Most people who live on an island speak of "island time". Everything moves a little slower. Schedules might be made, but rarely kept. Somehow you linger a little longer here, take a little more time there and the day glides past.
When we decided to come to Elba back in January, we were not thinking of "island time". We had getting away from our hectic schedule in the Rome and seeing Napoleon's banishment island on our minds. But now that we have been here a day, "island time" is a factor and it fits well with our goal of taking a "vacation from our vacation".
Today we slept in until 8:30 am, lounging around in our separate bunks in our tent, listening to the birds chirping in the thick foliage and the surf pounding on the beach. While Sally slept, I put together a 14 day road trip for our new acquaintances, Victor, Velda and Zack Sosah. San Francisco to Yosemite to Death Valley to Vegas to The Grand Canyon to Bryce and Zion to Tahoe and back to SF. I knew it was not perfect, but it gave me a chance to see mileages and the timing of their trip. I sent a note to Zack on messenger saying we would love to meet them later in the day if it worked for them.
Sally and I wandered the 100' from our tent tucked in the corner to the community tent to say good morning to Mark, then walked over the hill to the bathrooms, a 50 yard walk away, to settle the morning accounts. Back at the community tent, we sliced up fresh strawberries and bananas to mix with Yogurt for breakfast and talked with Mark as we ate. He outlined his jobs for the day and we mused about what we might do. Sally began looking over the plan I had made for the Sosah's road trip and we modified it to meet what she perceived as their desires based on our conversations of the day before on the ferry. It was now 11:30 am and we had not heard back from them, so we began to wonder if our planning was for nothing. We began to talk of a walk to the sandy beach when a message came in from Zach saying they would love to meet. We said we had a lazy day with no commitments and we would work around their schedule. Response time was a little slow, which we attributed to Ghana culture, so we headed for the beach, iPad in hand to allow us to continue to communicate with them.
On the way to the beach, we walked through this rural beach area. We passed a small fruit stand with an adojacent restaurant. In front was parked a beautiful 72 VW van/pickup painted bright orange. Of course we stopped to talk to the owner, who uses the van as a mobile selling platform for his T-shirt business.
We rounded the corner with the sculpture/pottery yard and we were approaching the beach and its seaside businesses; a restaurant, snack bar and such. Just past these we found a gorgeous sandy beach about half a mile long. We wadded out in the Mediterranean waters and found them very warm, at least by Washington standards for salt water. We strolled the length of the beach and exited on the far end, found our way back onto the road and began working our way back.
It is the low season right now. The infrastructure for large crowds is in place, but there is nearly no one here. There might have been 25 on the beach. We stopped into a "Supermercato" for groceries and found bare shelves and an elderly Italian woman asleep. Maybe in a few weeks . . .
We took a narrow road back to the beach and returned to the restaurant for lunch. We both had salads, Sally the Mediterranean and I the Greek. No lettuce. Artfully arranges vegetables and Feta cheese. Delicious.
By now Zack and family had texted to say they were finishing lunch and on their way in a bit, maybe an hour out. We headed back to the campsite, rushed a shower and then sat near the campground entrance. To help them find the entrance, I photographed Sally at the gates and took a screenshot of our location on Google Maps and texted it to them. There are about four entrances to the campground and I thought this would help them. They arrived about 4:30 pm.
We had a nice late afternoon sitting at a table in the campground outdoor snack bar getting to know them better and outlining their trip. Where we had thought they were flying in and out of San Francisco, we found they were leaving from Vegas, a vast improvement in planning. After getting to know them better, we were able to put together a trip more suited to their likes (Vegas, inexpensive hotels) and dislikes (tents, camping).
Too soon, they had to leave. They were headed off the island early tomorrow morning, and flying home from Pisa about 10:30 am, Zack back to London, Victor and Velda to Ghana.
We walked back to the campsite, had a repeat dinner of the night before, pasta, broccoli and cheese while Mark and Robin had a delicious looking rice dish. Katerina and her daughter Ester soon came in and we all ate in shifts as our food finished cooking, talking travel plans, home life, politics and life in general. While chatting, I typed on the iPad, completing the details to their trip.
Sally and I made plans to rent a motor scooter tomorrow and tour the island. We were in bed by 10:00 pm. What a great day!!
No comments:
Post a Comment