Our last night at Camping Jonio was definitely memorable. There were 20 of us at the party that Gino arranged with Pippo, the owner, and we came together beautifully. Lots of laughter, plenty of talk about travel of course, and getting to know each other. Carafes of wine lined the table. The food was all-you-can-eat, starting with a pasta dish, then—surprisingly—sausage and French fries, followed by Sicilian cake. Pippo pulled out a bottle of Muscat to go with dessert, and walked around filling our glasses. None of my food photos turned out. The lighting just wouldn’t support it. The sausage was delicious and I’m not much of a sausage person. It was a simple meal, meant to bring us all together.
Part way through the dinner, an accordion player appeared and things livened up a lot! Soon, I found myself dancing with Pippo. He was great, I am terrible, but it was fun. Before we knew it, we were all in a circle doing some kind of folk dance; I’m sure the quantity of wine consumed helped. What a wonderful group of people.
The next three shots are of Pippo and me dancing in a blur:
Towards the end of the evening, Ib (I incorrectly spelled it Ebe before—it is a shortened version of Jakib in Danish) rang two glasses together, got our attention and said, in essence:
“It is good that we from the European Union and other nations have come together to know, learn about and enjoy each other; let us hope the world can learn to do the same.”
We were so touched by this. After he said these words in English he repeated them in German for those who didn’t speak English. It was nice having so many people able to speak English.
The party
Pippo
Hele and Ib
David and Una
Leaving the next morning was such sweet sorrow and we spent a fair amount of time saying goodbye to each of the people we have met, exchanging emails as we went along. Gino brought over some of the newly released wine only found in Italy and as we were about to pull out, Denise brought over some oranges. I will miss her! We have exchanged lists of books to read and we hope to see her and Gino in Wales. Chuck traded with David The Agony and the Ecstasy for an historical romance. All campers seem to be readers.
What inspiring posts those were! I was missing you guys.
ReplyDeleteSicily has been so kind to you. A great reaffirmation of the reason you are on your adventure. The sites are breathtaking and the people have been a breath of positive air. All occuring at just the right time!
I think about all the wonderful people and places to come.
Paul