On the road again

Friday, October 26, Warm and rainy
This morning I packed my bags, made a sandwich for my lunch, and said a sad good by to the Colombaiolo household. It was pouring with rain. Verdiana drove me the 30 miles to Buonconvento where I boarded the train for my trip west. I had to change once at Montepaschaia but when I was ready hop down onto the platform, the train’s doors wouldn’t open and I was unable to disembark. The train moved inexorably on toward the town of Grosseto. In a panic, I ran what seemed about five cars toward the front of the train to find the capo di treno (the conductor) to tell him what had happened. He seemed unconcerned and told me to get back to my seat and get out at Grosseto. I did as I was told, gathered my bags, got out at Grosseto, and within 5 minutes with the help of the same conductor, I boarded the northbound train I should have boarded at Monepaschaia. An hour later, in torrential rain, I disembarked at the coastal town of Rosignano from where I was to take a taxi to the hill town of Pomaia and Karen McD.
Seeing no taxi stand, I made for the nearby bar that sells train/bus tickets and asked how I could find a taxi. I was pointed a booth with the phone number of the local taxi posted on the wall. Having no cell phone (everyone has one here) a kind woman called the taxi for me and I waited, watching the rain descend in buckets while I enjoyed a caffe longa macchiato and a little fruit pastry. Twenty minutes later the taxi arrived, loaded all my bags and we headed off. The driver asked whether I would mind sharing the cab and its cost with another passenger who was getting off a little sooner. Of course I agreed and found out that my fellow passenger is a clown who works for a living for various local circuses. He had a nice smile but told no jokes.

Once we dropped him off, the taxi and drove through the sodden countryside and I made a dramatic entrance into the Lama Tzong Khapa Buddhist Institute as the rain came crashing down on stuppas and tea gardens and prayer flags. Thirty minutes later, Karen came down from her Tibetan language lessons and I was standing in the hallway waiting with a grin on my face. It was so great to see her! She showed me around this beautiful centre and took me to her little cassetta (cabin) with all she needs to be happy. From the balcony she has an extraordinary view of tree covered hills and the Mediterranean in the distance. It feels so good to be here. I’ll share her room on a mattress on the floor tonight, and tomorrow I’ll stay next door in the adjoining cabin temporarily vacated by the occupant who’s going home to Sicily for the Centre’s school term break. The day ended pleasantly with a walk around the town, dinner at a nice restaurant & a good night’s sleep (apparently I talked a lot).

Saturday, October 27, Warm, sunny and blue sky! Yippee
Woke up to brilliant sunshine and the sound of birds singing. Coffee and croissants at a local restaurant, a walk around the countryside, lunch at the centre and a lazy afternoon reading, chatting, writing this journal and planning the next 5 days: bliss. My shoulders are lower than they’ve been for months. They even have wireless Internet that should be up and running next week. I’m now off to do some laundry and enjoy the rest of the day. After a healthy lunch at the centre, Karen & I went for a nice walk around the neighbourhood - meaning acres of rolling farmland and country roads. Every so often the sound of a hunter's rifle shook the peace of the afternoon and the life of some small animal, pigeon or partridge. Dinner at 7:30, conversations with Karen's fellow students - a nice multilingual bunch of people and to bed at 9PM in my new little room of my own.

Sunday - another sunny day!
More later.