Sicilia-in un viaggio da sola non sei veramente sola

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Ciao
I just got back from about 10 days of traveling. First to Sicilia alone, then to Napoli where I met some friends and Katie, then we went together to Pescara to visit my family for Easter.
I will start with a revised excerpt from my journal on the fifth day of my journey.
19/04/11
This is my fifth day in Sicilia. I got here last Friday after waking up at the butt crack of dawn, taking the train to Roma, then another to the airport where I was nervous about them seeing my passport and kicking me out of the country. All was fine and I didn’t get deported. After the plane to Palermo I took another two trains and finally arrived in Castellammare Del Golfo, the town I was couch surfing in. The station was in the middle of no where and I wasn’t sure whether to walk right or left to get to town so I walked straight and ended up on the beach about 50 feet later. It was so perfect and stereotypical of Siclia to just end up on the beach, although the rain I encountered earlier was not. I decided to walk along the beach barefoot for a while, collecting rocks and smelling the fresh air. I eventually decided to ask the bar owner who was staring me down, which was town was. He gruffly pointed me in the right direction, openly judging me with my bare feet and flowers in my hair. But when he said ciao it was with good intension.
Town was farther than I thought and not so fun to walk along the street with cars and my backpack on, but the view of the coast was amazing and delightful. When I got to town I bought some veggies and ate them in a Piazza while I waited for Giuseppe, the guy I was couch surfing with. When he picked me up I knew he was cool right away because he asked me whether I rather speak English or Italian. So even though he speaks English, we spoke mostly Italian for the next for days. I also felt comfortable around him right away and knew I would be safe. I dropped my stuff at his house, which is also his parents house, showered and then we went to his friends house. Three girls live there and it is like a little hippie commune in nature, AKA my dream house. When we got there there were about five girls, a guy, a kid and dogs all hanging out. One of the girls was playing guitar and when I asked how love she had been playing she said only about a month, I loved that she was teaching herself and just doing it. There was also a corner filled with leather, buttons and ribbons, it was a little art studio that belonged to two of the girls. So I wondered over to take a look. There were little leather wallets and bags on the table, so cute. Then the girls came over and started showing me all of the things they made, mostly wallets but also jewelry. It was so cool and they were so excited to show me. They sell there goods at markets in Palermo and around. I wanted to buy some and one that I really liked was not finished, so she finished it right in front of me. Meanwhile Giuseppe was probably thinking what the heck did I get myself into in this mass group of girls. No, he was fine and we eventually left and went to another friends house to eat pizza. After dinner we walked around and went to a small bar. But we headed home early because we had big plans for the next day.
The next morning we headed out at 10am and drove to the mountains which only took about 45 minutes. We just parked the car in the middle of nowhere, jumped an old fense, climbed a mountain and met his friends at the top where they were prepairing the stuff for climbing.
I guess I should explain exactly how all of this unfolded. About a month or so before this trip I messaged a bunch of people about couch surfing. When I messaged Giuseppe I saw that he was really into climbing so I said something like “that is so awesome I love climbing” so he messaged me back “well actually the time you want to come my friends and I are going on a climbing trip and you are welcome to come”. Another example of what you put out to the universe manifests, sometimes at a nervously fast pace. So I got all nervouse and messaged back “well when I said, I love it, that means I have only really tried a few times indoors and I am not really experienced but would love to learn”. So after messaging back and forth, I decided to go for it. I borrowed my friends climbing shoes and next thing I know I am in Sicilia on a climbing trip with three really experienced guys. So as you can imagine a lot of my stuff came up which I wont go into now. It was also challenging on different levels and above all fun.
