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!