I left my place here in Lucca about twenty-four hours ago and have just returned. Lenuta, along with her partner, Marco, own the little casita, where I have been living. While I was still corresponding with her from Kauai, I told her I enjoyed the natural scenery of a place as much as I did the architecture, etc. In using one of the translating apps, she offered to take me to her “hut” in the mountains.
Yesterday afternoon, Lenuta, myself and her girlfriend, Madalina, drove up into a mountain range called the Alpi Apuane, world famous for its marble, used by the greats like Michelangelo in his sculpture of David, along with hundreds of masterpieces.
When I walked out the door to begin the ride, Lenuta asked me where my bag was, because we were spending the night. What I am about to tell you is specifically for the men, who are reading this and likely conjuring up powerful feelings of envy, assuming I am going to share things they have only dreamt about. Well, you better sit down and take a deep breath because I am about to reveal the truth to you. There was no sex, not a hint of sex and not even one moment of mixed signals. If you don’t mind, I will now continue telling you about my time with these two absolutely, beautiful women.
Lenuta speaks very little English and has difficulty understanding it. Madalina understands English fairly well, but cannot speak it. Communication was rather comical, especially when Lenuta would ask simple things like why I divorced my wife or what I thought of Trump, which she would do in her halting English. I would try to explain the answer to Madalina in very basic English, who sort of understood, but responded to Lenuta in Italian. The circle would be completed by Lenuta with some extremely limited acknowledgement in English. There were variations of this for the entire time we were together. The majority of the trip, I quietly sat in the back seat, while the two ladies had a ball in Italian, mostly talking about the drama in their lives. Italian is a fabulous language to listen to because it is so animated and filled with feeling. There is a reason most of the greatest operas are Italian!
I want to make a general observation about what I have been seeing. If you want to see what I am writing about, you would be better served checking places like Lucca or the extraordinary landscapes on line. My iPhone photographs would be a criminally deficient replication of the glorious sights I have seen since arriving in this magnificent country, plus I suck as a photographer.
As some of you wouldn’t be surprised to read, I am now crying because I have been overwhelmed at every turn. I am comfortable in the world of small stories, like two women really enjoying their time together, speaking with a kind of animation and exuberance that is pure Italian.
Speaking of women, I love you and would prefer your company over guys any day. The most fabulous part of this past ride to the mountains, sea shore and back was being with Lenuta and Madalina. I completely enjoyed my time with them and they knew it. They seemed very comfortable in my presence and it was such a treat. If I was an artist, I would have painted them and if I was a better writer, I would describe them, but I seem to live in the world of feelings, mostly mine.
We need to get back on the road. The ride was around an hour and the majority was spent climbing winding roads, just about big enough for two small cars to pass each other. We stopped at one small village for some espresso and sweets, which we had while sitting at an outdoor cafe. Two quick comments about espresso and the most important one is not to have it too late in the afternoon. Second, I now go for the Americano version, which is simply the high octane espresso with an accompanying cup of hot water.
We got to the cabin after dark and in the rain. It is in a town called Careggine, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, like many of these centuries old communities. We had to stop in at the nearby restaurant/pizzeria in order to get keys to the cabin, which sat behind an automated gate, where there were about a half dozen other ones. We quickly made the beds, put down some rugs and popped a perseco, which we sipped on the deck, while draped in blankets in reaction to the cool mountain air. On our way up, the ladies had stopped for the official beverage of Italy, plus some strawberries.
For those of you who don’t know, Italians are madly in love with their food. I am not talking about madly, I am talking totally insane. In fact, in the midst of writing this, Lenuta knocked on my door to give me a pasta dish for dinner, which I am not about to reheat, so I am now multi-tasking. In a way, it fits perfectly into my whole Italy experience. The country and its cuisine are inseparable.
We walked to the restaurant and had some incredible pizza. I got the equivalent of the everything pie and I can’t tell you what was on it, but it was killer. The people were incredibly gracious and clearly quite fond of Lenuta. The rain continued falling outside, so we managed to almost fit under an umbrella and made our way back to the cabin. I followed the Italian ping pong match between the ladies, every now and then trying to make myself understood. They were still going strong when I faded and closed the door to her son’s bedroom, surrounded by images of Mickey Mouse, etc.
The windows all had shutters, so when I awoke at around 8A, the house was pitch black. Never without my yoga mat, I managed to improvise a practice before my travel mates emerged from the main bedroom. We had some stale, Turkish coffee and closed down the cabin before heading down the mountain.
Much to my surprise, we were going to drive to the Versilia Coast on the way back to Lucca.
You know what? I think I will write about that side trip next time, because we are already dangerously long for this medium.
The pasta was great. I was thinking about a major trip to Cinque Terre tomorrow, but I am going to bag it. I just like the idea of being here and don’t feel so inclined to keep looking over the hill for something new, when all of this right here feels so full.
Good night.