Manuela and the €27 View

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After too may nights at the Yellow Hostel in Rome, we really wanted to get away from the words "Pub Crawl". I didn't realize how badly we really wanted to escape until I thought about to different modes of transportation we used to get to Castlerotto: train from Rome to Bologna, insane winding bus ride through the mountains, mile and a half walk to the outskirts of town with full packs. We probably would have ridden big wheels too, if they were available. I guess we were just going to go and go until it felt right.

We were so excited on the bus ride from Bolzano that when we got to our stop we all jumped off the bus and ran into the tourist information office so that we could ask for help finding accommodations. I was feeling like a travel veteran at that point in the trip so I confidently asked, "I was hoping you could help us find accommodations in Castlerotto, preferably on a farm for about 30 euros a person." Her response, "Well there is only one problem..you are not in Castlerotto." I guess we were a little to anxious to get there.

We then hopped back on the bus and finally made it to Castlerotto and found the TI. I posed the same question, but thankfully, I got a better response this time. The woman at the TI was very helpful and she just asked us how much we wanted to spend and then we just picked one on the map without knowing anything about it other than price and location. I, of course, chose the one that was way outside of town, still reeling from the madness that is Rome. She then called the place we were staying to see if they had room, all of this in German, and then told us it was okay. So, we headed out with our tiny map and her directions (turn left at the main road and walk out of town. It's either the one on the left or the right. I can't remember. I just know that the map is wrong( The map itself was less of a map and more of an artists rendering of what a map might look like. Instead of street names, there were mostly just drawings of barns. Navigation involved mostly looking at the map and trying to decide whether the barn we were looking at was a medium sized barn or a large barn. After about 30 minutes or so, we had walked about a mile out of town. We decided to stop and put our packs down so I could run up and check if the place did in fact exist. I, of course, forgot the name of the place that I was looking for. Was it Haus Dorfblix or Haus Borfdlix? Or was it called the yellow medium sized barn on your map? I walked until I found one that started with a D and walked down the little dirt road to investigate. At this point, I was feeling pretty malnourished and dehydrated. All that we had eaten over the past 4 days was crappy pizza and a little bit of sliced pig face. I finally saw this cute little haus sticking out and realized that this has got to be the one. I looked around a little and found a cherry tree and picked a few, the first fruit in what seemed like months. Having a little fuel, I headed back down the hill to inform them that this place did in fact exist and they have fruit that grows on trees there. I walked back down the hill for about 20 minutes until I found Chrissy and Katie sitting on the ground.

"Well, I found it."
"How far away is it?"
"Don't you want to how it looks?"
"Not really"
"See that medium sized barn up the way?
"Yeah"
"It's on the other side of that. What was the name of the place again?"
"Haus Dorblix"
"Okay... yeah...I am pretty sure I found it."
"Pretty sure?"
"Yeah I'm totally sure. Have a cherry."

We made it there and I was relived to find that I did find the right place and knocked on the door. Finally, we got to stay someplace where we had to interrupted the family dinner to ask for the room. A man opened the door and we asked if they still had the room, it had been a few hours since the TI had called for us. He held up a finger to suggest one moment and disappeared. About 30 seconds later, Manuela appeared with her one-year-old in arm. She was maybe a few years older than us. She said it was fine and walked us up stairs. We were not really sure what it was going to be like. After all, I chose the second cheapest accomodation in town. I am way too classy for the cheapest. She showed us the rooms and they were very simple and very nice. Each had its own terrace with an incredible view. "If this in the 27 Euro view," I thought "I wonder what 100 Euro gets you?" We walked the 40 minutes back to town with significantly more pep in our step-no packs, downhill, comically large mountians. Cow shit never smelled so great. We found a cafe that was still open and it didn't have a menu in English. It's about time!! Chrissy and I didn't really care too much but Katie, who doesn't eat swine or cattle, was convinced that she was going to order a "small side salad" and instead recieve "Bacon Wrapped Beefy Pork". A word about Schnitzel: I thought it was supposed to be great. It was tasty, but it was kind of like chicken-cordon-bleu with pork instead of chicken and missing the cordon-bleu. Anyway, Katie managed to get a meal. The waiter actually spoke pretty good english and he kind of laughed when she asked for something without meat. He thought hard for a few minutes, about to say something then shook his head. He finally said "You will recieve three potato balls". Dinner served

