Location: Cinque Terre
Having been the skipper of a seamester boat 3 times over the course of my tenure with GXG, I can confidently say the content I will try to cram in today is a douzy. I’m sitting in the charthouse after a 16-hour day exploring the magnificent Italian coastline. Our day started at 5:45 am with the bustle of packing, bagels, and dinghies. Of particular note were the homemade bagels prepared by Samantha. I’ve never had a homemade bagel, and I will be looking forward to the next. Fast forward an hour, a bus ride, and a train ride, and we made it to Monterosso, the first of the five lands. We made sure to keep our eyes open for sea monsters and vespas, but Cinque Terre would prove to have a different feast for our eyes.
Stepping off the train, we were blown away by the jagged and rocky coastline that the romantics of old would have found themselves in. This trend would continue as we began our first hike. You might not realize it, but Italy is quite mountainous near the coast, and as Emily would propose later, we did indeed have to go up to go down (which were Rachel’s exact words yesterday when describing the hike). Endless rocky stairs that a cheeky Italian may have placed in just the right place for your gait to either be too much or not enough. Surely there is some physics equation to understand these geological stairways. Once we reached our cruising altitude, we walked through a lush overgrowth of trees, shrubbery, and salty coastal air. Stopping occasionally to take pictures, admire the view, and change in and out of our rain gear became a nice little routine for our merry band of hikers. We also found some cats who have taken up residence in the cliffs; they secretly run the Cinque Terre Illuminati. But as all good things must come to an end, we reached the second land, Vernazza.
Similar to Monterosso coffee, focaccia, and a little stroll was in to connect us with our fellow Cinque Terreans. Oscar, Chloe, Emily, and Fish got a nice bit of grub, he has reported as he fills in the anchor watch sheet. After Vernazza, the group split into the hikers and the trainers. The hikers continued onto the second challenge of the day, climbing hills and scrambling down rock faces into the third land of Corniglia, where lunch was in order. The hikers found themselves looking for focaccias and pastas, while the trainers sat down for a nice family dinner. The next hike was litty, as the kids say. We went through some more trees and whatnot. Unfortunately, once I have described the five lands and one of the four hikes, I have described the majority of our day. Still, we got our steps in, toned our quads, and made sure the jello legs wouldn’t rear their ugly heads on our Atlantic crossing.
There is so much more to say about our hiking and cultural endeavours, but I must be brief and would like to emphasize some of the key takeaways from today. First, do not try to fit 22 students onto a bus that is already full. Second, while it may seem like your dog from St. Louis is on a hiking trail in Italy, it’s not possible for a dog to buy a plane ticket, let alone clear customs without a passport. And lastly, the conversations that will be remembered are not the deep philosophical yap, but rather the lactic acid-induced ones you are forced to be a part of, even when conventional wisdom tells you otherwise.
Happy birthday, Liv!! Argo and her crew were supa dupa happy to celebrate with you.
Thank you very much for reading this highly disjointed blog,
Charlie