Cinque Terre 2012!

This is the legendary tale of six uniquely talented people who once upon a time leave the land of the clouds to venture to the unknown pastures of a mystical place by the name of Cinque Terre. The town was fabled to be one of un refuted beauty, a place of five small towns off the coast of the Italian north west. A place where houses were painted in a variety of pastel colours and people from around the world shared moments of awe and wonderment with strangers they met along the trail that links the five towns.

It was a sleepy Wednesday morning in mid August when the six friends boarded the small blue coloured bus to await their train to their latest adventure. The bus journey was of little event and soon they were away on the train, giving each other wonderfully heart-warming nicknames such as 'Lector' 'Helen of Troy' and 'CreepHER' A story created in the mind of Ben aptly named 'two-crack, half beard, wet pants" transformed Ed and Rach into 'Daddy's Boy' and 'Mindy' referring to the more hilarious parts of Ed's new personality; this involving a confession to once eating a small child by the name of Mindy.  Arriving at their destination the group broke into two, staying in separate hostels and Lector, Daddy's Boy, Helen and 2crack headed up to the top of Riomaggoire. They were shown towards an amazingly clean hostel room containing a huge double bed and bunk bed, together with a separate bathroom containing a shower so small one has to sit in order to shower with any kind of ease.

The long train journey at an end and hostel rooms acquired, the troop headed to find the beaches of Riomaggorie. After taking a long dip in the ocean they decided that the night was to be made perfect by watching the sunset and standing in awe of the picturesque scene just outside the door of their hilltop retreat.... and of course some boxed wine and cheap beers. The next day was to be penned a day of extremes involving many an exhilarating experiment as well as many hours of hard pushed walking up and down the hillsides of the Cinque Terre trail. The walk from Riomaggoire was one of little event; lovers walk provoking a few memories and funny stories from all present but was soon over. After everyone had taken copious amount of photographs that would never fully give justice to the real life beauty of their surroundings the pushed forward.
 

They had arrived at their first new town 'Manarola' and after exploring the quaint little town they headed off once more to the next town of 'Corniglia.' After a short train trip, required due to the trail being closed the team walked towards signposts of the trail to continue their journey. After a seemingly short amount of time had passed they arrived at the fabled staircase that Hayley remembered only too well from the year before. There were many people on this part of the trail and all were in high spirits despite the ever looming and seemingly never ending steps twisted and winded above them.  The group spread into couples as they headed up the hillside of stairs, all seemed happy to be pushing forward on their adventure. 382 steps later, having stopped for a moment to take the standard 'Here's us next to a sign stating what we just achieved' photograph, they headed into Corniglia. After having an entertaining lunch involving the sharing of a bottle of beer and the passing of many sandwich ingredients they headed in the direction of adventure. Bound towards the seaside once again as they had heard a rumour that there was a rather good place to carelessly jump off the side of a 12 meter cliff into the beautifully blue ocean beneath their feet.  Heading down an innumerable amount of steps the troop found themselves looking down on a small cove with a slim beach, many small boats and a huge and looming cliff just a short swim away from the shore.

The boys began to enthuse about their planned feat and made a swift b-line for the slight row of rocks that took you out towards the cliff, now in clear view from where they stood. Having stripped almost immediately the boys, shortly followed by Meg and Rach headed toward the cliff, first quite sensibly surveying the sea around them. Hayley and Patrizia stood looking out at the sea like worried Nonnas as their friends disappeared for what seemed like an eternity before surfacing as small ant like flecks of colour on the rocks opposite. The four adventure seekers sat perched on the cliff side and, after posing for many photos seemed to have a discussion over who should jump first. By this time the worried nonnas on shore had began to shout haphazard advice and plees to turn back to their friends, drawing the attention of the small population of holiday makers and locals that were also enjoying the beautiful scene. It was at the moment when Ed jumped that the crowd became just as involved as the two left ashore were shouting cheerful "Bravo's" to Ed as he screamed with the adrenaline rush and swiftly began to direct the next jumper. After both Rach and Meg had jumped, much to the horror of spectator grannies Hayley and Patrizia who proclaimed "I know her sister, if anything happens to Rach Kat is going to literally kill me!" there was now just Ben left on the ledge. Having decided for no other reason than pure boy 'one up-man ship'  he dwindled on the edge of the cliff shouting his countdown before quickly stopping and starting is pre-jump ritual all over again.  After 5 minutes and with a rather primal scream Ben plummeted towards the water below. The adventure over, at least for the moment, they headed for the hill that would lead them to town; though not before awkwardly watching Ed taking a shower before he sheepishly called "I'll just meet you all up the top." So they continued, climbing back to the small town of Corniglia plastered with huge grins that just wouldn't seem to shake and headed to the trail that would lead them, hot and sweaty to the next town.

