Day 162- Falling From Cloud Nine

I am soon to be hit with so much reality I cannot bare thinking about it for more than a second. At a time. Because it seems like I can't stop thinking about it either.  It is absolutely insane how quickly time has passed. I am only days away of going back to Chile and as I had imagined, I'm not sure I'm ready. You would think after going through a lot of changes in life you might get used to change. Just a little? I don't mind it. Change is good. When you want it. I don't think I want it just yet.

I am missing a lot of people and slowly I am wanting things from Chile...like my bed. But goodbye's really get to me. Like I said before...I'm all about people. So I guess I've been trying to gradually get used to the idea. I've been going around town to get some things and in the process saying goodbye to the neighborhood. To the girl at the market, and to the old man that sells me mozzarella and parmigiano. Going for the last few runs on my track...

I got back from the Amalfi Coast with Carlos a few days ago and we enjoyed a few more things in Rome before he had to leave on Thursday night. But first...

We loved the Amalfi Coast. We took the unforgiving hot and stuffy train from Termini to Napoli, where we met a sketchy Chilean hippy, who spoke a funny combination of Chilean Spanish and Italian. Once we were there we found our way around the station and found the train we had to take to Sorrento. This time just as hot, but at least we had seats. In Sorrento we took a look at the map of the city, and since it looked tiny, we decided to walk around a little, luggage and all. I think it's one of the smallest towns I've been to, but very popular for cruises to stop at, so pretty lively. We went down some stairs on the side of a cliff and saw the Port of Sorrento, which was just as touristy chic as the town, then took en elevator back up the cliff to catch our 5:00 bus to Positano. Short and sweet visit of Sorrento.

Although I slept a little on the way to Positano, I caught the first few kilometers of the trip. Not your usual bus ride. Similar to Cinque Terre in Liguria, the Amalfi Coast has a bunch of little towns along it, but instead of a train, there are narrow windy roads along the side of the cliffs. So to get from one of them to another, you have a beautiful and at times frightening view of the sea and everything below. Not for those with vertigo. And even though most of the towns are pretty close together, it takes a while to get there because of the curves and of course because whenever two buses meet, there an intricate procedure of everyone backing up and organizing themselves so that one bus can get through. We both enjoyed it though.

By the time we got to Positano it was too late for the beach, so we left our stuff at the hostel (which being on the somewhat isolated coast of Italy, surprised us with rooms that only opened with your fingerprint), and went to look around a little. Soon, by looking around we understood that meant walking down...and then back up...the steps of Positano. We had been warned by the hostel website that to get to the beach it was more than 750 steps. "People who are not in the condition should know that to arrive to the beach, there are 700 steps to go down and up". Aparently we were barely in the condition. But we walked a few flights down, finding mysterious little nooks along the way, covered with flowers and decorated with beautiful Italian ceramic tiles. It was a little like a dream. The balconies were to die for. I wouldn't mind having one.

We found a place to have dinner and enjoyed everything at a much lower temperature than Rome...even more than Sicily. At one point I could have even put on a sweater. It was nice.

Back at the hostel, we sat outside for a while and met a few Argentinian girls. So we got to talking, and then after a while went to our room to sleep in our bunk beds. I was on top. God that sounds wrong. In spirit of leaving this laid back country, I won't rewrite it. :)

The next morning we went to Amalfi and spent most of the day at the beach. At lunch some guy who looked like he played Paolo in Friends (the Italian stereotype that goes out with Rachel) basically tried kicking us out for ordering a sandwich to share...but I was quickly recomposed by the wonderful Amalfi lemon sorbet...sooo fresh.

I did a little shopping (God bless Carlos' patience), we fit in another dip in the water, then hopped on the bus for Positano. There we decided to make our way down all the steps to the private beach to have an idea of where to go the next day. And we were quickly convinced when we saw how nice the beach was. We kept walking and made our way along the coast to the bigger, public beach, found the bus stop among little shops and buzzing tourists, and were back at the hostel. By then we were hungry so we ordered pizza to go at the same restaurant we had eaten at the night before (when the pizza dough served as bread is that good, you go back to try the pizza, right?). Hot pizzas in hand, we climbed the stairs from the restaurant to our hostel as quick as our (or my) physical state would allow us...and ate on the hostel balcony with an unreal view.

The next day was an all day BEACH day. we got some snacks and descended The Stairs again to the beach, where we stayed until they closed. We had lunch almost on the water, refilled our glasses of white wine numerous times, and tanned. And it's a good thing we were on the beach because it was insanely hot out. We were in and out of the water every five minutes. Once the sun subsided behind the hill, we walked to town to catch the bus, but ended up walking the rest of the way back. It took us a while, but I definitely don't think it was half as bad as going up all those stairs would have been. I don't know how the people that live there do it.

On our way back to Rome, I couldn't let Carlos leave without trying the best pizza in the world. So we walked a few blocks from the Napoli Centrale Station to the one and only Antica Pizzeria da Michele. There was of course a crowd around the place, so we got our number. And after about 45 minutes, I watched him savor each piece, dumbfounded by how perfect it was. I really thought it might be a little less good the second time, because most things are..........but oh my god. It's just so good...I don't understand.

After another few humid hours on the train, we were in Rome, packing. Which I'm still doing. Extra luggage is just the beginning. I think I'm going to have to do some rearranging...

To round up these wonderful months, yesterday we went out to celebrate Valerio's birthday. Very fun place called Roma Vintage, although I have to say there were some oddballs. And today (in between packing), I've been around a little with Mary on the bike...trying to take it all in. How can you just be in one country and then be somewhere else all of a sudden. Just a plane ride and everything is different. Isn't it weird?

It's almost over...