Summer in Italy

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It has been a whole new experience being in Italy in the summer rather than the fall and winter. It’s hot all the time! I’m thinking I’ll get back to Boise with a crazy tan. *Fingers crossed*. The beach is a whole experience in itself. Saturday we went to Paestum where there are ruins of a Greek colony. There are three temples still standing in great condition and it was so cool to see those and how grand they are without having to go to Greece. It was beautiful and we had lunch at a really excellent restaurant overlooking one of the temples. After that, we walked down to the beach and swam in the Mediterranean (check that off my bucket list) and laid on the white sand beach for a couple hours. Swimming in the Mediterranean was one of those moments where you realize how big the world is and how much there is to experience; the kind where you feel how unbridled and fierce your heart can be. It’s so moments that keep my fire to travel burning. Of course travelling also shows you what you are capable of, or what your limits are in really unpleasant ways too… The mosquitoes are brutal in the summertime. Two nights ago I forgot to check that all my windows were closed and couldn’t fall asleep almost all night because of what I thought were only a couple of pests kept buzzing around my head. Finally at 5 A.M. I decided I needed to take care of them because I was getting hardly any sleep so I turned my light on to find approximately 12 mosquitoes on the walls in my caravan and that I had left my back window open all night. It was horrifying. I went to work smacking as many of them as I could with my shoes. The walls looked like a battlefield with little smudges of splattered blood scattered around. Disgusting. I killed a large majority and went back to bed for a couple hours. I woke up to find that I was covered, seriously, covered in bites. I look like a leper right now and itch everywhere. I counted yesterday while putting on after bite and got up to over 70, not even overexaggerating. I think I’m going to be a little traumatized after this and overly anxious about mosquitoes the next time I go camping. I really enjoy our campsite though. We have made some friends. Nathan and I met some Irish boys and gave them a tour of Pompeii earlier this week; there are a group of German students, and lots of older people camping. There is an older couple in the caravan next to me and the guy is always sleeping outside in a lawn chair when we get off work. It’s super cute. There is a dog, Pocho (Sp?) here on site and he is friends with a couple of the stray Pompeii dogs who come and hang out here occasionally. There’s a cat that wanders around, but she never sticks around long enough to pet. I’ve made a couple friends with the dogs on site. My favorite is one that looks like a mix between a German Sheppard and a little Corkie. He’s got super short legs. There’s also a puppy husky with one brown and one blue eye. Love him. Our site has a little restaurant where the cook makes some damn good pizza and it’s cheap. We eat here most nights, but a couple different times we have gone into the city and eaten out. I miss the Italian eating experience, but man it gets super spendy. Haven’t found any Kebab places nearby yet sadly. Oh also, the other different thing about Italy in the summer, is that there are Gecko’s and other small lizards everywhere!!! I’ve got one that hangs out on the metal mat outside my caravan everyday around 5. It’s usually there when I get back from working. They are difficult to get pictures of though because they move pretty quickly and don’t stick around long enough for you to get close. Well I am going to go put some more after bite on and work on organizing the thousands of pictures I have already taken and enjoy the great weather we are having. Ciao!

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