The road that trailed from Corniglia to Vernazza was rumoured to be more challenging than either of the last hikes, the group having been pre-warned were fully prepared for scaling hillsides and walking up a seemingly never ending set of stairs. They headed off, recent adventures keeping their brains fresh with excitement and lusting for more. Hayley had promised everybody that Vernazza was far superior in beauty and general wonderment than the other towns and as the team headed up and down the hillside on the way to their destination there were moments of hilarity to be had. With Meg inadvertently telling a middle aged woman who was passing by to "Fuck me drunk," and not long after embarrassing herself again by telling another unsuspecting stranger that they were in fact a "Cunt." (Learning to speak with an Australian accent has its hardships) Ben bought the hilarity full circle after stopping and excitedly pointing at an old crashed and broken down yellow truck. (How it got there nobody really knows!) proclaiming, much like an overly excitable child having gelato for the first time "It's called Benny!." As Vernazza came into view the group decided that it was indeed a rather magical town, even from afar and at the sighting of a small harbor the exploration once again began as the troop headed at a quick pace. Eventually turning into a fast jog all the way down the innumerable number of stairs of various shapes, sizes and colours and straight into the heart of Vernazza.

After announcing that she needed coffee Hayley and the girls headed to a nearby cafe whilst the boys, bursting at the thought, headed towards the water to see what they could jump off and photograph in this small and exceptional town. After quenching their thirst the girls headed to the harbor to find the boys scaling the rock face on the opposite side, after a while they headed to wash off in the showers constructed in a cave that connected to a church. Shortly after relieving his bladder, having not realised his holy surroundings Ed and Ben headed back to the harbour and the group once again headed toward new adventures. Taking a few token pictures of Vernazza all six headed off whilst singing songs and talking about a variety of subjects. At some point in time along this final journey somebody in the posse decided to go for a run along the path. This idea spiralled out of control and after a primal scream of "RUN!" they suddenly found themselves running, not really knowing why but persevering anyway towards the ever closer and final town of Cinque Terre; Monterosso. All six now found themselves in an impromptu dash that would rival the Hunger Games at the moment where the contestants are set free and the cornucopia stands looming between them. The weak or rather, the less willing of group members began to fall behind and after waiting temporarily Hayley and Patrizia found themselves left in the dust of the other four as they sped towards their final destination.

Upon arrival at Monterosso the more energetic of the troop, dripping with sweat and with Joker like smiles ran straight toward the beach and the promisingly satisfying ocean water that lay waiting for them.  They had managed to reach the town in an impressive 40 minutes instead of the estimated hour and a half and a rather long 15 minutes later Hayley was seen coming into view on the hillside above them. With excited waves and yells of "Helen" she joined the rest of her friends and celebrated the victory of completing the walk, after of course, downing an entire half a litre of ice cold bottled water. Around 10 minutes later the final member of the team Patrizia had arrived and as everyone collected their belongings they headed into the town to track down some fresh vegetables to go with their pre-planned pasta dinner.

