Birthday Tugs!

          So, the fifth was my twentieth birthday. Usually, I get very excited for my birthday, and make a big deal of it, and, of course, celebrate it with my friends and family. This made this birthday hard for me. Not only do I not get my normal birthday cake, nor do I get to celebrate with my friends and family back home, nor do I get to see my twin cousin (we were born the same day of the same year, and I’ve always called her my “twin cousin”), but it was a travel day, so I couldn’t even celebrate on the day with my new Italian friends or European traveling friends. It was a very disappointing birthday for me. And a very lonely one. It was pretty much just a long day of traveling, just like any other.

          Until I met an Italian boy in his 20s that spoke English while waiting for a ferry. We never learned each other’s names, but we were both going to Rome last night, him to return home, and me as one leg on my journey to meet the Semester Abroad: Europe group in Levanto. He and I talked and joked and had a good time together while waiting for the ferry, on the ferry, and while waiting for the train to Rome. We found food and drinks at the Villa San Giovanni train station and we found our platform together, where we sat and talked for another hour or two.

          On the ferry, I told him it was my birthday, and he showed me an Italian birthday tradition. While we have birthday spankings, they have birthday tugs. They grab each ear lobe and tug them, every other ear, and count to your new age. So, he gave me my 20 birthday tugs! It’s nowhere near as good as a birthday cake with my mom and aunties and cousins (most importantly my twin cousin), but considering I’m an ocean away from them, it was the best I could have hoped for. So thanks to this kind young man, for making my birthday much brighter and less lonely, and for giving me my birthday tugs!

Mom in Napoli

My first day Naples and I start off with a tour of the city.  I was go to Pompeii but the tour company switched on me.  So a tour of the city it is and an earlier start too.  I was to be at the Theater at 8:15 and according to Erin it was, maybe, a half hour walk.  So I find my way out of the 4 Seasons and now the big, big door is open.  I head towards the theater and now the goal is to find a diet cola prior to the tour.  The bar/pastry shops are open and I find a Coke Zero.  My day is now VERY good!  I find the theater and the area is just beautiful and rich in so much history.  The tour company and I find each other and into the van I go. 

It is difficult being in a country that you do not understand the language.  The van picked me up and I knew I was in the correct van but the driver spoke to the other couple in Italian and not in English at all.  I had no idea if we were picking up other people, or if this was the tour, or what was happening.  Eventually we did meet up with another van with Americans on it from a cruise ship with a guide that speaks English so all was well.  The tour was short but very nice and informative.  I got the lay of the city and figure out what I wanted to see and do. 

Most of the rest of the day is just spent exploring and watching people.  I enjoyed stopping at the cafes with the outside seating and having a glass of wine with my meals and just soaking it all in.  After lunch, I was trying to find a monastery and I got myself totally turned around.  If you saw these streets you'd understand: not one of them straight and the majority of them not being longer than just a couple of blocks.  So I stopped for directions and they were "no, no walk, train!  Up...you go up." Finally realized that this place I was looking for was on the hilltop while not more than a mile, it was all uphill, steep uphill.  But to find the station was to go this way for a block then left and around this piazza, then stay right, etc.  I thought no way I would find this but I was enjoying walking so I just walked in that general direction and I actually came upon it. 

So up I went and immediately upon exiting the station, a man, upon seeing me, told me the fort was this way and pointed.  I laughed and asked if I looked that confused.  Hearing my accent, he asked which part of the United States I was from.  He said he would show me the way as we chatted.  His family is actually in the cameo business and he showed me his family's shop and there was his brother making them out of coral shells. Very interesting and fun to see. 

One of the things that amazed me the most was that all the people came out at night.  Not just the young, but entire families.  People running errands, people shopping, people socializing with each other.  The other thing that I am still trying to really understand is what is a typical work day? And what's up with these really long lunch hours (typically 1:00 - 4:00) where a lot of shops and establishments close during these times. 

