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God is American ... don't you forget it.
sorry for the lag. ive been busy! last weekend my class (all 10 of us) went by train to cinque terra aka "the five towns" which is in north eastern part of italy along the sea. the five towns are spread out along a eight kilometer stretch of rocky coast line adjacent to the most beautiful blue water you'd ever care to see...or swim in for that matter. once off the train we all hopped a ferry to the very last town, passing each precariously placed town en route - great views. each town seems to dangle by a thread over the water - brightly colored, tightly packed houses and shops are clumped harshly, almost unharmoniously together...and yet it works. once in the last town, we started to walk our way back to the first town. the trail was easy, paved, and packed with every american in italy. "oh my gawd, its like, so beautiful." You get the idea. anyway, after the second town, the group split. most of the girls wanted to hit the beach at the first town so they caght the train back to the fisrt town and layed out all day. the die-hards, me , mike, yang , and kit, decided to hike the rest of the way, hitting each town. the trail eventually disinigrated into nothing more than a rocky, semi-strenuous, dirt path that barely clung to the edge of the cliffs and not suprisingly, most of the tourists dissapeared with the last trace of concrete and a level walking surface. the trail was beautiful and fun and the company was good. each town looked the same and we ate lunch at one of them, molto buono. we passed a group of french people who were resting along the trail. i passed first, then mike, then kit, then yang. a minute passed and yang finally caught up and said excitedly, "hey, did you guys get a cherry!?" we turned around in unison, cherry-less, of course. "no," we all said. yang looked at his cherry like it was laced with cyanide and decided it best not to eat it. we next walked through "the rape tunnel". we took a wrong turn and ended up in a dark 20 minute long tunnel that ended up at a private beach, we had to head back. short cuts. they never work. at the end of the day we got free gelato and headed back by train.
THE DOLOMITES.
so ive been itching to get out of the congested, polluted, tourist-hating, city that is Firenze. before i even came to italy i had my eyes set on the dolomites (basically the italian alps, in the north west corner of the country, near austria). after class on thursday i made my way to the train station with my pack and caught the train to feltre, a town near the base of the dolomite mountain range, ready to hike part of the Alta Via 2, one of two passes through the range (to do the whole trek would take up to 2 weeks). I stoped in padova, transfered and arrived in feltre. after wandering around aimlessly, trying to find some accomodation, i finally stumbled upon the park hotel (after bothering every local in broken italian for two hours "dov'e park hotel, dov'e park hotel??") it was too dark to set off that evening so i settled in to my depressing digs and had the closest thing to an american shower in nearly a month. it felt great. i sat in my room eating most of the supplies i alloted for the next few days in the mountains. i woke up fat but feeling fit and ready to go. i went to the bus station to catch the bus to pedavena. when i finally found the right bus the bus driver did not take a liking to me when i didnt have a ticket ( hey, the guide book said you could buy it ON the bus, not at the station) A nice lady (obviously not a florentine) sold me on of her spare tickets and we headed off. arriving in pedavena, i went into the tabacchi to buy my next ticket - to croc'e d'aune, the true starting point of the alta via 2. i waited an hour and a half in the sun for the damn bus and eight miles later i arrived in croc'd aune. i noticed a youngish lady with a pack and asked her in english if she knew where the trailhead was, suprisingly i got a response in english. she pointed me in the right direction and finally, after two days on transit, i started on the trail. it only took a few minutes of trekking for all my stress to melt away and by the first vista, florence, rude bus drivers and missed trains were a distant memory - a horrifying dream that happened to someone else. i really couldnt believe my eyes, i had only been hiking about and hour when i got my first real glimpse of the dolomites through a break in the heavily forrested lower level of the range. like nothing ive ever seen, shear cliffs, higher than anything ive ever seen in the states, shrouded in clouds and swiftly moving mists, like something out of the CGI created lord of the rings. i suddenly got butterflies and recalled the expression on the shopkeepers face back in croce d'aune when i