Lipari: Last day...story time.

Have I got quite the story for you.

Morganne and I were scheduled to go to another island today, well two of them. We were going on another volcano excursion. This time to Stromboli, I've already given you some stats on it. Its a volcano rising out of the sea and it is highly active as in it erupts, basically, once everyday. But since it erupts so much they aren't very strong explosions, so its safe.

The time to depart was supposed to be 2:00 p.m.. But when we got there 10 minutes early the guy told us that it wasn't going to be until 3:00 now. So we went back to our hotel to just lounge around. As the time came again for us to leave to meet everyone i asked Morganne "Are you sure you don't want me to bring anymore money" because i knew she didn't have much and she wasn't going to bring her credit card or anything. And I was wearing shorts with no pockets. Very rarely do i wear these shorts because of this. The last time i did it was when we did laundry in Rome. Morganne answered "Well everything is paid for except for our food, so i guess if you want than bring 20 euro just in case." Okay, so i did. She then asks "Do you think i should bring my italian phrase book?" clearly because neither of us know italian. I said "I don't know thats up to you, really." She decided not to bring it. We've ordered food before without it, easy stuff. So all this stuff, we do not bring, we do not see the need for them.

So we get to the boat. Everyone is there, old people, middle aged people, and a class of kids that looked like they were juniors in high school. The boat starts, we are cruising around. The guide is the captain of the ship, he speaks no english. So we just kind of have to guess what he is saying, we aren't too good at that. He took us near a rock that was rising out of sea quite a bit and he was saying something about it and people were pretty interested in it, they were even pointing at specific parts of it, but Morganne and I had no idea what was so special about it. We cruise around the island Panarea, the captain says some things, pretty cool i guess. Then at 5:00 we arrive to Stromboli, the captain is talking, but of coarse, we have no idea what he is saying. So we just follow everyone off the boat. Some groups go this way, others that way, the class had their own tour guide, and some people had luggage as if they were staying on the island. All we know is that we head home at 9:00, that is what the program said.

The village on this island is very small, VERY small. The population of this village is about 400. There are two roads, two VERY small roads, they don't have any full size cars here, and thats full size european style, not american style. These cars are all three wheeled little scooters with car like bodies. They don't even have steering wheels. They have handlebars like scooters. So, thats how small this place is, we thought Lipari was small, this place is SMALL.

So we wander around a bit, kinda following this couple that got off the same boat we did. We get a bit up the volcano and just kind of sit and chill for a bit. We notice we are on one of the paths leading up to the top and to the side that the sun is setting on. So we figured thats what this excursion is, it is to watch the sun set from the volcano. So we walk a bit further and we stop at a helicopter landing pad and we sat and watched. The sun went down and it was pretty good. Then the volcano started erupting, with lava coming out and everything and it was awesome. We were not in harms way, it was safe still, even though we were on a currently exploding volcano. It gets dark after a bit and we start heading back. Wow, its dark, no lights at all and we are walking down a dirt winding path using Morganne's flash on her camera to light our way. We get back into town, or at least to paved roads, and there are still no lights. This village is so small that they cant even afford to have street lights. So the entire walk back was pretty ominous, no lights in the street and we thought that we would start seeing or hearing kids from the class that was with us on the boat. Nothing. We keep walking through the town, a couple locals here and there also wandering around in the dark. Its about a 45 minute walk back to the port, and everywhere that we passed looked pretty closed or empty. And it wasn't even 8 o'clock yet, so we though we were early, if anything.

So we are back at the port, nothing. Not boat. So we think "Okay, well, the boat left while everyone else was on the island so it could transport more people, right?" We weren't really sure. So we sat on the port and waited for people to start showing up. Locals again would walk up and down the port, but no one that looked familiar to us. We keep sitting and we start playing cards, we say "Well if no one shows up by 8:45 than we should think about going to get something to eat". On the way down we passed one restaurant that looked open, but it was completely empty. So we sit and continue to wait. I ask what time it is and Morganne replies "8:45". I start think that we might want to prioritize our money and maybe start thinking about bartering with locals to see if they can take us back to the island, even though it is pitch black now. 15 minutes pass, its 9:00. No boat, no body, and we aren't even close to getting back to Lipari island. We lose hope. We come to the realization that we are not getting back Lipari island, where all of our stuff is. Where everything is that we questioned to bring on this adventure before we came. Well, we just found a purpose for all of that stuff. We forget about eating, we only have 30 euros and there are only two hotels on this island. And we still have to get back to Lipari Island, and we figure thats going to cost something but we might be able to work something out. So we decide to tell the hotels we only have 20 euro. We go to the first one, the sign at least. We follow the sidewalk up to where we think the hotel is and we cant find it. We cant find anything, we were looking in windows for a front desk but I'm pretty sure we were just looking in the windows of peoples houses. So, we head over to the other hotel, its pretty nice inside. The minute we walk in i was sure it was going to be too expensive, but i still wanted to try. We ask the front desk how much it is, well no, we ask what is the cheapest room they have, actually no, we ask what is the cheapest BED that they have we can sleep on. We are desperate as you can guess. Well the cheapest they can do is $39...for each of us. Well we only have $30 total.

So here we are, pretty much worst case scenario. Stranded on a desolate island. The population: 400.
No, tonight it is 402. Two of those people only have 30 euro to get back home. Two of those people don't have an Italian phrase book. Two of those people don't have a place to sleep. One of those people, doesn't have pants.

So here it is: Tonight was supposed to be our last night at the hotel and the ladies running it have already been waking us up at 9 in the morning every morning thinking that we weren't there when we were still trying to sleep.
We were going to leave early in the morning to catch the first ferry off the island to Messina at 7 and then the first train to Rome so we could get there early and walk around a bit and do whatever, back in Rome.
We still had to pay for all the nights in the hotel.

