a designer cardigan. Ryane and I looked at each other and shrugged, then slid into the warmed leather seats. This trip keeps getting better and stranger. He took us to his parent's house in Sandrigo and I met a whole new side of my family. Another cousin, Daniele, looks almost more like me than my brothers do. Laura, the nonna, is a knitting and crocheting machine. She should have her own label. Ferdinando showed us around the homestead and when he found out I had been farming, got excited. They make their own prosecco and marmalade there. Milena is an excellent cook and made us eat at least one plate of cookies each. Later that night, Lucca and his girlfriend Sari took us to Marostica and Bassano Del Grappa. We played on the life-size chess board and climbed to the top of a darkened castle. Then we drank the local mezzo-mezzos, which taste a bit like rum and coke, but are sneaky if you lose count of how many you had. Later they insisted that they pay for our hostel. Oh, famiglia! We ate lunch with them the next day and met another cousin, Matteo. Then Ferdinano gave us a quick tour of Vicenza and we hopped a train to Firenze.
VIBO VALENTIA: I said my final goodbye to Firenze and went to meet Mirte in the toe of the boot, Calabria. It was an 9 hour train ride and when I got there, it felt like another country. Everyone in the north warns you about the south. They say it's poor, dirty, dangerous, and conservative. Well, most of that is true. But it's also real. And beautiful. And the mamas there actually yell at you if you don't eat two of everything. They also tell you that tattoos give you cancer. Mirte and I drifted around for days by the sea; weeding, eating, walking and dreaming together of all possibilities life has to offer. We hatched a plan to bike from Amsterdam to Berlin. Once you've had this many ridiculous adventures, anything seems possible. Mirte and I become conquerers of our own imaginations when we wwoof together. We took a little trip to Tropea one day and when we tried to buy a ticket on the train, the ticket man told us to 'vieni qua!', to come up to the front of the train! Not only did we get a free train ride, I got to drive the train. We farmed our little hearts out at San Giorgio and saw the place where the wwoofers live in the summer: two little shacks covered in murals, rooftop lookouts, tree houses, random furniture scattered everywhere and chickens. Lots of crazy chickens. It was a Lost Boys paradise. I always wanted to be a lost boy. I need to return to San Giorgio next summer.
REGGIO DI CALABRIA: Mirte and I continued the adventure into the southernmost tip of Italy. From here you can see Sicily and Mt. Etna clearly across the narrow straight of Messina. As we rode the train along the coast, there was a giant dark cloud just over Sicily punctured only with a few burning laser beams of sunlight. This surreal view made it obvious to me why this is where Homer chose to write about the terrifying Scylla monster. It was a a magical place. We stayed with a couch surfing host and explored the big white decorative seaside town of Reggio di Calabria. Two new pals took us to the nearby ghost town called Pentidattilo. It's on a mountain top with rock formations shaped like 5 fingers, hence the name. It's a 2,000 year old village and the inhabitants still speak their own Greek dialect. Our friends have started a project to restore the ruins and keep the history alive there. They hold an international film festival there every year too. There are several artists who live there in the old ruins and make stuff all day as well as continue to make the traditional art from the village. At the end of our time here, I got on the night train to go back up north to my new farm, OZU. As the train was getting ready to depart, I leaned out the window and told Mirte I felt like Harry Potter on my way to Hogwarts. I know, I know. But I had to say it.
MONTELEONE SABINO: is a tiny little town with Roman origins perched on the top of a mountain along the salaria road. There are still lion statues all over the place, their faces indistinct blobs from being exposed to the elements for a thousand years. The name of the farm is OZU. It's actually a cultural center run by a photographer, Enrico Blasi, his partner, Paola Simoni, and their 3 year old Ettore. It was originally built as a candy factory. The candy makers started production and then later realized the roads were too narrow for the trucks to drive on. So they closed. And now it's OZU. It's near Roma. In the mountains. I've been here for 2 weeks with 2 other wwoofers. We've been picking olives in the cold, on slopes so steep, you have to lean like Micheal Jackson just to keep from slipping down the hill. Whenever one of us almost drops the 20 kilo box of precious olives, I have a flashback from the Princess Bride where Wesley rolls down the hill yelling 'Asssss youuuuu wissshhhh!'. It's that kinda steep. I love it here. When it's too cold or rainy to pick olives, we cuddle up with our huge blankets and watch a film from Blasi's huge collection and wait to get fed. As I said before, it's getting lonely here! I'm the last wwoofer left and I have ants in my pants.
