Sicilian Rain (to the tune of "Four Fat Trumpettes")

12/2/11 (completed 16/2/11)


Agrigento, Sicilia (completed in Mascali, Sicilia)


Look at that sun... sinkin´ like a ship...


Last night, I had my first experience with CouchSurfing, and I have to say that it was perhaps the perfect match. I could not have hoped for a better situation and probably could not have had more fun than I did with people I had just met. Then again, that seems to be the case for much of Sicilia at the moment. For reference, posterity, and so that the truth may be known (it's out there!), I'll recount the close friends I've made in my two weeks here.

First, there was the Gang of Four back in Catania, which consisted of myself, a fellow Chicagoan girl, an Austrian man with immense knowledge of European and worldwide festivals, and a Frenchman living in Munich who appeared ten years younger than he was.


I got lost here, but I was happy


We united for the night of my birthday and enjoyed the spectacular fireworks in honor of Sant Agata, later sharing a beer and some dessert. Just before that, I had met a very kind and warm Sicilian guy who formed a special bond with me and my Austrian friend and even invited us to his friend's place for pasta and wine that night. Though I may not see these people again, at least not in the near future, the time we few days we had together were wonderful and meaningful.

Next, I was welcomed into a new city by some very kind strangers who seemed to have nothing to do but love life.


For me? This almond blossom is the reason for the Mandorla in Fiore festival in Agrigento, which brought dancers from all over the world


What I mean is that each of these people appeared to have a very simple recipe for having fun and using their time. Allow me to explain: I first met the man on the bike while I was riding to Ragusa. He showed me all the smaller and less trafficked roads to take and was very patient to let me stop and take as many pictures as I wanted to. We just rode together and had a bit of pizza for lunch. Enzo took his time and was in no rush. We met two British girls with whom we then spent the remainder of the afternoon, walking around this beautiful city and again taking our time, for this was life. We each had no where else to be and no other obligations other than enjoying ourselves and the view in that moment. I am very much unfamiliar with this notion, for back home and at school, there was always something I had to do, always something ahead to think about and worry about and no I can't go out, no I have to go, no I have to study or run . Never has my adult life been as free from worry and concern as it is now, but there is still much to learn to approach the level of carefree living that these friends show; for them, they seem to always be in the moment and do not concern themselves with the past or present.

In Modica, I met a teacher and her students, one of which invited me to be part of her family for a day. The teacher herself was being extremely hospitable , helping me because she herself had traveled when she was my age and knew the trouble of finding a place just to sleep. Even though her house was not exactly in order at the moment, she welcomed me to sleep on an extra foldable mattress in the small living room dominated by the toys of her two small children. When I say her life is not “in order,” I mean that, at age 50, she is raising her two children alone. The little boy and girl are 3-year-old twins that were born prematurely and so have developmental issues, making them even more difficult to rear. Furthermore, her apartment was a mess from having recently to move from one place to this one, which was old and probably not “safe” for living. Her cat had to live in the bathroom, for she was afraid it would run out the door or just tear up the furniture otherwise. This made the already small bathroom even more cramped and impossible. It also rendered the shower essentially useless. But the kicker is that Kitty, the profesoresa, has to take care of her sick mother, who is immobile and nonresponsive. In spite of all this, she let me stay over for a night and even fed me some pasta for dinner. And while one might expect such a load of troubles to tear a person apart, Kitty was the picture of a happy and loving woman. Sure, she mentioned a few times that she would like some help and that she did not sleep the previous night, but she was always smiling in a cheerful way and had a very positive outlook on life.

Rosanna and her family were extremely kind and also ready to love and enjoy life. Staying with them reminded me of my childhood, when we would go to my grandparents' house some Sundays and have dinner, usually a delicious barbecue or some Vito and Nick's Pizza, generally with some sort of pie for dessert, and I was free of cares. With the family, I visited the grandparents and had a lovely chat before walking to a nearby house in which lived the cousins.


Ancient Greek ruins in Agrigento, pretty much the coolest thing ever; also the second biggest site of these outside of Athens



They knew some English, so we ended up speaking in half English and half Sicilian. The whole night, no one spoke of having to get back to do work, or of another obligation they had to anything; instead, everyone was genuinely overjoyed to be visiting with their family and this new visitor. They treated me better than I could have hoped and fed me some Sicilian pizza, which I am finding is just as common and comfort-food-esque out here as it is back home, being bought for get-togethers with friends.

The final group puts the icing on the cake of this wonderful observation about the joys of being able to sit back and enjoy life; or of staying free of appointments, petty worries, and stress; or at least of knowing how to separate work and pleasure and working only to allow for the pleasure of food, travel, and family. Three of the four guys with whom I was staying in Agrigento were students at the archeological school, meaning they had zero monies in their pockets and not too great of prospects post-graduation. And yet, these guys treated me as though I were a guest of honor, buying me food and drinks and generally making sure I was having a great time. These guys and the girls we met later and the rest of their many pals were the warmest group of friends I have ever met, for certain. It was something extraordinary to me for all these students to be able to spend an entire weekend away from the books and have fun with a strange visitor. They had tests coming up but seemed to realize that they had an opportunity to have fun in a new way, which was far more important.

If I sound like a broken record, it is because every second Wednesday I've been taking lessons on imitations of malfunctioning hardware. But probably more relevant is that the common theme for these travels, I am finding, is the great kindness, overwhelming warmth, and abundant love of the people I meet, which I am constantly seeing is in fact universal.