So, we decide the most logical place to sleep is on the beach, of coarse. If your stranded on a desolate volcano island in a pretty warm climate, you sleep on the beach. We wanted to also stay close to the port so that if a boat comes, we can catch it before it leaves and try getting us back to Lipari with our 30 euro.

So, we are sleeping on a beach, on what though? Well at the first "hotel" that we tried finding we found a patio that had pillows on it. So we went back to that, i jumped into the patio to grab the pillows, well i also see two sets of 3 cushions. Perfect, basically we both have a bed with a pillow, stolen. We run down the beach, pretty far. There were a lot of docked boats that we even considered sleeping in, but we didn't want to be there when the owners came out to use that boat. So keeping that in mind, that people may be out and about around these boats we run further down the beach away from all the boats. This beach is rocky, big rocks every where, this isn't your normal sandy beach. We pick a spot, clear it of rocks, and lay everything out. It is about 10:00.

Here we are , sleeping on the beach of a small island in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. Behind us the clouds are red, lit up by the lava flowing out of the volcano (to the other side of the island). We can here the waves hitting the shore, the crickets in the bushes and sometimes even the roar of the volcano. Sounds great, well, in a controlled setting it is. This was pretty...uncontrolled. In reality we are two stranded americans on a very small italian island, we stole cushions to sleep on, and we are trying to fall asleep on a rocky beach.

We are sitting and talking and laughing about our situation, thats all we could do. When i see, where all the boats are, someone walking, with a flashlight...towards us. Well, quickly we run back up a tiny hill into the bushes behind us. While running up i fell and i must have put my hand in dog poo cause when we were hiding from this guy it smelt pretty darn bad and i couldn't see what exactly it was on my hand but i feel the smell told me enough. So of coarse, just one more problem gets added, After its safe and the guy goes away we walk back down and go to the water to clean my hand. Its salt water so i felt it was going to do a pretty good job of cleaning my hand of what was on it and the smell. And it did too, but now my shoes are wet! So, I got poop on my hand, I'm wearing short shorts, and the dead rats are a bit damp, it just keeps getting worst for me. All we brought that is relatively close to a blanket was this tiny tiny towel, basically a wash cloth. Morganne just gave it to me to cover my legs. And i just put my arms into my sweatshirt. I even remember saying right before we fell asleep (or something like that...) I hope it doesn't get any colder. Well, shortly after that, i open my eyes...not to sure what from, but my sense of time is totally lost at this moment and i am shivering cold. In the same position, with the towel still on my legs. I ask Morganne if she is still awake, she is. So i say we go back to that patio we got all the cushions from and try to find something we can use as a blanket. We go back there and i find a beach towel. Well it is only big enough for one person. Again, Morganne tells me to take it and she will take the wash cloth. I wrap my legs in the beach towel and it felt pretty good. Now i am able to fall asleep. I have a couple real short dreams, so thats how i know i got some sleep. I don't know how much though, i was in and out a lot through out the night, basically closing my eyes just to pass the time.

One of the times i open them it is actually starting to get light out, finally. I poke Morganne, pretty easy to wake her up and i tell her the sun is coming up. So here we are, safely made it through the night, now we are watching the sun come up. Now we are pretty relieved.

It is 6:00 in the morning. We get up and start walking around town, a few of the locals are already out. We find the place where you buy tickets for the ferries to the other islands. We look at the schedule and see that there is a ferry coming to the island at 7:15. Unfortunately the place is not open yet, so we cant buy a ticket or even see how much they are.

So we wait on the port for people to start showing up for the ferry. We figured that to get to Lipari island from the main land it was 15 euro each, total was 30 euro. That is from the mainland to the island, we are just traveling from one island to the other, so we figured that would be cheaper and we were pretty much in the clear and we could afford the two tickets. Its just that place still isn't open. People start arriving and eventually we can see the ferry off in the distance, we turn to one guy to ask if this ferry was going to Lipari and he said yes, then we asked if we were just buying tickets on the ferry. He seemed shocked, the ferry is now docking, scheduled to depart in 5 minutes and we don't have tickets. He told us the office is open now and that we needed to run to get a ticket quick, i was pretty much half way there already before he finished that sentence, with 30 euro in my hand. I run up to the counter and ask for two tickets to Lipari, the guy takes his time and prints them out. Total is 33 euros...we were short 3 euros....and this guy is stiff, he wants his three euros.
So now I'm running back to Morganne to see is she has any coins at all. She has one more euro, and the man that we were talking to, after Morganne explained our story to him, Frank, helps us out and gives us what we need. Im running back, with a balled up wad of 35 euros. I throw it down and the guy gives me the tickets and he takes his time...printing out the receipt....i am panting, not having to run this hard and this fast in a WHILE. Im running back to the ferry and i see the only people left standing there are Morganne and Frank, fortunately Frank convinced the Captain to wait just a couple more minutes for us. We run on, literally throw the ticket down for the captain and take the nearest seat we can find. We are on our way back, to our hotel, where everything of ours is at. It is such a relief.

In the first couple days of being on Lipari island i was saying that it was going to be hard for us to leave this island, just like how it was to leave Rome. On that ferry ride back, for the first time on this entire journey, i was ready to leave, to the next country. Im done with Italy. After a quick stop in Rome though of coarse!

Its hard to believe that it was just last night when i was shivering cold trying to sleep on a beach of a small small island in the middle of the Mediterranean. That was definitely an adventure i was not prepared for.