It's the last week here and I have 2 days left on my eurail pass. I might try to see Pompeii! On to the next adventure!
bacio
Rosa
Allow me to descibe the last few (6) weeks... I last wrote during the end of my stay in Chiavari. So much has happened since then! I'm going to write about it as I remember it, with only brief and colorful flashes. I will try to leave out the little details because there's a lot of ground to cover. I last mentioned something about my heart. In Firenze. So we'll start there.
FIRENZE: I met Ryane's amazing family. They adopted me. Ate too many truffles. Dances and kisses in Babylon. Too much smoke, too many lights, heart confused again. Halloween was a wet, cold and sparkly night. The cobblestones glittered. I wore my tiger hat. Went on a wild treasure hunt for the only Vegan restaurant in Florence and after much wandering, found it. DOLCE VEGAN: glowing in the middle of a deserted street. The owner was a sweet and quiet 26 year old girl who didn't hand us a menu, but simply asked us what we felt like eating. We stuffed ourselves with delicious vegan homemade pasta and chocolate cake. Then made friends with some American film makers who bought us wine. Said goodbye to Firenze for what I thought would be the last time.
AREZZO: Miso, Miso. Went to work with Dario on a miso-lentil-wine-soy sauce farm. Big red vats of fermenting soy beans. Stirring, splashing, pressure washing and being generally wet and cold all day. Big ochre sunrises and pomegranate sunsets over the hills. 10 hour days. Big blackish rubies of dried grapes clumped and stiff after the wine pressing. Everything smelled fermented. I was all alone on this farm. The only succor for my lonliness was a book called The Monster of Florence and an iphone game called Zombie Farm. Needless to say I didn't last long. Went with Dario to the farmer's market in Firenze, and skidattled. Back to Ryane's house.
FIRENZE, again: Spent a week here looking for a new farm. Sleeping foot to foot on Ryane's giant gold/green leviathan of a couch. Caught up with all the shenanigans of Sookie Stackhouse and Rachel Barry. Had too many Tegan and Sara sing alongs. Ate truffle-infused sausage. Yes. Sausage. Stirred up a pot of broken hearts and drama, and decided to leave it there for good. Cut all the strings, except the one attached to Ryane and together we went to find some new adventures in....
BOLOGNA: Couch surfing with Aurelio, who wondered why he couldn't find a girlfriend with similar interests: computer games, chain smoking, and quantum physics. Beats me. We cooked for him his first taste of Mexican food, which he loved. Then we played dress-up and took him to his first gay club, Il Cassero, which he also loved. Bologna by day is an intricate labyrinth of colors and music adorned with art deco metalwork twisting through all its nooks and crannies. We tramped around and made some new friends and on the last day, we woke up and impulsively decided to seek out my relatives in...
VICENZA: With only 4 hours notice, my relatives graciously arranged for us to come visit. Heart thumping with anticipation, I pulled out my cleanest dirty clothes and and tried to look like a nice girl. (The key word here is TRY. It's a bit tricky when one has been farming and living out of a backpack for 3 months. They could have cared less.) We arrived at the train station, a sleek black BMW with a Dolce & Gabbana leopardprint-clad Indonesian super-model in the passenger seat pulled up. Thinking this couldn't possibly be my family, we kept walking. That's when Lucca got out of the car and looked at me expectantly. Long blonde hair, big blue Della Valle eyes and a designer cardigan. Ryane and I looked at each other and shrugged, then slid into the warmed leather seats. This trip keeps getting better and stranger. He took us to his parent's house in Sandrigo and I met a whole new side of my family. Another cousin, Daniele, looks almost more like me than my brothers do. Laura, the nonna, is a knitting and crocheting machine. She should have her own label. Ferdinando showed us around the homestead and when he found out I had been farming, got excited. They make their own prosecco and marmalade there. Milena is an excellent cook and made us eat at least one plate of cookies each. Later that night, Lucca and his girlfriend Sari took us to Marostica and Bassano Del Grappa. We played on the life-size chess board and climbed to the top of a darkened castle. Then we drank the local mezzo-mezzos, which taste a bit like rum and coke, but are sneaky if you lose count of how many you had. Later they insisted that they pay for our hostel. Oh, famiglia! We ate lunch with them the next day and met another cousin, Matteo. Then Ferdinano gave us a quick tour of Vicenza and we hopped a train to Firenze.
