July-21-2005

Word of the Day
amicizia: 1: friendship 2: What still amazes JenFu each time good will transcends differences in language, culture, and backgrounds.

It was sad leaving new friends. I know that I expressed the same sentiment yesterday, but today seemed to drive the idea home. We stopped by to say good-bye to Roberto who has taken care of us so well at the campground pizzeria. We had a final cappuccino and shook hands. Without missing a beat, Roberto presented us with a bottle of green apple liquor which Luca shared with us a few nights earlier. The gift cost Roberto more than what we paid for our last meal there. The gift, was even more valuable than that for me. It will be a perfect reminder of the good times we had there.

The drive to Arco was wonderful. The sights around the mountain passes were glorious as was the pastry secured along the way. We did stop by our morning breakfast stop for one more treat, said good-bye and made our way farther into the mountains.

And, people really do stop on the side of the road to have lunch, accurately reported by Corinne's Dad.

Arriving in Arco was a bit strange. The surrounding were familiar but still exciting. We found the climbing guest house where we will be renting a room from Gilda for the next few days. It is unique in many ways. The apartment, with its loft-configuration can easly accommodate 6 people (or 10-12 climbers). The house sports its own bouldering cave, nicer than that of many climbing gyms. The outside fits perfectly with the surroundings…a beautiful, traditional, Italian home.The attention to detail is wonderful and I must say, even the shutters caught my eye.

And, every climber should have this view when leaving one's home.

Arco was “familiar” for another strange reason. As we walked the streets of this town, Corinne spotted a familiar face. It was Pietro and Silvia who we had met in Cortina at the campground. Pietro borrowed my guidebook one evening. They were able to return the favor here in Arco. Italy has been out of guidebooks for Arco for several months. The new one is scheduled to be released on the 25th of May, the day we will be flying back to the U.S. Luckily, our new friends had a copy of the old one and we were able to scrape out enough info to get us climbing tomorrow!

Up to this point, the theme of this trip has been new friends and good will. Both can and hopefully will for all trips, go hand-in-hand.

Ahhh, speaking of good will, we bought a good amount of grappa, wine, and liquor from Gardella and Arena. Gardella didn’t speak English but was very patient with our attempts at Italian. He managed to convey much of his knowledge of his goods. It was clear that he has been a master of his Panetteria Alimentari Bottiglieria for quite a long time. Gardella was excited to hear that we were from New Jersey and New York and asked simply for a postcard from New York City. It’s funny that the first postcard I send in many years will be one from my own home! But, that I can do.