Subtextual Idery — Ashleigh Akilah Rucker

Today will mark a day in history, where I left everything to chance, put my trust in a misdirected wanderer and road the waves.

After a wonderful time in Lucca and Montecarlo, we made our way to Cinque Terra, a place, that I was told by multiple sources, I needed to go. So even if we could only spend 18 hours here I was determine to see it.

I should've known that this was going to be the interesting part of the trip based on how the day started. We woke up in our beautiful BnB to the pleasant sounds of a pigeon outside of our window. When I say pleasant, I mean pleasant enough to wake lonely boy at five AM so he could open the windows and yell, at the top of his lungs, 'fuck you pigeon. I see you! And your fucking girlfriend!' This happened twice between the hours of five and nine. After our wake up call we headed to lunch with the family which we thought was just a quick salad before we get on the train in an hour. Turns out, just a salad means three different types of home made 'crustini', three different types of meats, formaggio with marmalade and honey and two different wines that were grown down the street... Literally, one had no label.

As the conversation flowed and the time passed (I'm getting pretty good at understanding Italian and I think I just coined the phrase 'Spaniano'... The locals love it) there came a point in the conversation where lonely boy didn't understand a word, 'no capicio, nacchera!' After about 3 exchanges we arrived at the translation 'clam'. Immediately my ears perked up and I said, 'Scuzi? Uhhh. What?' Any one who knows me knows that I turn into Hitch at first sight of shellfish. When I heard the word clams I damn near passed out. Images of navigating the health care system in a foreign land flashed across my eyes. 'There are clams in this???' All I could do was say 'Allergico! Allergico!!!' Everyone's faces dropped. They immediately reached for the drawer that contained the benedryl and cortisol, there was even an epi pin. I popped two nondescript pills (meaning I couldn't read the packaging) and tried to pray that I would be alright. In the meantime we were about to miss our train so decisions had to be made.

I was convinced I was fine, really trying to work on mind over body, even though my breathing was escalating, my eyes were heavy and I was unusually warm. We made our way to Cinque while I had a mental 'sit down talk with my body'.

Maybe it was my fault for pulling focus from the activity at hand, but we got on the wrong connecting train. All we could do was hope that it was going the right direction. According to a local man sitting next to us we had gotten on the train going towards Cinque Terra, BUT it was a local train so it would take 35 minutes longer. I can live with this.

Once we finally get to Cinque it takes a minute to find somewhere to stay, but it all works out and we're in a randomly amazing room for a good rate. Now, it's time to take a train to the first town and walk back (obviously not all the way, but at least through one town; 'ain't nobody got time for that'). The genius that is Lonley Boy purchased tickets to the closest town instead of the further one (not the plan at all). Then he ushers us onto a train which is supposed to be a two minute ride to the next stop. As we blow right through the next stop at full speed, we realize that today, we are two for two for getting on the wrong train. The woman next to us explains this is the express to the first town. This is actually good news, since this was the original plan, except for the small fact that we didn't pay for it; if we get caught there is a considerable fine. Luckily we make it and all is well...for now.

Its around 530 as we walk around Montessoro (Cinque Terra is amazing by the by). After we eat al fresco and hide from the rain, it's time to head back. The whole point of being in this area is that all of the five towns are connected and you can walk. So we decide to walk to the next town then take the train back. This plan sounded so much better in our heads.

When I read about walking from town to town, never did it cross my mind that 'walking' was short for 'hiking through the mountains'. Yes, this was my fault for being so naive. I kept seeing folks with camel packs and walking sticks, thinking how foolish they looked. Little did I know that it would be me who was the fool in my slip on shoes and a cute dress trying to hike up a mountain side while its raining. True story. But wait! Did I mention that we chose the two towns that are the farthest away from each other. It took 2 hours! There was rain, 6 inch slippery pathways, more stairs than I've seen in the past year combined and the fact that i had acl reconstruction on my knee about 3 months ago (two weeks ago, they just started letting me jog for 0.1 miles at a time). Every time we passed someone coming from the other direction they just looked at me like 'poor thing' and then tried to tell us how far away it was, thinking we might go back... I'm a boss! Don't sleep on me. I will admit, there were times I wanted to turn around or even thought I might not make it, convinced this could not end well.

After 2 hours and no falls (a few close calls that kicked my knees behind), we finally made it Venzia with enough time for a beer, a cocktail and a train ride home with some cool new FB friends. All in all, I guess we got our happy ending.