My second day in Naples was actually spent on tour.  They brought us first to Pompeii.  It was a two hour tour so on the shorter side but it gave me an impression what Pompeii was all about.  The city was actually very large and very advanced but they really didn't know that Vesuvius was a volcano.  They believed it to be just a mountain so they had no idea what the preliminary signs meant or what they should do.  I asked our guide if the area has an evacuation plan now.  She indicated yes, the various cities do but no one really knows what the plan is.  People all assume that there will be signs and time to escape.  I hope they are correct as this is a very populated area.

The people of Pompeii built their city with streets going north/south and east/west and with slopes so they could wash away the dirt and sewage by removing the plugs in the fountains and allowing the water to flow through the streets and wash away the filth.  And they figured out how to control the water pressure in the water system to allow it to flow properly throughout the city.  They had "fast" food places where they could purchase ready to eat food.  They had a "red light" district and symbols to help the sailors in from the port to find it.  The Forum area was for pedestrian traffic only so they actually put up vertical stone pillars to prevent the carts to enter the area.  Just a few of the things mentioned on the tour.

Our next stop was actually Mount Vesuvius.  A very different volcano than Etna.  After a hike to the top, about a mile, you can see the crater: basically a big hole in the mountain.  It looks very dormant: not very much visual activity.  I believe there are one or two fumaroles but that is about it.  But the longer she remains dormant, the more explosive she will be.  Vesuvius was much larger than it is now.  Now there are actually two craters but earlier there was just one gigantic cone that encompassed both craters and it was much taller.  When she last erupted, I believe in 1944, she lost a lot of her cone and created the second cone.  (This part may or may not be correct, says Erin…but I can’t actively remember, so I can’t actually make a correction for mom here, and would hate to correct her and be wrong.)

Tonight I had to move out of the 4 Seasons and to the Ramada Inn.  While the Ramada was very nice, it was by the train station.  The night life or the friendly/family pedestrian traffic didn't exist.  I went out to look for food but quickly turned around as the streets were dirty, dark and fairly deserted.  My recommendation anyone traveling to Naples is to stay on Via Toledo and enjoy the flavor of the street.  

Etna with Mom!

Wednesday, October 17th

Evidently Erin would like me to continue to blog.  For the next two days, we both will contribute to the blog, each both contributing our expertise.  So here it goes.... Exploring Etna was incredible, awesome, amazing and just plain fun!!!  There is my expertise!

Ok - I will add a little more to it.  On Wednesday, it was just Erin and I.   We left around 8:30 in the morning; Etna ended up not being too far away. It was a nice sunny day and had some clouds around Etna but over all good.  Boris, in giving us directions said go up, then keep going up.  That basically describes it. We just kept climbing and climbing.  As a side note that there were many people were parked along the roadside and they were collecting chestnuts and mushrooms, both very popular here on the island.  On this day, we took one of the switchbacks and we popped out of the clouds and it was totally sunny and clear!  The clouds, fluffy and white, below us.  It was an incredible view from the car. I'm used to seeing from a plane but not in the car!

There is this little tourist village at the base: restaurants and shops plus the cable car.  We purchase our tickets not only for the cable car but for the all-terrain vehicles up on top.  This is the 4th cable car built on this location: all the others being destroyed by lava. Each cable car lasted only 10 years or so before being destroyed.  This cable car is in its 8th year. Ummmm... Makes you wonder. So as we go up, you see where the old lava flows were.  Volcanic ash covers everything but then there are areas like rivers where you see the old lava flows.  The lava is the thick and chunky kind.  It moved very slowly.  So the cable cars bring us very high on the mountain and ends.  There is a shop and restaurant there.

So, what mom means when she says the lava is the thick and chunky kind is that it was aa lava. This kind of lava is gas rich and very viscous, or sticky, so it does, as she says, move very slowly. This type of lava is very typical of Etna, at least as of the past 100 years. You see, Etna has been changing in its activity style for the past 100 years or so. While it was once very similar to Kilauea on Hawaii, it is now much more explosive, and each of its eruptions does something new, to surprise the volcanologists working on it.