VIBO VALENTIA: I said my final goodbye to Firenze and went to meet Mirte in the toe of the boot, Calabria. It was an 9 hour train ride and when I got there, it felt like another country. Everyone in the north warns you about the south. They say it's poor, dirty, dangerous, and conservative. Well, most of that is true. But it's also real. And beautiful. And the mamas there actually yell at you if you don't eat two of everything. They also tell you that tattoos give you cancer. Mirte and I drifted around for days by the sea; weeding, eating, walking and dreaming together of all possibilities life has to offer. We hatched a plan to bike from Amsterdam to Berlin. Once you've had this many ridiculous adventures, anything seems possible. Mirte and I become conquerers of our own imaginations when we wwoof together. We took a little trip to Tropea one day and when we tried to buy a ticket on the train, the ticket man told us to 'vieni qua!', to come up to the front of the train! Not only did we get a free train ride, I got to drive the train. We farmed our little hearts out at San Giorgio and saw the place where the wwoofers live in the summer: two little shacks covered in murals, rooftop lookouts, tree houses, random furniture scattered everywhere and chickens. Lots of crazy chickens. It was a Lost Boys paradise. I always wanted to be a lost boy. I need to return to San Giorgio next summer.
REGGIO DI CALABRIA: Mirte and I continued the adventure into the southernmost tip of Italy. From here you can see Sicily and Mt. Etna clearly across the narrow straight of Messina. As we rode the train along the coast, there was a giant dark cloud just over Sicily punctured only with a few burning laser beams of sunlight. This surreal view made it obvious to me why this is where Homer chose to write about the terrifying Scylla monster. It was a a magical place. We stayed with a couch surfing host and explored the big white decorative seaside town of Reggio di Calabria. Two new pals took us to the nearby ghost town called Pentidattilo. It's on a mountain top with rock formations shaped like 5 fingers, hence the name. It's a 2,000 year old village and the inhabitants still speak their own Greek dialect. Our friends have started a project to restore the ruins and keep the history alive there. They hold an international film festival there every year too. There are several artists who live there in the old ruins and make stuff all day as well as continue to make the traditional art from the village. At the end of our time here, I got on the night train to go back up north to my new farm, OZU. As the train was getting ready to depart, I leaned out the window and told Mirte I felt like Harry Potter on my way to Hogwarts. I know, I know. But I had to say it.
MONTELEONE SABINO: is a tiny little town with Roman origins perched on the top of a mountain along the salaria road. There are still lion statues all over the place, their faces indistinct blobs from being exposed to the elements for a thousand years. The name of the farm is OZU. It's actually a cultural center run by a photographer, Enrico Blasi, his partner, Paola Simoni, and their 3 year old Ettore. It was originally built as a candy factory. The candy makers started production and then later realized the roads were too narrow for the trucks to drive on. So they closed. And now it's OZU. It's near Roma. In the mountains. I've been here for 2 weeks with 2 other wwoofers. We've been picking olives in the cold, on slopes so steep, you have to lean like Micheal Jackson just to keep from slipping down the hill. Whenever one of us almost drops the 20 kilo box of precious olives, I have a flashback from the Princess Bride where Wesley rolls down the hill yelling 'Asssss youuuuu wissshhhh!'. It's that kinda steep. I love it here. When it's too cold or rainy to pick olives, we cuddle up with our huge blankets and watch a film from Blasi's huge collection and wait to get fed. As I said before, it's getting lonely here! I'm the last wwoofer left and I have ants in my pants.
It's the last week here and I have 2 days left on my eurail pass. I might try to see Pompeii! On to the next adventure!
bacio
Rosa
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
La luce, il sole, e il mio cuore
The light, the sun, and my heart.
"Here and now, everything is light."
This is a quote my darling Mirte shared with me during our first week together at Poggio Ai Santi. Another WWOOFer shared it with her, and I have also shared it with someone. And now you. It's such a perfect way to describe this whole experience. Everything is here, everything is now. We are living for each moment in such a way that our normal life doesn't allow for. Everything is light. Light can have so many different meanings in English, and all of them apply to this. Everything is illuminated, everything is weightless, everything here is too beautiful and too brilliant to look at directly. Sometimes certain people come into your life and illuminate you in every way imaginable. These are the people you will never forget, no matter how brief your time is together.
The last few weeks have been tumultuously adventuresome. I did return to Firenze a second time, to visit someone I met there on my first trip. I was a bit nervous because this person and I had only met briefly, in a loud club, and very few words were exchanged ifyoucatchmydrift. We had been texting all week, but I didn't even know her name until a few days later. I'm going to refer to her as 'Luce'. Well, this trip is about taking chances, right? I showed up at her door and we hit it off right away. Like a moth and a bright little light, I followed her around Firenze day and night. Our first adventure was biking through the crowded streets of the city to Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, where my mouth hung open so long I'm surprised I didn't catch any little Italian flies in it. We rode over Ponte Vecchio in the daylight, where it's almost impossible not to run into anyone. The longer we biked, the more my heart melted out of my chest and into this city. It, and the people in it, are so unbelievably beautiful. We later went to Siena, which is about an hour drive from Firenze. Siena is a gorgeous, hilly, medieval city. We tromped around, saw the duomo, met with a friend, and ate some delicious paneforte, a typical dessert of Florence and Siena which is a little bit like a almondy fruitcake. The rest of the weekend was spent touring the many clubs and bars of Florence, and also watching the movie Alien. Yes. Alien. If I may, I highly recommend re-visiting this cinematic masterpiece. It is so much more complex and cerebral than I remembered; not to mention the visual feast of space landscapes, beheaded androids, and a young Sigourney Weaver in coveralls.
