One last, last time

To start this out, I'm gonna give a breakdown of what happened during the first part of this long Easter weekend: Our plan to drive down to Cosenza to visit Matt's relatives fell through, so we ended up heading back to Cinqueterre to surprise some friends who were camping up in the monastery above Monterosso Del Mar. After spending the night up there on Thursday, we went down and spent all day on the beach. That evening we took a boat to Porto Venere and spent the night on the island of Palmaria on the gun turret overlooking the ocean. It was a typical trip to Liguria: perfect, epic, beautiful. Here are the details...

Thursday afternoon after classes got out, a lot of people seemed down. I think it was just one of those off days for a lot of us. I felt exhausted from a week of papers, late nights, and the stress of the ever-so-nearing end. We had planned on renting a car and driving down to Cosenza, where Matt had some relatives. However, the length of the drive and all the expenses involved was just too much. So after lunch, Conor, Matt, and I sat in room 57 for at least 45 minutes debating it. We finally backed out, but at the same time decided that we would go somewhere else instead. The weather was nice and a few of our good friends had left for Cinqueterre earlier that day. Why not hike up to the monastery, surprise them, and have one last great time in Liguria?

The train ride was pretty smooth, and we made it to Monterosso around 6:30. We bought some food and wine and made the climb up the mountain. My legs were still pretty sore from soccer, and though it was the fourth time I had made the climb, this was by far the most difficult attempt. I panted in pain and desperation every time I had to force my legs up those, steep, neverending steps. We finally made it to the top and silently approached our group of friends (Danny, Aly, Lauran) who were already settled in and eating while enjoying the beginning of the sunset over the sea. It was the perfect group, and they were very happy with the surprise we had given them.

We caught the sunset, another one that words cannot really describe, ate a simple meal, and drank a lot of red wine. Berns and Laura came up later and joined us, and we fell asleep under the stars.

The next day we made it down to Monterosso around 11. It was an absolutely perfect day. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and you could tell it was going to be a warm one. We got down to business right away and laid our towels out on the beach. I got in and the water was just as cold as last week, but the warm sun made things a lot easier. A bunch of others from the program came and joined us around one, including John and Harrison, Frank, Engel, Blake, and several others. It was just one big beach party. We swam, laid out, skipped rocks, and walked the beach. Everyone got a lot of sun, some people got burnt pretty badly, but in the end, I could not have chosen a better way to spend the day. Monterosso and the other 4 towns had come to life; the beach was packed, the sun was out, and the trails and shops were crowded with people from all over the world. Spring was in full effect.

Around 4:30, our original camping crew, myself, Matt, Conor, Lauran, Alyson, Danny, Berns, and Laura, headed to the ferry and took it all the way down the coast to Porto Venere. It was interesting to get a view of the towns from the ocean rather than looking out at the ocean from the trail as I had done so many times before. I got a lot of really good pictures. Porto Venere was as beautiful and enchanting as ever, with its large castle, ancient church, and row of pastel-colored houses overlooking the water. We bought a few more supplies, took the traghetto across the bay to Palmaria, and made the short hike up to the top to our campsite. There was no one around, and we got there just in time to catch all of the sunset as we sat atop the abandoned gun turret. Everyone agreed that while the monastery was a very special place, this was the best campsite, as it looked out over the Mediterranean, the town, and a small neighbor island that had a lighthouse. We were virtually on top of the world. We ate a very small dinner and saw a spectacular tramonto. There was a collection of haze right above the water on the horizon, so as the sun descended, it turned into a dark orange ball. You could stare right at it in its round entirety as it disappeared into the ocean.

Nighttime arrived and brought with it a series of strange events. I guess it's only fitting that the last night I would spend in Liguria this year would be just as strange and nervewracking as the first night back in September. We broke out some cards and a few boxes of Tavernello wine and started playing a game of King's Cup. Things were going pretty well at first, and there was still some light. All of a sudden, though, Danny got up and pointed out that there was a rat going through his things on the backside of the turret. We all got up, and sure enough, a decent sized rat with one of those nasty tails was crawling around, trying to get into our bags. We chased it off, but the girls were pretty scared. We threw some rocks into the bushes, trying to put an end to the threat of our newfound invader, and then returned to our game. But only about 10 minutes later it was back, this time crawling into Berns' shoe. We chased it off again, and this time watched it as it crawled in the bushes below us. Berns threw a large rock that may or may not have crushed it; at this point, it was too dark to tell.

We got back to our game and actually played for a solid 45 minutes without interruption. By this time it was completely dark. That's when one of the strangest things I've ever witnessed happened. A rock came out of nowhere and hit Lauren's elbow. We were in the middle of nowhere, it was pitch black, and we had no idea what had happened. After a few seconds of confusion and making sure that Lauran was alright, we realized that we weren't alone up there. Danny said, "Alright guys, let's go." We got a couple flashlights, got up, and shined them into the brush in the distance. We yelled for whoever it was to show themselves, but there was nothing. I figured if we couldn't get an answer, the best solution would be to just leave, as I didn't want to be stuck up there in the dark with who knows what hiding nearby. But just then some guy came through the bushes with a girl. They were college hippies, nothing too intimidating. We asked the guy what he was doing, and he said that they were just trying to toss a few pebbles near us to rustle the bushes. We showed him the rock that he had threw, which was quite larger than a pebble. Even though he denied throwing it, it was clear that he was the perpetrator. Instead of kicking his ass, which probably would have been justified, I think we were all just pretty happy that we had put a face on our unknown enemy. We parted ways and eventually fell asleep under the stars.

The next morning was another beautiful day. We walked around Porto Venere for a while and then took the train back to Florence. I was exhausted and absolutely filthy from two nights of camping and a day at the beach. Still, it was by far one of the best times I've had on the coast and a perfect way to wrap up the huge series of camping trips I made there this year. I'll miss Liguria, but it has given me enough memories and beautiful images to last 10 lifetimes.