From there, we take the all-terrain vehicle up the switch-backs still getting closer to the top.  But we are prevented by law to go to the top as it is not safe.  It can change from day to day.  They gather us and show us this partial building that was covered with lava except for this partial side. You can witness steam escaping out one of the windows.  Then we headed to one do the lower craters and it too had steam escaping.  The guide explained that this was once active but now the lava tube is now sealed off so it will never erupt from this site again. 

It’s the conduit that is sealed off. Not the tube. Silly mom. Anyway, this is true of all of the flank cones, or cones on the sides (flanks), on Etna, of which there are over 300! Each of them had a conduit, or something to connect them to the magma chamber, which was active while they were erupting, but which became extinct after the cones eruption finished. So, none of the flank cones on Etna will ever erupt again.

Erin was very interested in all that he said.  He had a new best friend for the next 20 minutes.   He was very gracious to her and truly appreciated her interest.  He also told us that we could walk to the March 4, 2012 lava flow, as long as we stayed on the path.  So we were off exploring, looking at the various coloration of stones and what the lava flow looked like. 

I loved going up to the March 4^th flow! It was fantastic! I’ve never seen a lava flow that young! This flow was part of the series of very violent and short eruptions, or paroxysms, that formed the new southeast crater. This flow, if I remember correctly, was formed from a fissure opening along the base of the new southeast crater. I’ve seen videos…and it looks SO COOL!!! I wish I had been there!

Then it was back down to the cable car area. We grabbed a quick bite for lunch and then down we went to the bottom.  It was sad to leave Etna, not knowing if I would be back.  We did a little souvenir shopping and then it was back home.  It was a completely awesome day and was so happy to have shared the experience with Erin.  Be watching for our Christmas card as no doubt, you will see an Etna picture on it!

Later that night, Erin heard from Boris that he and a coworker were planning on going to the top of Etna the next day and we could ride along.  Where and how far up would depend on how safe it was and we would have to wear hard hats.  The next day we were to meet them at 10:00 at the tourist village. 

Thursday, October 18th

You could have put a bet on the fact that Erin and would be on time!  It was a sure thing!  We hopped in their car and off we went to Mama Etna, as Boris calls her.  Each volcano has a personality and Etna has one plus she creates many baby craters.  From high above the world, you can see the many, many craters over the flanks of Etna, indicating where the fissure cracks are. 

Well mom, that’s not what the flank craters mean. Just because there’s a crater, it doesn’t mean there’s a fissure, as a fissure is a crack in the surface of the Earth, that penetrates much deeper. A fissure eruption doesn’t usually form a cone, it just lets lava seep out. These cones are places that the magma from the magma chamber of Etna (or one of them, not really sure how that works) find a conduit, or a path, to the surface. After finding this conduit, the lava then usually begins to erupt violently until it forms these cones. The lava usually bursts through, and cools rapidly in the air, becoming rocks (usually) before it hits the ground. These rocks are called volcanic bombs!

So once in the car, we climb and climb, passing the cable station and going beyond...to the all-terrain area and then beyond.  It was rugged and beautiful and fascinating!  We made it to the other side and Boris pulled off.  This is where we would begin our hike. And let me tell you it was all uphill!  It was long and hard for me but eventually we made it to the crater and there was vapor/steam all around.  There were many fumaroles at the top as well.  It was an incredible site! But then we heard Mama Etna speak. She hadn't been heard for a time so Boris decided that they must go further up to the new southeast crater but we could not come, as they did not know what they would find.  So Erin and I took pictures and made ourselves comfortable but soon Mama was talking quite a bit.   To us it appeared that the output of vapor increased, but we do not know Mama Etna.  Boris soon arrived back and he was going to walk more towards the other side of this crater to try to determine who was speaking but the gases got bad and we stopped.  There may be new activity here and it is most exciting! Time will tell! 

