10-31-23 Cammarata to Aquaviva

 And back, day hike with Gina, Karen, John the Australians and Salvatore the Italian. There are a surprising amount of Italians doing the trail. 


Down the hill from Cammarata.

Cracking fresh almonds on the trail.

It was super fun hiking with these folks. We talked about family traditions, how Halloween snuck into Australian culture, how birthdays are bigger than any holiday and the comparison between venomous snakes in Australia and California.  




The stream of course is our low point which John astutely points out, it’s all up from there.  The train bars came down and we waved our hiking sticks as the train gave us some creative horn licks in return as it sped by.  Little things like that seem so fun on the trail.  

It was then a long 90 minute slog up to Aquaviva, where I will be dropped tomorrow via taxi to continue the hike that my friends have completed today.






Cute town, friendly bar dude.  He showed us his restaurant next door which was decorated with US states license plates. Cool.  Then a couple from Oakland showed up. They are shopping for houses in the area.  We almost got to see a €1 house for sale, but it didn’t happen.

It was time for me to part with my dear friends, who I so enjoyed and to hike back down AND up to Cammarata.




I was texting a friend and was off course. 

Thank god, and I mean it, that there is food available at 5:00 PM

Cammarata at dusk.

Just my thoughts for the day:  What is the perfect Camino?  Finishing all segments in sequence? Walking every mile on the trail? Yes I would have liked to have finished all segments, but that didn’t happen.  Could I have walked without having my lodging pre-booked like the Australians? No that wouldn’t work for me. Am I enjoying and getting an amazing experience without finishing every mile? You know the answer to all of those questions.  There is no perfect Camino just like there is no perfect life.  

WhatsApp +17072241531

Lemonspomagranet@gmail.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Naples 2

Image
  I began to find a bit of the messy, loud, old city on my morning walk up to the beautiful Capodimonte Museum, up the hill from old town. The traffic and scooters are crazy, and I let the crowd start first in crossing the streets here.  I don’t want to be the first one out there.  Often scooters run the red and dodge the pedestrians.  I’ve unwillingly played that game already.   This one street was a very lived in neighborhood leading up to the park where the museum is.  I was expecting big crowds, but there were none. I had the museum to myself for the first hour.   There were so many religious scenes that were basically the same ideas painted over and over. So many naked babies and white Jesus being taken off the cross. Also many quirky stuff. I’m sorry I didn’t get any shots of the park.  It was lovely, with paths radiating out through mature forests.   Still fighting jet lag a bit, but made it through a big day.  I managed to get lost, even with navigation, but it was a nice kind
Read more

11-7-23 To Caltanissetta

Image
  Goodbye Agrigento.  I left the apartment at 10:00.  My bus, number 4208 didn’t leave until 11:20 and I had ample time to immerse myself in book two of the Godfather trilogy.  Spent some of that time reading in a park and then went to the bus station to read more.  One would assume  that if you bought a ticket the day before, at the bus station, that the bus would leave from the bus station.   I saw bus 4208 drive into town 20 minutes before departure time. Thought nothing of it. Maybe they are getting gas.  I saw the bus leave town at 11:23. Fuck!  In fact I said “fuck” and a well dressed young Italian man looked at me askance. One would also assume that a ticket seller would alert an obvious dumb ass stupid tourist, that the bus I just bought a ticket for leaves from another location.  So, I had to laugh this one off.  Days and days on a trail where I was contemplating expectations, assumptions and anticipation all possibly leading to disappointment; here I was.  I went over to the
Read more

12-6-23 Palermo

Image
 What have I learned on this trip?   Maybe I’m not the totally hot shit hiker that I used to be. I really didn’t do all of the Camino, and I am not into suffering for a badge of completion. And, I did most of the trail.  Hiked over 90 miles, just in those 11 days. I saw amazing landscapes that most visitors to Sicily wouldn’t see. There are a lot of super nice people, wherever you go, maybe especially in Sicily where the hospitality and friendliness and level of helpfulness permeates the culture.  Be aware of how you process the world around you. Expectations, anticipations and assumptions can cloud your awareness. They can bring you disappointments and dissatisfaction.  And you can choose to turn that stuff around to appreciation and gratitude.  Or by going into the world with an open attitude or positive intentions, you can maybe skip that outcome. I learned so many layers of eras and civilizations have passed through here.  It’s beyond my comprehension in some ways.  The ocean is so
Read more