Need a Jump?

We were driving the other evening and looked across the road where there were a few young guys standing around a scooter and a car. We were making a u-turn at the next round-aboutso we drove back by the gentlemen a realized what they were doing. The scooter was connected to the car by jumper cables. The scooter was on, and there was a guy trying to start the car. That's right. They were trying to jump start a car with a moped. Giddyup!!!!

Presepe

Italy is well know for elaborate presepes around Natale (Christmas). They really are amazing. An entire room will be transformed into a miniature Italian village complete with river. The manger scene is then incorporated into the village. Every year, the stores are full of different sized people depending on the scale you want to use to create your own presepe. They have straw, rocks, water fountains, windmills, props, and even premade stables. It is a big deal and one of my favorite things about Italy.

So it's mid-November, and just like in the states, all of the Christmas stuff is already out in the stores. In the Italians' defense, at least they aren't overlooking Thanksgiving like American stores. Anyway, I was looking at the presepe stuff, seeing if there is anything I can add to the one we built last year and I see this little guy who is poppin' a squat and droppin' his drawers. Hmmmm, that's interesting. But I guess if you recreate a village, you need to have an outhouse right??!! I mean, that's a part of village life. But then something caught my eye and I leaned in closer. Could it be? Nooooooo, couldn't be. But yes it is! The little dude is actually taking a dump, dropping a load, pinching a loaf, dropping the kids off at the pool, taking the Browns to the Super Bowl...you get the idea. He actually has a piece of poop coming out of his butt. Hopefuly no one puts him too close to the manger scene. Seems wrong somehow.

I Love Trash!

Yes this blog is about Sicily, not Naples. I can attest personally to the nastiness that is Naples and the trash covered streets. But the problem has now come home. Trash pickup in Catania is a daily occurence. We put our trash out in a little basket and it gets picked up everyday. Great right!? Well, it was while it was actuially happening.
The word is that Catania "waste management" is out of money. They can't pay the trash dudes, who then refuse to work for free. Selfish selfish. Anyway, trash builds up for a couple of weeks, then they come and clean everything for a few days, and then back to build-up. Has anyone considered that maybe every other day or every third day pick-up would be cost saving and avoid huge piles? Maybe, but then the unions would throw a fit. And how is Catania out of money? If anything, the tax base is increasing. Oh wait, people have to actually declare their incomes and pay their taxes. Right. So maybe Catania deserves it.

Camping In Sicily

Go ahead, try it. Google "camping in Sicily". You will come up with a list of KOA type campsites with camper parking, electrical plug-ins, showers, bathrooms, and very often a restaurant. That is camping. Now, where I come from, that's not really camping. Camping involves a tent, a campfire, a camp stove, dirt, and bugs. Camping in luxury involves bringing an air mattress and lighter fluid (which are both perfectly acceptable to me). So we wanted to go camping on Mt Etna. It's a mountain, it has forests....perfect for camping. Try googling "camp on mt etna". You pretty much find one campsite that is as described above.

There is a picnic area in a grove of trees about 3/4 the way up the North side of Mt Etna towards Piano Provenzana. You go up to Linguaglossa, take a left, and head up the mountain. It has a few rickety picnic tables and some stone barbecues. It is on park land and thus controlled by the park service (Italian Forest Rangers). Now there is no information available anywhere on whether or not you can camp on Etna, since who would ever consider such an idea! So I had a friend call the Chief of Police in Linguaglossa to make sure no one was going to roust us at 1 am saying we couldn't sleep there (that is assuming an Italian officer would be actively patrolling at 1 am). I know, it's unlikely, but I err on the side of caution. The chief, unable to comprehend why anyone would participate in such a heathen activity mentioned all of the hotels we could stay at. When we finally convinced him we wanted to sleep in a tent, exasperated, he said there are too many flies, we are crazy, but no one is going to bother us. In fact, he even agreed to tell any of his people passing by to look in on us, make sure we were OK. So we were good to go.

We arrived that afternoon and there is a Belgian family and an Italian family picnicking. I lay out a tarp and begin pitching the tents. The Italians watched in awe, confident we were crazy. But, undaunted, I continued. I started the charcoal briquettes and began cooking the hobo (tin foil) dinners. Mmmmmm. The Italians left, shaking their heads. Then the Belgians took off. We had a great time. We roasted marshmallows for s'mores and made up stories around the campfire. After we put the kids to bed, the Belgian family came back. Apparently they were travelling through Italy and camping wherever they found themselves at night. A great idea! See, it's not just Americans that are crazy campers. However, we did laugh when they filled their air mattress using the exhaust of their car. Nothing like sleeping on a bed of carbon monoxide! Puts you right to sleep, and if you actually wake up in the morning, then all's well.

I will admit that in the morning there were A LOT of flies. They seemed to love pancake batter. But what's roughing it without a few bugs right?

If you ever decide you want to camp on a volcano in Sicily, just remember, the locals won't be of any help. Camping? Who would do that when there are perfectly good hotels nearby? Uncivilized I tell you. Uncivilized.

Graffiti

So graffiti is a huge problem here in Sicily and Southern Italy in general. There are absolutely no controls on the purchase of spray paint. Anyone with a few Euro can buy a can. The low police presence and lack of respect for what police presence does exist, creates a perfect atmospere for teen vandalism and tagging. The tragedy is when you see graffiti on buildings older than the United States. We went and visited a Norman Castle, and there was graffiti all over it. The US hadn't been discovered yet! Yet here, it's no biggie, tag that baby up. Every once in a while though you see a work of art. These are two pieces painted near our home. Don't ask me to explain the symbolism on the "mammory soup" one, but the writing on the old man one translates roughly to "for the Sicilian culture, looking forward to a better future."

Fireworks

OK, fireworks in Sicily are an every night occurrence. There isn't any anticipation for the one or two nights a year the kids get to stay up to watch fireworks. Every Saint gets his/her own fireworks show. Pick a reason, any reason, and we'll do fireworks to celebrate. But they don't do them at 9 or 9:30. Oh no. Lets wait till it's really dark, say 1:00 am. Yeah, that's a good idea! We'll wake everyone up to let them know we are celebrating little Giovanni's first tooth! So the American community does a fireworks show on July4th. No big deal to the Sicilians, just another fireworks show. For some reason, the fireworks misfired in that they didn't quite get as high as they were supposed to before exploding. And, of course, it's summer so the brush is all really dry. So a few minutes into the show, the brush catches on fire. Now in the States, they would shut down the show, evacuate the crowd, and call in the fire department. Not in Sicily. Fire? Who cares! The show must go on. So the fireworks show continues as the fire blazes and spreads into the neighboring olive grove. Party On!!!

Drive Beer

OK, so I don't actually drink beer, but I just love this brand of beer. Drive Beer. That's right, because beer and driving go so well together. Now, in Drive Beer's defense, it is non-alcoholic beer, the Italian O'Doul's, but come on. Making the fact that you can legally drink and drive with this tasty beverage not only the ad campaign, but the name of the beer seems a bit inappropriate. Remember folks, if you've got the keys, drink and drive, Drive Beer.