Most of what we heard that day was just gas emission sounds. But I will swear to it that we heard one weak Strombolian eruption, as Boris later informed me that there were some weak eruptions that night in the Bocca Nuova.

We were incredibly lucky to get to go where we did, as we could see 2 of the summit craters from their bases. Well, from one of their bases, and the top of the other. The summit cone whose base we were at was the northeast crater, which is the oldest of the technically four summit craters and the tallest! The crater that we were at the top of was the Voragine, or the big mouth! This one is technically the second oldest of the four currently there, and has been quiet since 1999,when it blew and gave off a HUGE paroxysm, that was kilometers taller than the northeast crater! Though, apparently the Voragine may be waking up, as it seemed that some of the noises we heard were coming from the Voragine, and other mountain guides thought they’d heard some activity of some kind within it.

From our location while Boris and Antonio (Volcanologist-on-Duty and Volcanologist Aide) continued their exploration, we could also see just a teeny bit of the third crater, and the backside of the fourth. The third crater is the Buocca Nuova. It is now nearly entirely connected to the Voragine, as the 1999 eruption of the Voragine blew out the Diaframma (Diaphragm in English), which was the rock wall that separated the two craters. Part of the Diaframma remains intact, and is now a really cool spiny rock wall that ends mid-way through the width of the Voragine. The fourth crater is the southeast crater. This is the youngest of the four. It is where most of the activity has been for the past 10 years or more. It is also growing and changing still, though no longer as what is called the southeast crater.

The Diaframma

The Southeast Crater

The new southeast crater is my favorite! It is the fastest growing cone ever recorded! It grew within the past year or so, in a series of 25 paroxysms that all together lasted only 48 hours! It began forming on the base of the southeast crater and began, as each of the summit craters did, as a small collapse pit. Now, to make it even cooler than it already is, it has a small collapse pit on its rim, which may be the beginning of a new cone, or maybe just part of the cone, preparing to form!

The Southeast Crater on the Left and the New Southeast Crater on the Right!

It now as I must catch my plane and there is no more to do, we depart.  We move fast down through the ash.  My old arthritic knees do their best to keep up.  And soon we are having a beer at the bottom and some pizza to go with it and saying good bye to new friends.

I drop Erin off at her place and it was straight to the airport.  I actually made it all by myself!  Navigated and drove and I didn't get lost once! The airport area was a little scary but soon I recognized the rental car area.  I returned the car without problems and found the airport and where I was to check in.  But the catch is, you can only check in two hours in advance so I was a little early so I had to stand around until the person arrived. Once checked in, I could go back to the gate area.  

My flight was slightly late but soon I was in Naples and finally get the 4 Seasons, the same B & B that Erin stayed at.  I am sure glad that Erin explained on week nights the big door would not be opened so I had to use the intercom and come through the small door.  So imagine this....  Behind this big, big set of doors is a court yard area with small businesses, apartments and this B&B.  In the big, big door (semi-truck big) there is a tiny door maybe 5 feet tall that once buzzed in or if you have a key you can enter.  But on the weekend, there is a security guard and the big, big door stays open. So this is Thursday, so I get buzzed through the door and there is this guy, he gives me 3 keys. They still use the old fashion big keys! A key for the small door in the big, big door, a B&B door key and my room door key.  This key also works on the bathroom door.  The bathroom door remains locked.  Not really sure why it is kept locked but that is what I think the guy said.  Then he left.  It wasn't until the following afternoon when I got home from exploring that there was a new guy there and he mentioned Erin and collected money.  It was surprising how at home I felt and comfortable I was there.  I am now at the Ramada Inn and it appears to be in a not so good part of town, nothing around, and employees who are just doing their job and not much more.  I miss the 4 Seasons!