I know this blog is supposed to be about Mali and my Peace Corps experience, but I recently took a vacation to Italy and it was amazing!! -So amazing that I want to tell you all about! For those of you who don’t know my friend Jade and I couch surfed through three towns in Italy. Couch surfing is a way to see different parts of the world, and meet new and interesting people, while getting a free, or relatively cheap place to stay. Our vacation started late Saturday night (April 25) with a small emergency! All Volunteers have two passports a personal passport, and a Peace Corps passport. Whenever we leave the country we have to take our PC Passport because it has our Visa to get back into Mali. Around midnight Jade and I arrive at the door to the airport, take out our passports, only to have Jade ask me why I had my PC Passport!! She had her personal passport along with a denied entrance into the airport. With a frantic call to a Peace Corps worker with a plea to please bring her passport to the airport! A very long hour later we see a Peace Corps car round the bend to the airport entrance! We have a 3-hour flight to Casablanca airport in Morocco a two hour lay over then a 3-hour flight to Bologna Italy! With all the time changes, and flights, and lay overs, we arrive in Italy around 1 in the afternoon. We had some trouble getting into contact with out first couch surfing host due to the fact that African cells phone do not work in Italy-go figure! Luckily we have information about hostels in each of the city’s we are visiting so we find one and check into a “dorm room” for the night and head off to find ice cream and pizza!
The best way to get around in most cities in Italy is the Bus, or metro if there is one. However the Bus system is hard to understand, and it is very easy to get confused…needless to say we spent a good chunk of time happily ( or not too happily) lost. We climbed a HUGE watch town overlooking the city and were able to get some awesome pictures! After enjoying a wonderful meal of cheesy pasta we attempt to head back to the hostel. We have a tiny, not very helpful bus map, and the address of the hostel. We jump on the nest bus we think is heading out of town toward the hostel, only find out 20 minutes later we are on the bus going the WRONG way out of town. With the help of some very friendly English-speaking Italians we find our way back into town, to the right bus stop. The buses in Bologna do not stop at every stop, they only stop when there are people to pick up or a passenger pushes the STOP button. Not knowing exactly where the closest stop was to the hostel we accidentally push the stop button a little too soon. Leaving us with maybe a mile walk, in the cold dark night! Luckily, Italians are really nice and we are approached by an old man heading our direction and offers us a ride-well we are assuming that’s what he said because he only spoke Italian and the only thing we could say is “No Copicie” Anyway, we make it safely back to the hostel and melt into hot showers and beds loaded with blankets!
The next day we spend sight seeing, eating, and window-shopping. When we stop to buy post cards we see a big church we haven’t seen yet, we hop the next bus to see it, only to be dropped off at the bottom of a humongous hill, with built in steps. Preparing ourselves for a climb we take off in high spirits. An hour later, after a few breaks, we finally see the top! The view from the top is breath taking, and like most sites in Italy, taking a picture does no justice to the beauty of it! The inside of the church is just as breath taking, and like most churches in Italy, doesn’t not allow photos of the inside. As we descend we make our plans to meet our first host.
His name in Daniele and he lives a short bus ride just outside of Bologna. We meet up with him and are taken to a pretty nice apartment and shown to our bed- a futon in his kitchen. Daniele is no stranger to the couch surfing network; he hosts people at least 3 nights week. He was very entertaining, and told us that when God Created Italy he realized it was so close to being paradise so then he created the Italians. Not only is Daniele a successful lawyer, he is also a self-taught musician. I enjoyed a nice evening being serenaded by Jade, and Daniele’s lovely guitar playing.
The next morning after a “breakfast” of McDonalds burgers and fries (they didn’t have an actual Breakfast menu :-() we jump the train to Venice. Actually to Mestre, a town that is only a short bus ride away from Venice. We have a host for the next three nights with a family from Sri Lanka. We dump off our bags, head to the grocery store to pack a lunch and catch the next bus to Venice. Venice is AMAZING! It is the one of the most beautiful places in the world! No matter how many pictures I took I was always disappointed with their quality, because there is just no way to capture the true beauty! Over the next three days we visited almost all of Venice, including Morano, an island off of Venice known for its glass blowing, and hand made glass factories, and Lido, another island of off Venice. We toured almost all of Venice by third day, we headed back to rest our weary feet and tried to find a movie theater. We were lucky enough to find one within walking distance from the house we were staying in. We take off to check it out only to be completely mortified to walk in to an X-rated theater! Who watches that stuff in theaters??
