DAY 83

Sunday 2 October 2011

A slow-starting day that ended spectacularly. Morning and early afternoon were devoted to scraping out the insides of cactus pears, a prickly delight ignored by most of the locals (probably because it's labor-intensive) but oh so delicious and healthy when crushed into a pulpy juice. Then the phrase we'd heard before that we always jumped on: "Want to go to the boat?"

Greg and Margarita

When we arrived at the marina not far away we met their friend Yolanda, a Dutch woman living in the area for some time, a healer associate of Fiorella's. We all dinghy-ed out to Fiorella and Greg's beautiful sailboat "13 Moons" and were just settling in when Yolanda got a call: it was her friend and fellow expat Nederlander Margarita, with whom she spoke earlier in the day and mentioned she was going to the local marina, and there she was, standing on the dock after driving six hours from Rome! Greg of course dinghy-ed over and added her to the crew, and a lively addition she was, an old seafarer (her parents gave her a boat when she was 16 and said, take off, have fun) who pitched right in on boat duties and was full of good stories in three languages. Between her and Yolanda, likewise delightful, and of course the Dutch family we traveled with for five days, our estimation of the Dutch both domestic and abroad was way up there.

Yolanda

After some lively renditions of sea chanties (well, Sloop John B, What shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor and others), which Greg joined in on solidly because his mother taught them all to him, the Italiano ladies eventually departed for massage work and the trip back to Rome. Around 6 PM we got a wonderful surprise from Greg: he came back and took us out on the open sea, a thrill on a boat like that, and we spent a couple of hours pitching in (Dian was given the privilege and responsibility of the tiller and did a stellar job) and just enjoying the gently rolling sea and the sunset light fading to gorgeous colors over the horizon.

We then surprised Fiorella with a shirt Dian had illustrated of John Lennon with lyrics from "Imagine" written on front. It would be difficult to put into words her reaction, so here is a photo series to explain:

(We think she liked it)

 
After we returned, we were treated to a concert put on by Fiorella using seven crystal bowls. We found ourselves meditating to the ethereal resonance of these instruments. She is a master, and one of the first to learn how to play them.

Yolanda stayed for a dinner of lentil soup and fresh bread. That night we slept soundly.

A fireworks display on the water