Turin, Cremona and Tuscany

Some more adventures with Caro!

TURIN
We went to Torino - seemed huge compared to Cremona!! - for one day with Vale and visited the Museo Egizio (2nd most important one after the one in Cairo), La Mole Antonelliana (the city's major landmark) and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema. We had a picnic in the park, walked down Via Garibaldi, had yogurt ice cream with fruits (getting quite popular in Italy) and that night we went dancing to a place on the Po river's waterfront. I loved how all these discos and bars were found here along the river, and how nightlife started around 1 am!

CREMONA
The following day we all went back to Cremona. We struggled quite a bit with Trenitalia trying to get the cheapest train tickets, so basically we had to change trains like a thousand times before arriving at our destination. Cremona is known for nougat (torrone) and for the violin-making industry (there are around 130 registered workshops). There is a nice plaza/gardens known as I Giardini o Piazza Roma, where everyone walks eating ice cream.

LIVORNO
After Cremona we travelled to Livorno in Tuscany. The landscapes come straight from those images you see on wine bottles: golden lights over fields of olive trees, farmhouses and vineyards.  No wonder it's so popular among the rich and the famous (George Clooney has a villa here or something?) Wines can be quite pricey, there is this Sassicaia wine or something like that, that can be 3000 dollars a bottle... hmm.

We stayed with Vale's friends - Sara, Nico, their five-year-old Isola, and (unborn) baby Libero. They have an Azienda Agricola, Alberelli, where you can rent apartments for your Tuscan dream holiday. This area is beautiful, so you should check it out! They make their own olive oil, they have a vegetable garden, and use firewood from the forest - can it get any better? Our days were spent at the main house, (where there are goats and forest! We had some delicious meals here of bread, fruit, cheese, pasta, wine), at the beach (beaches are not sandy so they are not as accessible and can be quite dangerous but who doesn't love the beach!) and visiting small little towns (eating gelato and buying olive oil). We went to Musica W Festival in Castellina M.ma and traveled along 5km of Viale dei Bolgheri. The food was awesome, and it's so tasteful they don't put salt in the bread (so the bread on its own is not too good).

We felt so so welcome and this family was really warm and filled with joy. I had never seen a more glowing pregnancy like Sara's, and had never liked a five-year old as much as I liked Isola. I realized I truly enjoyed spending time with her and her friend Vale. Would definitely be open to working with kids after this positive experience!

Sardegna Forever

Sardegna (Sardinia in English) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. My mom's friend lives here so my sister and I went there for a week. The flight was about 100 dollars roundtrip with RyanAir. We hadn't been there in ten years but everything was as beautiful as we remembered it. The beaches here are FANTASTIC, with crystlal-clear water, rocks, reefs and sandy beaches.

The first few days Paola took time off work so we went all together, including her boyfriend Claudito. He was a sight! After these first days driving and singing in the car and playing with Claudito beach volley, Caro and I moved around on our own with buses. The first day, after the airport, we went to Cala Sinzias. Our skin color conversion started at that very second! From Impossible White to Beach Baby Tan. Another beach we visited was Solanas, which was quite full of people. This beach was good for playing water polo and things like that in the water, staying close to the shore.

Caro and I visited Chia (AMAZING), Costa Rei (Scoglio di Peppino, this was one of my favourite! Water was very very shallow and you could reach the main rock-island walking in water) and Villasimius (Cala Giunco and a nearby lagoon). In Chia we found our own small private beach, which was paradise. 

There were tons of Senegalese guys in the buses with us, and they roamed the beaches selling stuff. It made me sad to see them carrying to much weight up and down, fully dressed under the scorching Mediterranean sun. That night we had pizza at the port with the neighbours and drove around looking for places to go dancing. We found a place called Alta Marea and the Miss Alta Marea Pageant was going on, so we watched the show. So many gorgeous girls competing to be Miss Alta Marea... so funny to see all of them and their acts, for something so stupid.

Typical Sardinian stuff we tried included malloredus (a type of pasta), culurgiones (delicious ravioli with potato filling! I loved them), and pecorino cheese. We also had tequila shots, they call them Tequilla Boom Boom there hehe. It was not even tequila, just a cheap version that tasted terrible! We also prepared Mexican molletes and they were a success.

I love the Sardinian landscapes. Emerald green, sapphire and aquamarine waters surrounded by cacti.

Good bye Chile, Hello Italy!

July 24th, 2011

I’m writing from a plane again. I did the Santiago – New York flight last night and right now I’m flying from New York JFK to Paris CDG…Then I will take a flight to Milan Linate, where I will be picked up by my mum and sister. When we arrive at Cremona it will have been about 30 hours since I left Santiago, possibly one of my longest trips yet… So I look and feel like shit right now haha

My connection in NY was 9 hours long so I left the airport and visited my friend Julius! It was a sneak peak to what the week in NY will be like when I go back in August. Basically, Julian is super chill and the week will have a good balance of chill and intensity, I think. My first impressions of NY?? I loved it! People are crazy and everyone has their own style, you won’t get bored observing people: how they behave, how they talk, how they’re dressed (I know because I misread Julian’s instructions, went the wrong direction, and spent more than an hour in the subway looking at people. There was this guy that looked Filipino or Hawaiian and he was naked except for a red speedo, pink Crocs, a transparent pareo, a Disney Princess bag, a Betty Book suitcase, and a Yankees cap). Women are really beautiful, and everyone was extremely helpful (three different people lent me their phones to call Julian, they helped me with the luggage, with directions, etc.) Definitely felt welcome those couple hours and I'm looking forward to going back!