So here I am, getting all of the stuff ready for climbing while they are explaining me to me how to do this and that all in Italian. My first climb was not hard, in comparison to the others. But when I got stuck at one point, and a storm was brewing as well, I thought “well I can just give up and come down” but no, Giuseppe said “If I help you can you finish the climb because we need to get everything down and get out of here before it starts poring?”. So I did it, I finished the climb, then we packed up and met the other two at another area more protected from the rain. The climb they set up looked way more difficult and they told me the other one was just a warm up, I thought “Oh great”. I did try the climb once and it was really hard. The rest of the day I sat around mostly pathetically watching them but also learning a bit. I went on a nature walk for a while. I also tried to belay Mauro, one of the other guys. I mean I did belay him but not with the most confidence and I was amazed at his trust in my to hold his life in my hands with just one rope.
I was actually content only climbing twice and just watching and walking and hanging out in nature, but I think it came across like I was board or not interested in the sport like that are, which is probably true, at least now, since I am just starting. Anyway, We headed down the hill, while Mauro and Giuseppe set up camp, Luigi, the third guy and I headed to town to buy food. It was nice to be one on one because I can talk beter that way. We got lots of meet at a Macelleria with three pigs hanging in the window, which apparently is not legal or normal. When we got back to camp the guys had set everything up including slack line. We all tried it out, I loved that and want to learn that too. Then we set up a fire and broke pieces of wood. We sat around and roasted the meet, drank and told stories. When it started to storm we headed into the tents. I slept in Giuseppe’s tent which was totally fine and not awkward at all, I know I tend to be sarcastic but I’m serious, it was fine. The next morning we ate a bit and headed to different rocks near by. Sicilia is so perfect for rock climbing, there are so many amazing mountains but the climbing community is only about 60 people in the area.
We had to romp and tromp our way through vegetation to get to the rock. I climbed twice that day, the climbs were better than the day before. The rest of the day I laid around and took in the nature. We headed back down and everyone was tired. We laid in the grass near the cars and their friend who lives near by met up with us. Then we all went into the town and had appertivo at her cousins bar. We sat around, drank ate and talked for a while. I was so fascinated with the people in this town, especially the girls. Kids were running around together without parents and some looked about nine. Then I saw about six different pairs of girls ranging from ages nine to teenagers, arms linked tight, purses dangling from their other arms, walking up and down up and down, so that I saw each pair about 10 times. It was the funniest thing. I liked how it was totally normal for nine year olds to be walking around alone. But it also seemed like these girls were trained from early on to strut their stuff and aim solely for the attention of boys. Yet again that is exactly what I and most of my friends grew up doing half way across the globe. All this is to say, this happens in a lot of cultures but it just seemed so pronounced to me here, in this small village in Sicilia.
Giuseppe and I drove home and went to sleep straight away, we were exausted from the trip. He woke up early for work but dropped me off at the bus stop because I wanted to go to Zingaro, which is a nature reserve close by. I waited for the bus and tried to figure out the schedule but then ended up getting in the car with this old guy. I know this sounds totally sketchy but I honestly feel more safe in Italia than in America. I think there may be more creepy guys here, mostly the old guys in the South, but for the most part they are just creepy and will not rape and kill you. Also this guy in particular was 75 and could most likely not get it up even if he wanted to rape me. But it also sucks because traveling as a woman alone, or even with another woman, you constantly have to think twice. When a guy is nice and hospitable you have to question his intensions which sucks because I want to trust everyone and I don’t like missing out on experiences. So Katie and I in our travels together, have probably missed out on a lot of experiences just because we are two women and our patriarchal society forces us to think twice for our safety. All this said, we both have good intensions and we can usually tell what peoples intentions are. So anyway, this particular day I got in the car. He drove me to Zingaro, but first stopped by a bar so I could buy a panino for later. Then he dropped me off at Zingaro and said he could give me a ride back if I wanted around 2 or 3. So I took his number and said yes maybe and thanks.