We slept well

The next morning we took the bus up to Alpe Di Suisi which is a big ski resort and also the largest alpine meadow in Europe. It pretty much put everything else I have ever seen to shame. When I think of wild flowers, I usually think of a few poppies on the side of the road. But here, there were literally millions and millions of wild flowers covering hundreds of acres. It was insane. Katie took 800 pictures that day. No exaggeration. She counted. Yes, she has a problem. It's okay we still love her. We should have worn sunscreen. I think we had at least second degree burns ecept for me. I don't get sunburn. I'm above it. After Katie's camera spit out its memory card in rebellion, we sat and had a beer at which point, katie said, "I think we should stay another day." Chrissy and I looked at each other and we both decided that maybe she might be sane after all.

The next morning at breakfast, we asked Manuela if we could stay another night and if she would call the horseback riding stables in Compatch because, as The Rick told us, they only spoke German. She phoned them and then told us they wanted to know how strong of riders we were. We, of course, are all excellent riders. Strong like bull. We packed up and decided to take our warmer gear out of our bags, becasuse it was so hot the day before. Now The Rick always says to prepared for bad weather in the alps, but what does he know.

When we finally found the stables it turned out that our guide was going to be the owner's daughter. She was probably around 17 or 18 and her English was much better than our German. She asked who the best rider was and I promply pointed to Katie. She then said, "Okay then you get this one" That's always a good sign. I am sure.

We set out walking through the town. I was wearing my little hat, riding my horse, feeling part John Wayne part Heidi. After about 15 mintues, we were back in the meadow on some paths that we never would have found without a guide. Our guide asked, "Do you want to go faster?" Katie said sure and we were off. After about 5 steps, my house starting going much faster and the only thing going through my head was "Christopher Reeves, Chistopher Reeves, holy Christopher Reeves" I pulled up on the reigns and we were back to a walk "Going fast" lasted a solid 8 seconds. I felt like that was a victory. I don't think my horse was ready to go fast. Now I felt half John Wayne and half Kevin Costner from Dances with Wolves. Clouds were moving fast and it started to sprinkle. Our guide pulled her hood up and look back at us and asked how long we wanted to ride. We were wearing tshirts. Some of us had seeves. Others did not. We said 3 hours. We are Americans. I had a big grin on my face most of the time. There is horseback riding then there is horseback riding in Alpe di Suisi. I believe there is some like about not being in Kansas anymore.

I am an accomplished rider. By accomplished, I mean that I have never ridden a horse before. But, when I watch the Kentucky on TV, I drink a Mint Julep. I had total control over my horse. He could tell that I was at ease. Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves. Our guide told us that the horses are not allowed to graze. Then she looked at me. I wondered why, then I looked down at my horse who had about 30 different wildflowers on his face. Some of them rare. Others the habitat of baby animals. Stupid horse probably doesn't even know what is in a mint julep.

The last 15 minutes were beyond comical. Rain turned to poring rain-turned into freezing rain-turned into hail-turned into hail with a 40 mile per hour wind. I am not sure whether I decided to go faster or the horse did, wanting to get this asshole off of him. I am sure you can guess. We made the trot of shame through the town so all the locals could laugh at us. Then we made it back to the barn. Wet like the pool jumped on me. We sat there and laughed for about 10 mintues. Our guide just laughed and laughed. Then her father came down with his little German Alpine hat and he just smiled. We gave her 2 tips- one was money. The other was the realizations that Americans really do not know all that much.

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Comments

[caravaggio]

fabulous blog - best one yet. i love the inner narratives. i can imagine a day when travelers will be referencing "The Matt"