When we arrived at the train station a mile from Taormina we anxiously awaited Antonella, a friend of Anna's. Her lack of english only made the situation more exciting and scary as we piled our packs into the back of her van. We were about 10 minutes away from Anna's house and the drive turned out to be one of our most thrilling experiences thus far. Some things you must know that made the ride treacherous include, first and foremost, the striking resemblance of Antionella to the character Large Marge from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure; and Anna lives in the mountains and so the NASCAR like speed in which Antonella drove (through the one car width constantly switchbacking road) made the journey more than a little perilous. After what seemed like record time we arrived at Anna's place. We enjoyed a lovely meal and were shown to our room, which featured a dangerously lofted bed that could only be reached via a ladder not designed for the weak at heart.
Before Anna left she gave us the list of things she would like us to do while she is away visiting her daughter, which will be for the rest of our stay. " Anything you would like to work on you may...feel free to be creative." Judging by the state of her house and yard, we would guess that "creative" wwoofers have done most of the work around here. This judgement is based upon a "chicken house" that houses no chickens due to the fact that 4 different people have worked on it and it still couldn't protect the inhabitants from murder by stray dogs on their first night of residence; the brick fence around the deck that cannot bear the weight of a strong wind; and the reed fence that falls down every time it is accosted by dogs, wind, or rain.
The other day while Anna was still here we hiked into town with her to see her apartment. Taormina is a quaint village and we're looking foward to our several planned visits there.
Now since Anna has left we've been making good progress in creating a more comfortable environment in which we can play house. We rearranged the living room and set up the kitchen (don't worry she asked us to do this) and planted our first vegetable garden and some trees. We also have done some brick-laying which is still holding up (fingers crossed)!
It's really fun to be here now and enjoy a little vacation from our trip. What a luxury to leave our shampoo in the shower and have our clothes in drawers! The scenery is beautiful and since we're in the mountains there are great views. Anna also has two dogs and two cats who are here with us, so we have an excuse to take lots of walks. Now that we're here we wish we had arranged to stay longer!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