I left my heart in Firenze, and returned to San Vincenzo for my final week there. That evening, the WWOOFers and I went to see our pal, Najat. She is the dish washer and food preparer at Il Sale, the restaurant of Poggio Ai Santi. Every day at the farm, she constantly beamed her radiant smile on all of us, and willingly helped us with our Italian. She couldn't let us leave without cooking a Moroccan dinner for us, and we were more than happy to get fed. She brought us to her candy colored home, were greeted by her three perfectly polite little children (who promptly went off to their room to entertain themselves) and her even more polite and smiling husband. Then, she proceeded to give us a Moroccan cooking lesson right in her kitchen. She made a 3 course dinner with fresh bread. And, while the oven was warming up for the bread, she 'didn't want to waste the heat' so she made a lemon chocolate cake as well. Each dish was more delicious than the last. By the end we were so full of couscous, turkey, beef, tomato soup, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, eggplant, bread, cake and coffee that we could barely move. But ol' Najat got right up, put on her music and belly danced for us. Basically, there isn't a talent she doesn't have. The way her husband gazed at her was so tender and sweet, you could tell he knew how lucky he was.
I decided to return to Firenze a third time before continuing to the next farm. My third visit was just as eventful as the first and second for two reasons: The David and The Ryane. Before this trip, I was informed that an acquaintance from Chicago was living in Florence for school. Ryane and I met at her place, and decided to get a panini and a birra from a tiny shop around the corner from her. After the first truffle-filled bite, I knew we were going to be besties. We took Firenze by storm, and infiltrated the local lesbian night life (along with the help of Luce). She took me to her favorite Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. Here I saw a 500 year old orphanage, which is still in operation today, and also gorgeous church with a real 'incorruptible' Saint in a glass coffin: Juliana Falconieri. My childhood was filled with stories about these saints, and I finally sat in front of one. Ryane also got me in to see the David, without waiting in the hour long line. He was breath-taking. The longer I looked, the more real he became. I almost expected him to jump off his plinth and start slingin' rocks through the windows. Ryane was also my saviour during some nights where no one wanted to practice their english with me. We are bonded for life.
Again, I left my heart in Firenze, with even more strings attached to it. I came to Chiavari earlier this week for Casa Del Sole. Massimo met me at the train station in his old red Subaru van. It looks exactly like a 1980's VW Vanagon, only miniature. I knew I had made the right choice immediately. We waited for the arrival of Amanda and then drove up the side of a giant mountain. We were greeted enthusiastically by his 3 pups: Charly, Kika and Piomino. His farm is so different from what I have been used to, and exactly what I need to recover from the dramatic tangles and late nights in Firenze. He is basically vegan, doesn't drink, alcohol, or eat garlic or onions. He practices his Asanas every morning and instead of saying 'Mama mia!' he says 'Oh Baba!' who is his guru. He serenades us all day, singing old Italian songs like 'O sole mio' and playing guitar like he wants the whole valley to hear it. We dig up our food every day and make something exciting. There's no heat, except for the wood burning stove in the kitchen. Last night we took a 5 hour journey to Savona and back to return a borrowed van for his own. When we got to his van, it looked just like the first one, only white. The main difference though, was the dozen or so methane tanks in the back on which the van was propelled. He threw an old bench seat on top of them for me and I climbed in to start the trip back to Chiavari. I couldn't have asked for a more exciting Italian driving experience. In this rickety old methane powered van, Massimo passed all the other cars like they were standing still. He even tried to pass a double wide loaded truck, in a 2-lane tunnel.
Then he asked us is we wanted to take the 'particularly mysterious' road. Well, duh. He drove us up the side of another mountain, on a gravel road no more than four feet wide and with no guard rails. When we looked out the window, we could see a lake at the bottom of a giant valley, all lit up by the light of the moon. It was unbelievable and terrifying. I also chopped firewood for the first time today.
I'm looking forward to what else is possible at Casa Del Sole, and maybe when I'm finished here, I'll fly back to Firenze to get my heart back.
Love.
