September 12th, Cinque Terra, Italy

September 12, 2006
Cinque Terra, Italy

This morning I woke up at 9:35 and freaked out. We were supposed to catch the 9:30 bus into the national park. In my fit, I woke up B and Peter. I quickly started putting together my daypack so we could catch the next bus down (not until about 10:30). As I went to the bathroom I noticed that all the doors were in the hallway were closed. I thought it very strange. As I reached the end of the hallway B called to me and told me that it was actually only 7:30.

Somehow, in the middle of the night, I rolled onto my iPod and changed the time back 2 hours. I was quite relieved and went back to sleep for an hour or so. We easily made the 9:30 bus into the first of the five villages (sorry, I don’t remember the names of all of the villages).

After getting some breakfast in town we started the hike (at least 10K). I was surprised (not quite sure why) that we had to pay an entry fee of three euro. Everyone staying in our hostel accompanied us: 2 Canadian girls (Sheryln, Meagan,), 2 Indiana girls (Jodi, Bethany), 2 Australian girls. We all hiked to the second village together.

After walking through the second village we spotted a picturesque cove that looked perfect for swimming. Peter, B, and I jumped into the water (which was about 75 degrees) and swam around for about 15 minutes. The girls continued on.

After drying off and putting our shoes back on we hustled to catch up with the group. We caught the girls at the climb to the third village. There are hundreds of stairs up to the third village and everyone was exhausted by the time we reached the top. We all agreed it was time to find another swimming hole (except the Australians, who continued on).

As we hiked we crossed several beautiful bridges and walked along the bluffs high above the ocean. Eventually we came across a sign pointing the way to a beach. We were still very high but decided to make our way down the steep path. I led the way and stopped at the bottom of the first steep decent (which required holding onto a thick rope). As I waited for the others to make their way down, someone kicked a rock that came tumbling down the mountain. I was in the middle of taking a picture and was struck on my back. It was quite painful and I now have nice scab and scar...

After cleaning my wound, we all continued down (though I willingly relinquished the lead). The path was quite treacherous but we all made it to the bottom after about ½ an hour. Once we reached the bottom we were surprised to find that it was a nude beach! As the case with most nude beaches, it was almost all old men. Nonetheless, we decided to hang out (but not really HANG out) at the beach and go swimming.

As we chilled at the beach we started to notice lightning on the horizon. We continued to watch the lightning until we started the get rained on. Even though it was raining it was still warm. Not wanting to climb back up the steep trail, we chose to explore a new route. We heard from a fellow traveler that there was a tunnel that would talke us back to the main trail.

We entered the very long tunnel and walked through it for about 15 minutes. It felt like a video game. I half expected zombies with shotguns as we rounded several of the turns. Once we reached the end of the tunnel we encountered a chained gate. As everyone else was turning around and heading back, I noticed a white button. I pushed the button and the gate swung open.

Still, we were back at the steps up to the third village and had to rehike a large portion of the trail. Even though it was raining, the remainder of the hike was just as cool as the first portion. We traversed through lush forests and climbed along the bluffs high above the ocean. Once we reached the fifth village the weather had cleared up and we were again ready for a swim.

We swam out to some rocks about 150 meters off shore. We were exhausted by the time we got to the rocks and rested there for quite some time. As we were resting we played with some of the sea urchins inhabiting the area. Meghan even caught a crab and seemed as though she was quite familiar with marine life. However, her cover was blown when she claimed that you have to “burp” crabs before putting them back in the ocean. I immediately called BS.

After swimming back to the mainland, we jumped on a train back to the first village. None of us purchased a ticket. Unfortunately, we got busted and had to pay a five Euro fine…

After catching a packed bus back to our hostel we were ready for some dinner. Peter, B, and I headed for the one restaurant near our hostel, a pizza restaurant. As we returned from dinner, Peter and I noticed a familiar face. Incredibly, a girl from our hostel in Paris was now staying at the same hostel in Biassa.

After catching up with our friend and consuming some wine, we headed to bed. It was a very long, action packed day.