Calatafimi Day One

Now we're in Calatafimi. Let me just say that no one tours Calatafimi unless you're interested in the Temple of Segeste. We had to tell the bus driver several times that we did, in fact, want to go to Calatafimi. We were on the side of the road frantically trying to open up the bus's storage bin while another bus driver tried to convince our driver not to pull away without us. The driver on the side of the road yelled at one point, "Push the button!" and then, "Pull!" We made it.

We were greeted by an old British man (Scottish, actually, whose dad grew up in India and Afghanistan) who led us to a dirty old car and said, "Here's the Rolls Royce. Sorry it's like Times Square here in town." As we were pulling up to the house, he said, "Now you're going to be met by four dogs barking violently, but they are in no way violent." As if on cue, two of the dogs were paw in paw, ferociously baring their teeth at one another. "Oh no! They won't hurt each other. This is just a supremacy fight. What a fine impression they've made!"

Angus is his name. He has what I like to call daily nuggets of wisdom. He asked Michelle and me how our Italian was, and unlike most people, he was using our answer as a frame of reference for the experience we've had in Italy so far. When we said that our Italian was poor, this was his reply: "The two best ways to learn Italian are food and lovers. You two evidently haven't been too hungry here nor have you had an Italian lover."

He told us that there are perks to living down a bumpy road. "Bad roads tend to be great for securing privacy." As he and his "lovey" of 45 years (WOOOOO!) were leaving for the night, however, he said, "And be sure to lock up because the entire town now knows you have arrived."

Angus loves his wine. After his wine at lunch, he leaned back in his chair and said to me, "You're very Irish." I asked if the red curly hair gave me away, and he said yes but that also my attitude toward life was Irish. I don't exactly know what that means, but he mentioned that he liked the Irish. He also likes the British and the Scots, so that doesn't tell anyone anything really.

Caterina is lower maintenance and lower in intensity than our last hostess, and Michelle and I already like her. She balances Angus's dry British humor quite well. She was born in Palermo, and many of her relatives live near Catalafimi. Not only is this great because we have a big family dinner with them this evening, but it's good because Angus and Caterina's olive harvest isn't good this year. In fact, no one has a lot of olives on their trees in this part of Sicily. But the good news is that, while we finished harvesting all the fruit in their grove today, we can spend the rest of our time here picking from Caterina's family's trees. (I wouldn't be surprised if the price of organic olive oil rises this year, especially since the organic farms in Tuscany didn't see their olive trees produce much fruit this year either.)

We currently have the large guest house to ourselves, although two other WWOOFers are joining us from Sweden and Great Britain on Saturday. We have the nicest shower we've had since coming to Italy. The house is decorated with years' worth of art from all over the world, and it's stunning. In the evenings before dinner, we will most likely continue listening to classical music with our hosts. They've already offered to let us use their car when we're free. This farming experience will be quite different from our last one, to say the least. I'll try to keep you posted on it!

Oh, and here's a gem from the evening!