Stromboli, the island, is beautiful. It's been in the 80s or 90s consistently since I arrived by boat. My first morning here, was quite the ordeal. I got to the island around 6 in the morning, and it was still dark. So, I followed the crowd, figuring some of them must know where they were going, and must be going to the same area, because I had absolutely no idea where I was going. Then, the crowd was gone. Just kinda gone. How or where they disappeared to, I don't know. But there was no more crowd for me to follow. Alright. Oh look! There's someone outside of an office, I'll ask. So I did, and she gave me directions. I followed them. Up hill. For a very long time. In the dark. She had told me to go up to the square...there were no squares. So, I'm wandering up narrow roads in the dark with all of my stuff on my back and I'm trying to convince myself that everything is gonna be fine and suddenly... "You looking from someplace to stay?" says a random male's voice. I jump and search for the source of the voice, and I'm about to start cussing him out and yelling at him to get out of the dang shadows and show himself! When, thankfully, he says "Up here". He's on one of the many rooftop terraces. Just in time. Glad he said that, otherwise I would have made a fool of myself and of American's. Phew! So, then I explain I'm looking for La Lampara, my B&B in Stromboli. He tells me I'm not far. Go to the church and then 200-300 meters. Alright, cool. I got this. Except that all this uphill walking has awoken my slumbering asthma, so when I get to the "square", which is only kind of a square, as one side of it is railing-ed off (I think of squares as being surrounded by buildings) I take out my inhaler and take a couple puffs, while looking out over the coastline at all the boats with their little lights. The guy came down from his terrace and met me in the square, making sure I understood. He told me that I couldn't miss it. Alright. I got this. So, I kept going. All along I had been texting mom, keeping her in the loop. No big deal. So I'm walking...and finally I run into another church...it really sucks that I still don't have a good grasp on how far a meter is. And the guy made it sound really close...but did he mean from the next church? Now I was just frustrated. So, I texted mom, asking if she could look it up for me. I told her where I was. Alright, she said go left. The road on the left was like a dirt path, so I tried double checking (we were on the phone now), but that's what she said! Ok! Left I go. And I'm going. And I'm going. And she says it's a little way, but it shouldn't take long...and I'm in like wilderness and there are lots of bugs, and no sign of any B&B...so now we're both getting frustrated. She gives me the hostels number and says to call them. So I do. And the guy that answers doesn't speak a lick of English! I give up. I'm annoyed with the bugs. So I go back to the main road. And mom calls as I'm almost there, and I've finally broken down to tears. "Erin! Stop it! You're making yourself look like a target!" she say. "I don't even care anymore" I say. Finally, she finds a decent map, and realizes, I'm at the second church. And those directions were meant for the FIRST church after all. So I go back up the road I came down, and this time, I really couldn't have missed the B&B. Hallelujah. And then I find out that the guy went down to the harbor to pick me up. Twice. So I went through all of that for nothing. Awesome. I then went to bed.
After that experience though, the island really charmed me! It's
beauty is seriously almost explosive! It is so quaint and picturesque! It's
gorgeous! The town and the wilderness blend perfectly! It's really amazingly
charming! I love it here! I've been spending my days wandering and exploring
the town, more or less. I also went for a swim in the ocean, which was lovely.
I've really been enjoying my time here! My only issue with this island is that
there are like two places with internet, one is all the way back at the harbor,
and the other isn't the greatest. But Parde's, the wine bar with internet, is a
charming little wine bar with charming people. So, overall, it's worth it. And
at least there's internet! Parde's is also relatively cheap, for the island. Oh, I should also mention, that everywhere closes from around 1 until around 5. The island is deserted during those hours.
Moving on from just the island, after wandering on my first day (Wednesday), I came back to La Lampara, my B&B which is also a restaurant, for a late dinner. I was trying to figure out the etiquette of the place. And I was directed from one person to the next, because someone always spoke better English than whoever I was talking to, until the person I was directed to invited me to join the huge group standing there. So I said sure, I mean, why not? It turns out, this giant group of people I was invited to eat with, was a group of professional volcanologists, whom had just arrived on the island to conduct some research on the volcano! How cool was that? I just lucked into eating with them and meeting them!
On Thursday, I went to the Advanced Operations Center, or COA. This is a live monitoring station of the volcano. And when I got there, I was put off by a sign, that said "No visitors allowed today due to the helicopter activity. But I had been told to go on Thursday...so I stood at the gate, looking lost and hoping someone would take pity on me, which eventually they did. I was let in, as they knew I was coming, but only after the helicopter came and left again. The helicopter was around to take that group of volcanologists up to the summit with their equipment, just for this one day! Vivian brought me around the center and told me about it, and about some of the most recent eruptions, and we just chatted for a while. It was a lot of fun, and a very nice day. I spent the rest of the day lounging around and enjoying the weather.
Friday was my trekking day. I went to Magmatrek around 10:30-11:00 to check that weather was good to trek up Stromboli, and to see if my shoes would work for the hike...they wouldn't. So, from Magmatrek, I went to Totem Trekking to rent a backpack (it was what was recommended), a flashlight, and some shoes. Then I spent the day relaxing and just hanging out, working on paper stuff, to conserve energy for the hike.
Right now, I probably need to get going. So, that's it for now, but I'll be working on typing up a part 2 to this post! Ciao!
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