The next day we wake up and head straight for the train station to catch a train to Rome. Once there we soon learn that all the train tickets are sold out until 3 in the morning. Doing pretty much the only thing we can, we take our luggage and find the next bus headed to the beach! A nice relaxing day sitting by the water, enjoying some ice cream was exactly what we needed in the middle of our busy vacation! Top the day off with some great Chinese food and we are all set to spend the night in a dreary train station. We entertained ourselves by taking pictures, playing cards, and eating left over Chinese, until we met Sasha. Sasha is a traveler from Ukraine who happened to be on the same train as us! She was traveling all over Italy, making her way to Rome to do some inner city volunteer work. The last few hours quickly filled with conversation, question, comparing this country to that, and it was time to board the train before we knew it! Once on the train we ended up sharing a section of seats with three young engineers from China, who design parts for John Deer. As I’m lulled off to sleep by the chug-a-lug of the train, I can’t help but be impressed with how many amazing people we’ve met on our journey so far.
We finally arrive in Rome around 9 in the morning, unable to contact our host for the next few days, we are once again stuck with our luggage. Having already missed one day in Rome, we did not wish to waste another, so we took off for the Roman Forum, and Spanish Steps, with luggage in hand-well technically mine was on my back. By 3:00pm we were absolutely exhausted and, getting a little grumpy. We finally connect with our host and hop the next train to his house. Once there we are greeted by by far the most interesting person we’ve met so far! Shaeeb, is an artist, who was raised all around the world. He is Indian, speaks English with a British accent, as well as 6 other languages. We shower, and rest while he gardens until it is time to cook supper. Over dinner he explains his artwork to us, maybe it’s the wine, but I soon find myself caught up in a dreamy conversation of world politics, lack of love for one another, and need for world peace.
The next day is Easter Sunday and Rome welcomes us, along with floods or other people, with warm weather. We head straight for Vatican City, to catch the Pope at work, unfortunately he is the only one working on this Easter Sunday, and we are unable to tour the museum, the Sistine Chapel, or much of the city its self. We spend the rest of the day wandering around some ancient ruins of a city just on the outskirts of Rome. Figuring we are so close to the beach, we may as well check it out a bit before heading back into the business of the city. Distracted by the calmness of the beach, we head back to the city a tad bit later than planned, and missed the train that takes us all the way to Shaeeb’s house. We find ourselves stranded one stop before we need off, with no way of contacting our host. We are happily informed that we can catch a bus that will take us to the next train station, however due the Easter holiday the bus stopped running the hour before. Unsure of what to do next we sit on the curb and wait. Finally we are once again approached by a nice guy going our way, and once again he only speaks Italian. Giving him directions to a house down a dirt road, back in the woods, proves to be a little difficult. After turning around three times, and a few shouted, “Mamamia’s” we finally are back at our host’s house.
We spend our last day in Rome enjoying the park, and seeing a few sights we have yet to make it to; one being the Capuchin Crypt, an chapel decorated (if you can call it that) with bones of Monks. There is a full wall of just skeleton heads. It was eerie, morbid, yet amazing to see! Ending the day with a real cappuccino, we catch the train just as the rain starts to fall. Reaching the train station in the middle of a down pour, we search for a phone to call our host to ask if he would be able to pick us up. Unable to reach him, we are left with the only option of walking.
Our very last day in Italy is consumed of a long train ride back to Bologna, a quick lunch, and one last ice cream before catching the plane to Morocco. Sad to be leaving the coolness of Italy, and all the tasty food, yet still satisfied with our fun filled vacation. Luckily, thanks to some flight changes, we get to ease our way back into Africa, with a one night lay over in Morocco-hotel accommodations, breakfast, lunch, and dinner thanks to AirMoroc. We literally have all day in Morocco seeing as our plane does not leave in 10:30pm on Wednesday night. We meet a girl in the lobby who is headed to the market and asked us if we wanted to join her. Jumping on the next train into the city, we soon are greeted with a much more developed city than we were expecting. Our friend tells Moroccans consider their country a tree; with their roots in Africa, but the branches and leaves are considered part of Europe. The market is full of color, and puts Canal Street to shame with its supply of knock off designer hand bags, shoes, and clothes. We truly enjoyed our jaunt through the market, and back to the hotel. We spent the last few hours of our vacation basking in the air conditioning, watching Home Alone 2- in English none the less!
We say goodbye to our friend, to our vacation, and board the plan to Bamako. Upon landing we gather our bags, and head out the door only to be confronted by the heat, dust, and Malian greetings that we’ve managed to escape for the last ten days.