It was beautiful there, I hiked along the trail for about five minutes then got board of following the path and hiked down closer to the water. I climbed the rocks and played in the sea spray. I eventually walked back up to the path, walked a little more passing amazing wild flowers. There are so many flowers now, especially in Silicila and when you walk out the door in the morning the air smells like sweet spring. So I enjoyed the flowers and put some in my hair. Then I came across a little beach where I climbed more big rocks, collected small ones and ate my panino. Then, even though it was not very warm, I got my suit on, lotioned up with the strongest sunscreen I could find, 15spf, and got my tan on. More and more people started coming, all of whom where foreigners, and the beach filled with families from all over. Some people jumped in the water which made it clear they were not Italian, I could just here all of my Italian friends saying “pazzi stranieri”, I jumped in too, the water was too beautiful to resist. Later I climbed the rocks right over the water and then jumped in again, it felt so freezing but wonderful. I walked on the trail a little more then turned back around and headed back. When I looked at the map, I realized I only made it about 1/8 of the way on the trail, not because I don’t love hiking but because I also love climbing rocks, not following rules and laying on beaches for hours. While I was waiting at the info desk to ask about a bus, Franco, the guy from before was in the parking lot, waiting. It was about 4 by now so he must have been waiting for an hour. I thought we had agreed I would call him but I guess that was a language barrier miscommunication.
Anyway I went with him and we decided to eat un cannolo together. So he stopped by a bar and came out with a gelato for me because earlier I had told him how I will miss it when I leave, a connolo and another bomb Sicilian dessert with ricotta. We drove to his house in the country, which was only five minutes away and sat near the olive trees. I finished my gelato then ate the other two desserts pretty much alone, while he watched me. I felt like Hanzel and Gretel. After that I wanted to go because at this point I realized his intentions were not solely out of kindness. Anyway long story short he tried to touch me and I was not nervous because I could have taken him if I had to, I was just sad that it turned out like that and I felt sorry for him and even though I have been trying to not use “pathetic” so often with men, this guy was PATHETIC. I tried to explain in Italian how this is my body and no one elses and if I say no, stop. He said, “is it because I am old”, oh no, of course not, I would love to get it on with a 75 year old. But instead of being sarcastic with him I just told him I would say the same thing with a young guy if they came onto me like this, which is true. Then I told him it was time to go, I had to meet my friend. And he said “Oh friend, sure he is just a friend” and “your boyfriend wont know if I touch you”, this guy was clearly missing the point. But in his mind, it made more sense that I had a boyfriend and it was because of a guy that I didn’t want to be touched by a 75 year old creeper, and I think at this point in his life it was too hard to explain otherwise, although I did try. He eventually dropped me off and I met with Giuseppe.
Don’t worry family and friends, he didn’t hurt me and nothing happened I just left feeling really disheartened.
Giuseppe and I drove to his friends house, the hippie commune where they were holding a yoga class. There were about seven of us in a circle with a candle in the middle. It was such a perfect way to end the day. Then, as we were saying goodby to people, I saw a hula hoop. I have not seen a hula hoop in about 7 months and I have missed it so much, so I picked it up and got into my hoop dance groove. Then we went back to the house, ate some dinner his parents left and watched some TV. The next morning he dropped me at the train station and we said goodbye. Giuseppe was a really cool person. Laid back, mellow and always cracking jokes that went right over my head, partially because they were in Italian and also because I am slow at getting jokes. I had a lot of fun staying with him, meeting his friend and going on awesome adventures.
I waited by the train station for about two hours, which was not bad at all because It meant I was on the beach doing yoga. Meanwhile, Franco would not stop calling me, I got sucked into giving him my number before he turned out creepy. He called me at least 24 times that day, I am not exadurating. I turned my phone off and just relaxed. I caught a train into Palermo. I sat by the window and let the sea breeze and smell of flowers fly by. When I transferred trains I met another old guy who was traveling to Venezia for his daughters wedding with two bags and two huge boxes. So I helped him onto the train and we talked for a while, but he was speaking in dialect so I barely understood him and most the time just smiled and shook my head. I helped him off of the train and I had no plans in Palermo and had no idea where to go so I just helped him with his bags. You could tell he was not used to big cities and very confused, so was I, so we eneded up looking crazy together, running back and forth with these bags and boxes trying to catch buses. Eventually I asked a girl to give us direction and also what the heck I should do In this cities. She was cool and told us to get on the same bus as her. We talked on the bus ride and we all got off at another station. I helped the old guy with his stuff again, then we left it at the station outside a bar and he bought me an arancino. They are so delicious, a fried ball with rice and meet inside. Then we said goodbye and he was so sweet and grateful.
