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

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!

ROMA! and Tuscany

The 4 days I spent in ROMA were the most beautiful and extraordinary I have ever experienced... Until I came to Poggio ai Santi. I will post pictures soon. I met my couch surfing host, Dana, who is from Detroit. She welcomed me to the city with such generosity, I hope I can repay her one day. As soon as I got there, we hopped on her motorino (scooter) and she gave me a tour of the city. I can not begin to explain how different yet familiar Rome is. These are the places I have always dreamed of going, and now that I'm here, I feel like I've always belonged.

Dana is a platinum-blonde hula-hooping burlesque performer. She and her friends took me to Travestere, an old neighborhood in Rome where we drank and ate gelato and tartufi (which is made by angels). This city is so full of life, there are people in the piazzas until all hours of the night. We also spent our nights in San Lorenzo, another gorgeous area with street performers everywhere. One night we watched a Bob Dylan cover artist sing and play harmonica.

By day, I saw all of the usual Roman things. Museums, the Colosseum, pizza, fountains, obelisks, basilicas (I saw the ACTUAL dried up remnant of the heart of St. Charles) and the Vatican. Turtle loved the Vatican the most. He especially liked the Sistine Chapel and the Painting of St. George slaying the dragon.

I met a friend of a friend who told me the story of the Piazza del Polpolo. She told me that the Ghost of Nero haunted the place which was there before the Piazza, and he scared all the people. So, the people raised money to build the piazza and a church on his haunting grounds- hence piazza del popolo. The ghost of Nero was never seen again.

I was very sad and nervous to leave Rome, but those worries evaporated when I reached Tuscany. I was picked up at the train station by Giulio, who runs Poggio ai Santi with his lovely mother, Francesca. Poggio is outside the town of San Vincenzo, which does not appear on any of my 'handy' maps. It is in San Carlo. San Carlo is home to about 1000 people in the summer, 500 in the winter. It is breathtaking. Look at the website. The pictures there can not even begin to explain how beautiful and magical it is here. It's nestled up in the steep steep hills along with the ruins of an old castle and about a million olive, apple, peach, fig, lemon, lime and pear trees, pumpkins, grape arbors, and dogs. Lots and lots of dogs. Molto cane.

I live in my own apartment with a girl named Alicia, who is also from Chicago. What are the odds of that? We get along like peas and carrots. The night I got here I met the staff. They are all so friendly and hospitible. We eat together like a family every morning, noon and night. All the wonderful food is prepared by a team of amazing chefs, but the head chef is the most memorable. His name is Denny. He has studied all over the world and has a handlebar mustache that curls slightly at the end. He speaks about 10 languages, which is nice for me, and he makes everyone laugh. If I could give you a better picture of what he is like, I would ask you to remeber the character from Kill Bill 2: Esteban Vihaio. He looks, talks, smokes and moves like Esteban, and I cannot help but feeling like I'm Uma when I work here with him.

So, the first night I was here, they offered me espresso after dinner, and who am I to turn down Italian espresso? I thought, 'why not?'. Well, I'll tell you why not. They all looked dubiously at me when I downed the espresso like a champ, and joked about how I wouldn't be able to sleep afterwards. Whatver, it's just coffee. Nope. Italian espresso is actually compromised of crystal meth, sugar, and a little pinch of crazy. After about 4 glasses of wine and a melatonin supplement, I thought sleep would come easily. But alas, this was not the case. I laid in my bed and felt the caffiene course through my veins like little lightning bolts. I tousled and tunneled, wrapped myself in my sleeping bag, put on my headphones, switched rooms, nothing. Before I knew it, as David Sedaris would say, the rooster outside my window was greating the new day with a hearty 'CHICCHIRICHì!!!!!' (pronounced: kee-kee-ree-kee!) This is how roosters say 'Get the eff up!' in Italiano. It was 4:30 am. Luckily, I was still wide awake, so I moved the mattress from my room to the empty room, took her matress back to my room, got dressed and woke up Alicia.

Our first day was spent gathering lavender for the guests' rooms. We also got a lesson about traditional Olive tree farming from Francesca, who is connected to the earth unlike anyone I have ever met. She is like Snow White walking through the woods, all the animals and plants are drawn to her. And she seems to know what they're thinking. I want to learn as much as I can from her. Alicia and I worked for about 6 hours and then spent the rest of the day on the beach by the sparkling Tyrrhenian sea. Oh, whatta day. Tonight I got to know Giulio better. He and I both have tattoos, and we're both left handed artists. He is teaching me about Italian language and Italian iPhone apps. He's my pal here.

That's about all for now, I will try to post pictures soon! Ciao!