Rosa
Again, I left my heart in Firenze, with even more strings attached to it. I came to Chiavari earlier this week for Casa Del Sole. Massimo met me at the train station in his old red Subaru van. It looks exactly like a 1980's VW Vanagon, only miniature. I knew I had made the right choice immediately. We waited for the arrival of Amanda and then drove up the side of a giant mountain. We were greeted enthusiastically by his 3 pups: Charly, Kika and Piomino. His farm is so different from what I have been used to, and exactly what I need to recover from the dramatic tangles and late nights in Firenze. He is basically vegan, doesn't drink, alcohol, or eat garlic or onions. He practices his Asanas every morning and instead of saying 'Mama mia!' he says 'Oh Baba!' who is his guru. He serenades us all day, singing old Italian songs like 'O sole mio' and playing guitar like he wants the whole valley to hear it. We dig up our food every day and make something exciting. There's no heat, except for the wood burning stove in the kitchen. Last night we took a 5 hour journey to Savona and back to return a borrowed van for his own. When we got to his van, it looked just like the first one, only white. The main difference though, was the dozen or so methane tanks in the back on which the van was propelled. He threw an old bench seat on top of them for me and I climbed in to start the trip back to Chiavari. I couldn't have asked for a more exciting Italian driving experience. In this rickety old methane powered van, Massimo passed all the other cars like they were standing still. He even tried to pass a double wide loaded truck, in a 2-lane tunnel.
Then he asked us is we wanted to take the 'particularly mysterious' road. Well, duh. He drove us up the side of another mountain, on a gravel road no more than four feet wide and with no guard rails. When we looked out the window, we could see a lake at the bottom of a giant valley, all lit up by the light of the moon. It was unbelievable and terrifying. I also chopped firewood for the first time today.
I'm looking forward to what else is possible at Casa Del Sole, and maybe when I'm finished here, I'll fly back to Firenze to get my heart back.
Love.
Rosa
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Bikes, foxes, and Firenze.
Thank you, Froilan, for all the wonderful things you taught me about cycling and bicycle maintenance. For instance: how to adjust brakes, seat height, air pressure, how to tighten and loosen various things, and general safety procedures. I know it may not have seemed like much at the time, but it helped me and my pals get to the top of a crazy mountain and down the other side in one piece. Or, four pieces. I don't have much time to write about all the amazing things I've done and seen in the last 10 days, but I will try to tell a little tale.
Us 4 WWOOFers decided to take a little bike tour of Tuscany. You know, little as in 63 km. Here is an overview of it. We chose a route that was suggested for professionals, but we decided we could handle it. The night before the ride was a worrisome one. We weren't even sure if the bike rental was open the next day, it looked like rain, Alicia had never biked before, etc. Well the next day dawned in a blaze of glory and we rode out of San Vincenzo like 4 bats out of hell. We biked from here to Castagneto Carducci; then up an excruciating hill to Sassetta where the brightly dressed Nonnis came out to greet us like we were in a parade. Actually, it reminded me of the opening scene to Beauty and the Beast. Disney version. We've been singing the theme song since then. From Sassetta, there was a beautiful downhill coast for about 40 minutes. Through the woods, it felt like all our cells were being renewed. It was so fertile and cool and refreshing. Finally we got to Suvereto and took a little break before another short journey up a gravel path to Belvedere.
Belvedere is actually where Heaven gets some of it's better ideas. It on the top of a mountain, it's about 700 years old, and I think the blessed mother lives there. She made us pasta. Not just any pasta, but homemade pasta with marscapone, sun dried tomatoes, and arugula. She even hobbled out of the kitchen to kiss each of us on both cheeks and tell us all how bella bella bella we were. We actually became enlightened in that little restaurant, for one glorious hour. After Belvedere, we trekked through the woods to Laura and Pietro's place. They recently renovated a 100 year old farm house and the grow medicinal plants and olives. We got a tour of the garden and a sample of the freshly made rose syrup. Apparently, all the Nonnis in Tuscany mix Rose Syrup and water as a drink for their grandchildren in the morning. It was the perfect way to pep us up for the 26 km ride we had ahead of us back to San Vincenzo. We barely made it back in time to return our bikes to Birgit, who gave us a ride home. Horrah for bike trips!
During the following week, we were working in the rosemary fields. One morning, as I was hacking away at a particularly tough weed, I looked up and saw a little Fox staring back at me from the other side of the bush. This little guy followed us around all week. He would greet us in the morning by playing a little game of hide and seek, then pop up every once in a while throughout the day to try to steal things from us. We alternated calling him Kristopherson and Chili, which is actually his name. It turns out he's the neighborhood fox and everybody feeds him, like a stray cat.