I wandered out into the city without a map or a book or plans. My great plan was just to ask locals where to go. Some pointed me in general touristy directions and some said “you mean you didn’t make plans?” or “maybe you should buy a map”, so I felt like a little idiot wonderer with my heavy backpack for four hours. I heard Palermo was really cool and wanted to see it so I guess I should have planned better, but that’s just not how I travel, if Katie is with me and has a map, great but I sure as hell with not buy one, I would totally lose my cool. So I wondered around and I saw some cool things. At about 4 I decided to treat myself to a Sicilian meal, but it was 4 and every restaurant I came across was closing lunch. One I asked said yes lunch was over but they could get me a Panino, so I sat down and ate a panino with six Italian guys. We talked a bit while I ate alone, it was so funny. Then the owner took out a book of buisiness cards of restaurants in America and asked me if I have heard of them. One of the cards said Berkeley and read “Ristorante la Siciliana”. I had just applied to this same restaurant for a summer job right before I left for Sicilia, this was such a coincidence. The owner told me that he knows the owners and they come every year. I tried to pay for the meal but there was no way they would let me. I literally did not pay for food the six days I was in Sicilia. The people are so hospitable and if you are a guest, even just a couch surfer or a stranger, you will not pay. I felt guilty about this and about not having anything to offer in return but they did not expect anything from me.
I walked around some more then met up with Mauro, from the climbing trip. He had invited me to stay with him if I came through Palermo. We walked around the city a bit together but he is not really a city person and neither am I so we drove to his little town of Mondello, only about 15 minutes away. He loves his town and I can see why. It is on the beach and protected by two beautiful mountains, which are a powerful contrast with the sea. We walked along the water and he told me all of his memories of this place and pointed to all of these wonderful climbing spots right by the sea. This seems totally romantic, walking by the water, sharing life stories etc. But we were really just friends, and it was so cool how we became close friend right away and shared so many ideals in terms of nature and of whats really important in life. I had my own little room in his house, he had a patio with a willow tree and a cute little house. He usually goes to bed at 10 and wakes up at 6 but we went to dinner at 9:30, to this little fish restaurant by the water. We has ricci, which I think are sea urchins, pasta with sardines and fennel and pasta with squid ink that turned our mouths black. Of course he would not let me pay, not because we were on a date or anything but because I was his guest and we were in Sicilia.
The next morning he left for work, but set up everything I needed for breakfast with a note off all of the cool things I could do. He said I could use his bike and backpack and whatever. I ate breakfast and headed out on the bike. I bought some veggies for lunch and then attempted to bike one of the mountains. This was too much effort so I turned around and biked along the beach and where we had walked the night before. Then I hid the bike and went on a short run. The rest of the day I sat and climbed around the rocks. I was planning on laying on the sand beach but then I boked by this cove of rocks and blue water and changed my mind. There were less people here and it looked more mellow. I laid on the rocks, ate some veggies and jumped in the healing water. It was absolutely delightful. I met Mauro back at the house at 3:30 when he got off work and told him all about my day. Then we drove to the trail head of Capo Gallo and hiked to the top with his two dogs. It was a good hike and a magical view of Palermo, the coast line and everything from the top. No one was up there. He says it is usually deserted because this place is not in the tourist books and the people in Palermo are too consumed with the city life to come to this place. We kept walking up the mountain and came across the sanctuary building. This man has been living there alone for about eight years. The place is mosaiced with tiny rocks on the inside and strange religious phrases on the outside. There are angels painted all over and stars of david, and a cross in the back. It was very interesting. Mauro told me a story about how he came with his uncle and saw the guy once, and he is still creeped out a bit. So we were snooping around the building and then Mauro heard something so we ran like little kids. We hiked down the mountain and went back to town to grab gelato before he drove me to the boat. We said goodbye and I floated off the my next Journey.

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