told her that i was attempting the alta via 2. she winced in either disbelief or shock, sighed a "phew" and started to giggle a bit. i didnt feel to secure in my decision at that point but one must press on in the face of adversity. anyway, back on the trail. after the first outlook, i ascended higher into the mountain range and finally broke the tree line, my destination was rifiggio g. dal piaz, basically a mountain hostle, perched high in the formidable range, offering shelter, food and a place to sleep- all for cheap. rifigio piaz was set to open in three days, not good, the sign at the begining of the trail stated that piaz was indeed closed, but the lady i met at the trailhead ensured me that it was open. higher now, i can barely move forward because i cant look away from the view. i am the only trekker and am loving the solitude. the season isnt slated to begin for a few days. perfect. i finally reach the rifigio after 3-4 hours of some of the hardest but most rewarding hiking of my life...its closed. locked up tighter than a dolphin's butthole. not good. i decide to wait. why? i dont know. after about an hour the weather turns, the mist is so dense i cant see the trail i came up on, nor the cabin that sits ten yards away from me. and its cold. hmmm. the next rifiggio is seven hours away and its a bit too late to attempt it, it would be dark before i reached it. i begin to think i have to head back down to flatter ground to pitch my tent and am not happy with the prospect. i hear a strange thing, an engine. the owners of the place come rolling up in a dumpy old who knows what with four wheels and after a couple tense minutes of awkward conversation, i decipher that yes, they are open and yes, i can stay. great. i get to my room and with no one to talk to i hit the sack. its still early, around 4. eventually i stumble downstairs to see that there are more guests, a group of rambuncious old italian fellas and the girl i met earlier. she hadnt lied. i learned that she was from belgium and that in a month she is heading to rawanda to study the aids crisis there. i head to bed and wake early, the mist has cleared and i can hardly believ emy surroundings. stunning. i leave my pack at the inn and hea dout to hike mt. pavione. about 4 hours round trip. again, im the only person in the entire range within site and i would have gladly traveled twice as long to get to the this point. at the top of mt. pavione, after an intense, precarious hike that straddled the peaks of several mountains in the range, with room for zero error on both sides of the thin, barely noticable trail, the view is something out of a fairy tale. i turn 360 degrees and in every direction there is nothing but smokey, jagged mountain peaks, shrouded in mist. but the overall impression you get is just how massive they are, and, being at the highest peak, you are on nearly the same level- and the air is thin. i sit for a while and the wind picks up, the temperature drops. time to trudge back. i get back to the mountain inn but decided to take another quick hike, down to what looks like a giant cave. its cool. and i have to pass over some snow to get there. once back at the inn i grab my pack and head out of there, its too far to the next inn and i need to be back in florence sunday for my birthday dinner and the girl's apartment so i decide that two days of trekking is enough, and i begin my decsent. i hate decending. eventually, i get back down and im beat. i wait for the bus after getting yelled at by some b**** in a restaurant...excuse me for asking directions. i wait and wait and some old dude who helped me figure out the schedule touched my weiner...i think on purpose...i stopped talking to him. i mean, thanks for help and everything but i dont owe you THAT much. back in feltre i trade in my tickets and get on the next train. again i wait...forever. the train arrives in padova, late. i miss my train to florence and im pissed, i want to get back and watch the italy vs usa world cup game with some friends. the next train isnt for an hour...and for some reason i have to pay 18 cents. i didnt ask. italian beuarcracy at its best. the train is 25 minutes late and my new route takes me to balogna...where i have to transfer. the train is slow but we get there and just in time, i sprint to the train and make it, although i wish i had. there is no air conditioning and the windows do not open. plus, and worst of all, its a local train and so slow slow slow and makes every stop en route. i now realize that seeing the game is impossible. all in all, with the time it took to get from feltre to florence, i could have flown across the atlantic ocean. i get home, pissed and hot and hungry and raid the local kebab joint for some tastless indian food and crash. hard.
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