FIRENZE. Where do I start? What a city. I'm not done with it yet. Alicia and I saw San Lorenzo, miles and miles of leather, the Duomo, and a whole lot of night life. Our couch surfing host was amazingly accomodating and took us around the town. We stayed out til 4 am and got fresh (chocolate filled) croissants on the walk home straight from the baker's rack. The next day was spent trying to recover and find the train station, so unfortunately I didnt see much more! I am going back this weekend, so I'll have more adventures to write about soon.
I only have one day left on this farm! I am sad, but very excited to see what happens next. The next farm I'm going to is near Genova. It's called Casa del Sole. Updates soon!
Bacio
Rosa
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Prince Charming and Volpe the Snail
We decided to work on the biggest, oldest, and most challenging tree first thing this morning. Before the sun came up, we approached it from 4 sides and wondered where to begin. This tree was absolutely entombed in a tangle of bushes, smaller trees, and thorns the size of your thumbnail. Oh, did I mention that this grove happened to be populated with monster alien wasps? We began to hack and hoe, saw and clip our way into the nest of thorns, determined to free the trapped olive tree so she could make fruit again. I had the fantasy I've had many times while burrowing through the underbrush of the trees; that I'm Prince Charming rescuing the captive Sleeping Beauty from her thorn encased tower. I think the reason I have this particular fantasy can be attributed to the large amount of my childhood I spent looking at Trina Schart Hyman books with my sister. I told my fellow WWOOFers we were a couple of goddamn princes, Holden Caulfield style. They mostly thought I was crazy. After many long minutes and choice swear words, the tree was cleared. When you finally reveal the tree, it's a beautiful gratifying moment. In the core of the tree, the olive wood swirls and shines in the sunlight. I actually kissed the tree to release it from it's enchanted sleep. I know this is silly, but it had to be done.
The last week has been an eventful one. We had 3 days of clouds and rain. After 3 weeks of constant sunshine, this left us all a little depressed. Mirte's father, Daan, came to WWOOF with us for 10 days from Holland. It also happens to be hunting season out here. So we began each day in a foggy, abandoned olive grove with gunshots in the distance from about 7 am to noon. You start to feel like Bambi in the thicket. The poor birds that are being hunted take refuge on the property and run around all day looking harrassed.
The rain does strange things to everyone here. One night, Alicia and I were walking back in the pitch black night to our Apartment in San Carlo when we spotted a giant toad crawling along the side of the road. Crawling. Like a dog. On all fours. We followed it for longer than was neccessary and then went home. I went into my room and realized that the decorative shell I've kept on my bedside table for the last 2 weeks had moved. It was in the bottom of my now empty water glass. I found this very odd and began to think of reasons why my shell moved. Naturally, the first thing I thought of was ghosts, then my own clumbsiness, and finally- the truth. This shell was not decorative. It was a snail. I've had a snail sitting on my bedside table for 2 weeks and it hasn't moved or said hello or anything. I was so excited by this thought, and a little horrified. What if he was still thirsty? What if he misses his family? I decided to put a little more water in the glass for him and take him back to the trees in the morning. As I fell asleep, I heard a 'POP!' issue from the water glass, but thought nothing of it and drifted off. In the morning, the snail was gone. And there were tiny little holes in a page of my book that had been sitting next to the glass. Shit. This snail was sneaky. I finally found him under the table later on that day, and named him Volpe. It means fox, but also is used to describe a sneaky person.
Yesterday was official Mirtday. It was Mirte's 27th birthday. We decided to celebrate by *gasp!* leaving San Vincenzo! We planned to go to the Thermal Bathes in the next town over, Venturina. To do this we had to walk to San Vincenzo in the morning and catch a bus. Well, I don't know who designs these bus schedules, but even Mirte, our mathematician can't decipher them. Of course, we missed the bus and were now forced to get creative. Mirte convinced us that she had a good feeling about hitch-hiking, so we made a sign that said VENTURINA and put on our best smiles. It's a bit tricky trying to hitch-hike with 4 people, but after only 15 minutes, a lovely German woman named Petra picked us up and took us all the way to the front entrance of the bathes. She said she tries to do one good thing a day. I told her this counted as 4. The bathes we absolutely lovely. We floated around in the hot water all day long. We finally decided to leave around 6:30 and get something to eat. We had a hot tip on a pizzeria in the center of town. We walked through Venturina and discovered that all the good restaurants close on Tuesdays. Well damn. By the time we walked back to the bus stop, we had missed the bus. Of course.
