Spagetti Westerner

I'm in a rural valley in the region of Puglia in southeastrn Italy. This is another farm listed on the WWOOF network. A little more than 2 weeks ago I left Greece to see a new place. That, and they kind of needed some extra space there because they had too many volunteers there at once. So I took the opportunity to relocate. I got in touch with a family of 3 that has a house in the country and about 2 acres filled with olive trees. It's Franco, Germana, and thier 2-year-old son Adriano. They invited me to stay for a while and do some work on their property.

The trip over was a bit difficult because of ferry workers on strike. (I found out that strikes are regular and casual in Greece. I've been told that if there is a holiday and workers get a 3-day weekend, they'll go on strike to stretch it to a 4-day. Power to the people!) So I ended up taking a different overnight route to Bari instead of Brindisi, and took a train to the place we were originally supposed to meet. I called Germana and we finally met up in Ostuni.

The overnight ferry trip was an odd experience. They sell cabin rooms for sleeping in, that cost about the same as a hotel room. -OR-, you can get a "deck" ticket for 25 Euros, and sleep wherever you can. I ended up trying to sleep on the floor in a lounge with about 50 people passed out around me on the benches. I had a little fort of empty charis set up around me, and I would have slept ok if it weren't for the floor that was vibrating form the engines all throughout the night.

But as I said I finally met up with Franco and Germana and they took me to their place. They have a guest house that I have all to myself, it's actually rather awesome. It's called a trullo, which is a house with each room rising into a cone-shaped dome of white masonary. They are traditional and pretty regular out here and I'm told there is a village nearby of nothing but trullos. Mine has 4 domes, 3 are over really small rooms including the bathroom. The main room is bigger with a loft for the bed that I sleep quite well in. I generally work alone and at my own schedule every day. I prune the olive trees and "excavate" the stone stairs in the terraces that are about a centry old and completely grown over. Some days I help Franco with building projects for his new house.

That's about it, it's a bit boring really. But I have plenty to read and this is a nice area to go running in. I'll be here 2 more weeks, then I'm heading back to Texas. It's been a great trip but I've missed the Rangers in the World Series (!!!), Halo Reach, lots of friends and family, I'm flat broke, and it's time to call it a day, so to speak. It will be great to be home for the holidays. I have plans and backup plans for 2011 so don't consider this travel blog closed just yet.