A beautiful day to (almost) wrap up my walk along the boot

12/5 – Palmi to Scilla – 19.67 miles

As if he had not done enough already, Paolo picked me up at the hotel the next morning and drove me to the bar where I had left off the evening before. In the car, I thanked him for giving me so much fruit, bread, and salami, and he responded “it doesn’t matter how much I gave. I gave what I could.” His response immediately reminded me of one of my very favorite Marcus Aurelius quotations:

“one man, when he has done a service to another, is ready to set it down to his account as a favour conferred. Another is not ready to do this, but still in his own mind he thinks of the man as his debtor, and he knows what he has done. A third in a manner does not even know what he has done, but he is like a vine which has produced grapes, and seeks for nothing more after it has once produced its proper fruit. As a horse when he has run, a dog when he has tracked the game, a bee when it has made the honey, so a man when he has done a good act, does not call out for others to come and see, but he goes on to another act, as a vine goes on to produce again the grapes in season.”

There is a difference between goodness given for hope of a reward or recognition, and goodness given without a second thought. My last eight years have been spent trying to live the latter and landing somewhere in the middle, but this response struck me as firmly in the “unconscious giving” category, and I will never forget it.

My first part of the trail was all uphill, all the way to Monte S. Elia, where I added two miles to my walk to follow Paolo’s advice and check out the amazing view from up top. From here, it was possible to see from Capo Vaticano all the way to Messina, in Sicily (see the photo below of me posing with my first confirmed sighting of the island). I have said this before in one from or another, but there is nothing more satisfying than looking at a 180 degree view and knowing that you crossed EVERY INCH of it, as far as the eye can see in either direction, on foot. Satisfying, and at the same time, humbling. How small and insignificant we are.

After meeting a Swiss couple and sharing some of the fruit I had been given (firmly in the selfish camp, if we are to use Marcus Aurelius’ standards, as I was straining under the weight of all that produce, and needed to unload), I left the mountain, and back on the road to Scilla, passed a few ancient-looking stalls selling their wares in the middle of nowhere. I yearned to take a picture, because this was truly a unique thing I was seeing, but I refused to demean these people by playing tourist where tourists were not supposed to wander.

Descending toward Bagnara Calabra, I saw I had two missed calls, and when I called back, I spoke with Enzo, from Reggio Calabria. He had heard about me from his sister, and was wondering where I was, and whether I wanted to spend the night at his house. I said of course, thank you, we agreed to talk later, and I let my only care of the day blow away in the breeze. There is nothing like knowing where you’re going to sleep that night. But you might ask: who is Enzo and why did I agree so readily to sleep in a stranger’s home?

I think you’ll like the answer. Enzo is the brother of Rita, who is the friend of Iris, who is the girlfriend of Jonathan, who is the eldest son of Nancy, who is the family friend of Gaia, who is the friend I met four years ago at Penn. Six degrees separated us, and here he was offering me to stay with him and his mother. Of course, I said.

Reaching Bagnara Calabra was a lot of steps down, a pretty boardwalk, and a wind strong enough to blow the constantly streaming water fountain in a fine mist over me as I ate my lunch of apples, oranges, bread, and salami (sound familiar?) under the oh-so-welcome sun of this Calabrese afternoon. Life is good.

Next stop was Scilla, where legend had it that Odysseus had some trouble, having to pass by the dreaded sailor-gobbling monster Scylla and the typhoon Carybdis (which is the modern-day Strait of Messina, which has a strong current). Of course, I knew all about that, and gave some thought to starting an Odyssey Cruise, which would follow all the mythical wanderings of the hero, with the epic poem recited at night during banquets. Good idea, right? You can definitely sign me up. Anyhow, I was only in Scilla a few moments, long enough to appreciate its beauty, and then I hopped at train for Reggio Calabria, to meet Enzo and his friends and family.

Enzo picked me up at the train station on his friend’s moto, and soon I was riding, backpack strapped tight, my first moto of the trip. We sped along Reggio’s boardwalk to meet up with Antonio, his good friend, and after a quick coffee, took a short whirl around the city. I could tell I was going to be friends with these guys from the beginning: they were Italian versions of my friends back home, and I immediately felt like one of the gang, thanks to their warmth. Enzo and I had a lot in common: he too was a world-traveller, having left everything for London only a few years ago in order to find a job and learn the language. Furthermore, he was always laughing, full of energy, and stubbornly possessed of certain principles which I could tell had been developed, tested, and put into practice many times before. Of course, I didn’t learn all of this right then and there, but over a few days. Just the fact that he was so open to hosting a complete stranger based only on the fact that I was a fellow traveller, however, spoke volumes for his character, and our eventual friendship.

The next stop was to his mother’s house, where she had prepared a delicious meal for us, and encouraged me to eat, eat, eat. And so I did, always thankful for a home-cooked meal, and eager to show by gorging myself just how delicious it was. We put my rags in the wash, I took a shower, and after laying down for ten minutes, Enzo gave me a choice, either to take a nap for a few hours while he went to visit his Dad and some friends, or to come with him. I was tired, but there would always be time to sleep later.

So it went, visiting friends, checking out bars, and milling around near the castle, until 3:30 in the morning. I met the other members of the crowd: Pasquale, Alessandro, another Antonio, and a third Antonio, and had a blast.