Being so encouraged from our earlier experience, I ran to the nearest trash pile and ripped off large chunk of cardboard and wrote SAN VINCENZO on it in my best block letters. We stood by the side of the road with giant grins plastered to our faces, but the cars just passed us by. A Ford F150 covered in Harley Davidson decals stopped to tell us that he couldn't give us a ride, but would we like to get a beer? Yes, please. We got in the bar and stood around talking for few minutes. Once he realized 2 of us were American, he almost peed his pants. This guy LOVES everything about the USA. In fact, he just got back from a road trip on Rt. 66. He whipped out his iPhone and showed us pictures of our beloved hometown, Chicago, and other curiosities along the way. His friend managed to eat the giant steak from that Big Texan steak house in under an hour. He then insisted that we let him pay for our beers, AND give us a ride all the way back to San Carlo, even though his friends were already at the bar waiting for him. As we walked out, he pointed to us and said 'MY AMERICAN FRIENDS!!' We listened to 60's american rock all the way home in the back of his pick-up truck. The whole experience was a little surreal. We all just kept looking at each other and laughing, amazed at the generosity of humans. The rest of the evening was spent at our little neighborhood restaurant, Le Cave, eating and drinking and laughing and singing. What a lovely Mirtday.
I've been reading the Paulo Coelho book, Brida, over the last few days and I want to share a little bit of it with you before I leave. Do you ever get the feeling that the author is speaking directly to you at that exact moment in your life? Here are 2 of my favorite quotes:
"Being human means having doubts and yet still continuing on your path."
"There were no beautiful or ugly bodies, because all had followed the same trajectory; all were a visible part of the soul they inhabited."
A doppo my loves.
Rosa
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Food Seduction
These are some notes from the last week... Unfortunately, the internet is being moody here, so no more pictures yet, but I'll try to post some as soon as possible!
Last week, I thought I had a crush on one the chefs here at Poggio ai Santi. Katerina is a 25 year old greek food genuis. She has been working with the 'World Famous' Denny for 6 years. They met in Greece and she followed him here. She charmed us one night by letting us stay and watch the dinner rush at Poggio. It was beautiful. The way she chopped, minced, pounded, shredded, and arranged all the food on the plate was like watching an artist at work. She let us try everything too. First we tried the amuse-bouche of the evening: strawberries, cheese, pepper and a Balsamic glaze. I can't pronounce the rest of the food we ate, but with every bite, we all fell a little bit in love with her. Remember the movie Chocolat? It felt like that. At the end of the night, she pulled out a gargantuan piece of cake for us all to share, and that sealed the deal. I went to bed that night dreaming of how I would ask for her hand in marriage. The next morning, I woke up with a clear head and realized it was the FOOD. Unfortunately, I am in love with an inanimate object. But I'm planning on proposing to my next plate of pasta anyway... Who knows, maybe we could make it work. We ended up making Katerina a love note with a highly detailed illustration of the cake and hearts everywhere. She loved it.
The work over the last week has been difficult physically, but it feels good. We've been clearing the area around the bottoms of these abandoned olive trees. We do it all with a hoe, a rake, and some forbici (clippers). It takes about 45 minutes and 3 girls to clear the bottom of one tree. It is so tough, my arms are covered in scratches and I've had to dislodge more than one giant thorn from my hindquarters. We've also peeled, cored and quartered about a thousand apples. The end product was well worth the labor though, Denny makes an amazing apple-rosemary marmalade. During the day, the girls and I try to amuse ourselves by singing every song we can remember. So far, we've covered everything from Hanson to Ludakris. Our favorites thus far have been Queen and Michael Jackson.
Every day, we walk to work as the sun is rising. I'm convinced it's the best way to wake up. That and the espresso. We all get to make as many cafès, macchiatos, cappucinos as we want. Last week, we went into town to San Vincenzo to lay on the beach and eat gelato. It's convenient getting off work at noon. We had been singing Queen's 'Don't stop me now' ALL DAY. Over and over. It had become our theme song. As we walked into town, the first thing we notice on a bulletin board is QUEEN: the cover band. Coming to San Vincenzo for FREE next Saturday. Have our dreams come true? I got so excited I coerced my fellow WWOOFers into a Queen photo shoot back at the apartment later that day. Pictures to come soon.
One night we were walking home from Poggio after dinner and spotted our little village of San Carlo across the valley. We saw a bright street light with a building under it and decided that we must find out what this building was. Until now, we thought San Carlo was a purely residential one-horse town. We walked past our home, up to the top of the highest hill speculating all the way... Is it apartments? Is it a library? Maybe a war memorial? A museum for olive oil? After a long day in the Olive Grove, we always talk about how nice it would be to get a beer and relax somewhere other than our little apartmente... But San Vincenzo is about a 45 minute walk from San Carlo. This mysterious building couldn't possibly be a bar, San Carlo is too small for that. If it's a bar, we know we have actually died and gone to heaven. Well, as it turns out, the top of that hill is 'downtown San Carlo' with a mini-piazza and everything. Bar included. The ristorante attached to the bar is covered in taxidermied animals which makes it even more interesting. Our bartender is named Vincenzo, of course, and he loves us. He has a euromullet and a John Waters mustache, and wears all tight black clothes. He is hilarious. Again, pictures to come. The little tables outside are red and pink with little white hearts on them. Perfetto.