Having returned to the hostel, showered and began to feel more human the four members staying on the top of the hill headed toward the girls hostel room to enjoy their final night in Cinque Terre. Meg and Rach had prepared, what can only be called, an excessive amount of pasta and having offered second helpings to all Meg had a dilemma. She didn't want to waste perfectly edible food purely because of the lack of available Tupper-wear and so she searched the kitchen in hope of a suitable container. Having found a bright pink carrier bag and with a dubious look around the room she began to pour the remaining spaghetti into the bag. With a huge giggle she tied a knot in the top of the bag and claimed that all would be thankful to her tomorrow when they were hungry on the train. Having polished off a box of white wine they all headed up to the hostel at the top of the hill and sat drinking on the terrace, reliving their experiences until all were far too tired to continue, knowing that they had to be up bright and early to start their long and arbitrary journey back to San Remo.

The following morning started with routine events and found the group sat awaiting their first train of the day with snacks and stories to share. After bumbling onto the train and boarding another everyone started to become increasingly hungry. The plastic bag was pulled out and offered around, there was just one problem, cutlery was in short supply, the only thing on offer being plastic spoons. It was a sight that is best left to the imagination that took up the next 10 minutes of their train journey. Meg started the feat of eating the pasta, without much success and to the pure disgust of two strangers sat opposite her on the train. As the epic mealtime continued jam (for the pasta obviously) peach halves and various pieces of fresh fruit were added to the mix. The looks of horror turned into wale's of laughter that possessed one of our new audience so much that he saw fit to repeatedly hit the window and small table dividing him from Meg whom he was now out rightly laughing at. The hilarity ensued as everyone finished their meals, much to the disgust of passersby and with many photographs taken in evidence the group left the train and made a mad dash to their headquarters in San Remo before taking one final journey up towards Bajardo on the famous ever honking bright blue bus. 

Just a small idea of the hilarity that ensued from eating cold spaghetti and jam out of a plastic bag with plastic spoons! 

Bajardo: The town in the clouds

Bajardo: The mountain town, ruled over by King Jimmy the drunk and incredibly hardworking (no really) and populated by overly horny and mostly bored and exhausted English camp tutors. It is the only place I have ever been where I have had to carry my huge backpack up steep uneven steps for around 10 minutes before collapsing into the kitchen of an old medieval house and drinking a cup of tea (water boiled in an overly huge saucepan) out of a jam jar. A place of rest and rejuvenation for some, one of drinking to excess and after dark escapades for others. You see Bajardo is the land of the ACLE hold tutors, a quiet unassuming town just outside of San Remo that during the months of June to September becomes somewhat a village of sin.

If you are familiar with Bajardo you may have heard many stories relating to the extra-curricular activities that take place during the wee small hours of the morning in the chilly mountain town in the clouds. Now don't get me wrong, most of these stories are 100% accurate; yes there was once a threesome in House 12 that woke up the neighbours. Yes, once upon a time 2 unsuspecting tutors did have sex on the terrace when they thought they were alone, only to get a standing ovation and loud round of applause when the act was over from the crowd quietly watching from house 2. Yes, there have been many sexy rendezvous' in the church and various other outdoor locations of Bajardo and No, not all of these stories have a direct link to me personally. I have spent more weeks than my bank balance enjoys in Bajardo yet every single day has been filled with adventures and amazing conversations that I wouldn't change for the world. Having spent the majority of summer living in strangers houses, eating their food and leeching off their wifi as much as possible, life in Bajardo is a breath of fresh air. With no internet access and little to do except cook strange concoctions of food, read books and have in-depth conversations with new friends on the terrace, you find yourself sharing your life history, talking about obscure topics and singing a rather random collection of songs when you discover someone can play the guitar quite well and everyone wants to sing; drunk or sober; all day long. "BIN! BIN! Can you play Wonderwall please BIN!"

With the odd exception the majority of the friends I have made for life through ACLE I have met in Bajardo. I think this all came to my comprehension after spending a truly epic week there this summer, by far my favourite week of the entire summer and possibly of 2012 as a whole. The week I refer to started out with myself heading sleepily back to Bajardo alone, having only been away for a week. I fumbled up toward the cafe from the bus stop to find Jimmy drinking a cider and smoking copious amounts of cigarettes proclaiming he had worked hard all day and wasn't going up the hill twice so I may as well wait the next hour out with him until other people arrived on the next bus.  The hour passed quickly with Jimmy telling me of his recent accomplishments which included moving a table and remembering to lock the store cupboard and soon new friends were heading our way and everyone headed up to the top of the mountain to get accustomed with their new housing for the next week.

