More on Sicily

We are now in Castellemare del Golfo, and this will be our fourth night.

Getting here was a bit of an adventure... there was a "fire in a train station" or something like that, and all the trains heading east along the north coast of Sicily into Palermo were stopped. So we ended up sharing a big taxi with 6 other people, then took the train from Palermo, which arrived to late to catch the bus connection, so we sat around at a bar across from the deserted train station for two hours waiting for the next bus. We eventually did get here though, and are enjoying staying in a very nice little apartment. We have a rooftop balcony with a great view over the city and the ocean, and a decent little kitchen.

We have spent two days hiking in the Zingaro National Park, which has been great. No high altitude hiking, so no cold weather! Lots of beautiful coastal views, sandy beaches... We also have found a gym, so on our non-hiking days we got a great morning workout and then did some sightseeing and wandering around town. We are also finding time for reading and just relaxing. And definitely some fun cooking - we have purchased a Sicilian cookbook, and tonight will be pasta with pistaschio nut pesto, along with grilled fish, which we will enjoy eating with our view over the old town and the ocean.

Sorry no pictures right now, we are in an internet cafe. Maybe tomorrow though!

Our plans for the next week have come together reasonably well. Claire just found us a place to stay in Palermo for three nights starting this Friday, and from there we fly to London. We have figured out how to get from Heathrow to the A Rocha center where we will be staying and volunteering... we just don't know what we will be doing there yet! But we are looking forward to being in London.

We have also been starting to put together our plans for when we return to Seattle / Kirkland. Lots of things to figure out... temporary apartment vs. short term rental, long term rental, short term car lease, buying a car... but too boring to go into detail here.