I am in love with Tuscany, but I can't wait to see the rest of Italy. My roomies and I are planning on taking some trips in the next few weeks to Florence, Bologna, and Pisa. I will update as much as I can!
With love
Rosa
ps- my favorite italian phrase so far is 'In Bocca Lupo'. In a roundabout way it means good luck. Ciao!
Last week, I thought I had a crush on one the chefs here at Poggio ai Santi. Katerina is a 25 year old greek food genuis. She has been working with the 'World Famous' Denny for 6 years. They met in Greece and she followed him here. She charmed us one night by letting us stay and watch the dinner rush at Poggio. It was beautiful. The way she chopped, minced, pounded, shredded, and arranged all the food on the plate was like watching an artist at work. She let us try everything too. First we tried the amuse-bouche of the evening: strawberries, cheese, pepper and a Balsamic glaze. I can't pronounce the rest of the food we ate, but with every bite, we all fell a little bit in love with her. Remember the movie Chocolat? It felt like that. At the end of the night, she pulled out a gargantuan piece of cake for us all to share, and that sealed the deal. I went to bed that night dreaming of how I would ask for her hand in marriage. The next morning, I woke up with a clear head and realized it was the FOOD. Unfortunately, I am in love with an inanimate object. But I'm planning on proposing to my next plate of pasta anyway... Who knows, maybe we could make it work. We ended up making Katerina a love note with a highly detailed illustration of the cake and hearts everywhere. She loved it.
The work over the last week has been difficult physically, but it feels good. We've been clearing the area around the bottoms of these abandoned olive trees. We do it all with a hoe, a rake, and some forbici (clippers). It takes about 45 minutes and 3 girls to clear the bottom of one tree. It is so tough, my arms are covered in scratches and I've had to dislodge more than one giant thorn from my hindquarters. We've also peeled, cored and quartered about a thousand apples. The end product was well worth the labor though, Denny makes an amazing apple-rosemary marmalade. During the day, the girls and I try to amuse ourselves by singing every song we can remember. So far, we've covered everything from Hanson to Ludakris. Our favorites thus far have been Queen and Michael Jackson.
Every day, we walk to work as the sun is rising. I'm convinced it's the best way to wake up. That and the espresso. We all get to make as many cafès, macchiatos, cappucinos as we want. Last week, we went into town to San Vincenzo to lay on the beach and eat gelato. It's convenient getting off work at noon. We had been singing Queen's 'Don't stop me now' ALL DAY. Over and over. It had become our theme song. As we walked into town, the first thing we notice on a bulletin board is QUEEN: the cover band. Coming to San Vincenzo for FREE next Saturday. Have our dreams come true? I got so excited I coerced my fellow WWOOFers into a Queen photo shoot back at the apartment later that day. Pictures to come soon.
One night we were walking home from Poggio after dinner and spotted our little village of San Carlo across the valley. We saw a bright street light with a building under it and decided that we must find out what this building was. Until now, we thought San Carlo was a purely residential one-horse town. We walked past our home, up to the top of the highest hill speculating all the way... Is it apartments? Is it a library? Maybe a war memorial? A museum for olive oil? After a long day in the Olive Grove, we always talk about how nice it would be to get a beer and relax somewhere other than our little apartmente... But San Vincenzo is about a 45 minute walk from San Carlo. This mysterious building couldn't possibly be a bar, San Carlo is too small for that. If it's a bar, we know we have actually died and gone to heaven. Well, as it turns out, the top of that hill is 'downtown San Carlo' with a mini-piazza and everything. Bar included. The ristorante attached to the bar is covered in taxidermied animals which makes it even more interesting. Our bartender is named Vincenzo, of course, and he loves us. He has a euromullet and a John Waters mustache, and wears all tight black clothes. He is hilarious. Again, pictures to come. The little tables outside are red and pink with little white hearts on them. Perfetto.
I am in love with Tuscany, but I can't wait to see the rest of Italy. My roomies and I are planning on taking some trips in the next few weeks to Florence, Bologna, and Pisa. I will update as much as I can!
With love
Rosa
ps- my favorite italian phrase so far is 'In Bocca Lupo'. In a roundabout way it means good luck. Ciao!
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