It was a relatively quiet week in Bajardo with just 10 of us on hold and in Bajardo but the weekend got off to a great start when, having drank copious amounts of boxed wine and having a few hours of entertaining card games Jimmy stood up to proclaim "I don't want to alarm anyone but I can't see" After laughing hysterically he was helped to bed by Rachel and woke up the following morning to a cooked breakfast and a phone conversation with Fern where he announced "We're just singing a bit of Wham... I've got the tutor bug" ... I'm not sure she really understood what he was talking about! The small population of Bajardo slowly made their way back to the kitchen, the drinking of tea continued from jars, bowls and anything that could hold a certain amount of hot liquids and the next day passed with everyone flitting in and out of the kitchen of House 2, cooking, talking, drinking tea and helping Jimmy out who at this point was in a fixed state of dazed and confused. Patrizia decided it would be entertaining to invite the tutor population to an exclusive one night only event in House 3, a rather cosy house I had aptly named "The Man Cave" as Bryan; a slightly creepy tutor (I love you Bryan!) was living there alone. The invitations were posted, the guests began to arrive and as Ben took up the post of DJ, Ed and myself  assumed the roles of bar staff; I'm not entirely sure how that occurred! The night went increasingly well with everyone having a good time, drinking, dancing and laughing at and with each other and its suffice to say the end of the night became a bit of a blur for most of the exclusive party guests, myself included.

The week continued in the same homely fashion, I was dubbed "Jimmy's wife" due to my consistent need to help out wonderful ole Jimbob in his everyday tasks and my incessant cleaning of the kitchen and dining area that became our hub. By Tuesday I felt very close to these people, most of whom were complete strangers not two days before and I came to my senses, disregarded my complete lack of cash and made a hostel reservation to join them all on an epic 2 day trip to Cinque Terre. (That story I will save for another day as in and of itself it is a story of great wonderment and adventure involving a slap around the face from Meg, cliff jumping and running from town to town) It was the return from this journey, having been travelling all day that really made Bajardo stick in my memory as a place I can call a home. After sitting tired on the bus back up to the mountain from San Remo and climbing the hill into House 2 our nostrils were accosted by a wonderful smell, the boys whom  had not joined us on our trip away had cooked up a huge dinner with the simple comment "We just assumed you'd be hungry" and as the noise of plates being moved, veggies being cut and various receptacles for wine were being found filled my ears, I sat at the table with a somewhat cheesy grin plastered across my face.  Bajardo felt like coming home, surrounded by amazing friends for life, having finished our delicious meal it was time to bring out the guitar and have one final and most epic sing along. The week of bliss was rounded off nicely when, due to a high number of directors staying in Bajardo there was a bed shortage and me and Rachel got the privileged of staying the night at "Casa della Jimmy". The night, having begun with boxed wine ended with another bottle of red and tales of the incredible life of the King of the mountains; stopped only briefly when there was a pause in the music and Jimmy had to walk over to the other side of the room to turn his cassette tape over before continuing his stories. At around 4am we decided we really should at least try to get some sleep before we had to awake and clamber onto a bus at 7.30am where we were to say our goodbyes and depart to separate regions of outer Milan for the final camps of the summer.

I think back now to all the stories I had heard before I visited Bajardo for the first time last year. "There are so many bugs I wanted to kill myself" uttered one person. "There's absolutely nothing to do, most bored I have ever been in my life" proclaimed another ....I have but one question for the people who gave Bajardo a bad name... "Did you walk around with your eyes closed the whole time?!" Debauchery aside, Bajardo is most definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever stepped foot in. Set on a backdrop of beautiful green mountains that overlook the far off sea and the alps and draped in history from the times of old, the medieval houses and spectacular church; sadly now without a roof, make Bajardo a must see location! Even if the only reason you go is to meet Jimmy, he alone is worth the 45 minutes of sitting on a bus that sounds like a clown car as it toots its horn and takes sharp corners at anywhere between 5 and 50mph!