what dreams are made of

fammmmm!!! today was the epitome of what makes solo traveling and traveling in general SO WORTH IT. I woke up this morning and had free breakfast in my hostel, pretty much just muesli (which i learned I love, probably just as much as granola) and guava juice. also i tried sicilian lemon jelly which i also learned i love. then i met up with my free tour of Palermo group at Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio All'Olivella. while we waited for the tour to start, the guide asked us all where we were from and that's when i made a friend. as we started walking, some random dude came up to me and was like "hey, you said you're from the states? where?" there was like no one in our english speaking tour who was from the US, so i was like "yeah, seattle, wa". I always say seattle cuz people know where that is and i visit there more than i visit wi, and i really only go to school in ut. i say i go to school in ut though. anyways we started chatting a bit, the usual wtf are you doing on this random island in europe? kind of questions. then he introduced me to his friend, i immediately forgot both of their names cuz why does it currently matter and when will i see you two ever again. the tour goes on. i learned that la copella (that basic french dude beret almost thing) is actually the trademark of a sicilian man. the sicilian flag has the 3-legged head because it looks like a triangle which is the shape of the island. the bird of sicily is the eagle and it's literally everywhere. and now i think catholicism is not monotheistic because they worship a lot of saints around here. also, all they traditional food around here should theoretically make sicilians the fattest people in the world (lots of meat, cheese, and deep fried shiz) but they're not cuz they walk so much and wear high heals. after the tour, the dude came up to me and was like "hey, we're going to the market (mercato capo: 1/3 major market places in palermo) for lunch, do you want to join us?" and i was hey what the heck sure i'll come. first, i asked our guide how to use the buses here. it's kind of weird but you buy the tix at a tabacchi (which is exactly what it sounds like, a tobacco shop, which is the american equivalent of a gas station convenient store, except it's not really ever by a gas station). i said thanks, tipped her, waved goodbye and went off with these randos to capo market. we walked the entire street first to check out our options and settled on this street restaurant that had a lot of traditional vegetarian italian food (consisted of lots of tomatoes, cheese, olive oil, eggplant, and pasta). it was soooo good and i was super stuffed. it was really funny because before we decided, the guy was like how much does this cost, and we don't speak italian, they don't speak english, it was kind of a mess but we figured it out. they definitely could've been pulling those numbers out of their butt, but it all turned out alright. after lunch, the guy was like what are your plans today? i rented a car and wanted to checkout what's outside the city. you can join us if you want. once again i was like what the heck, yeah im down. so we went to his car. and drove up into a village in the mountains where this famous church is called "catedral de monreale" we didn't go inside, but it was really pretty on the outside and we learned that they restore the buildings falling apart by literally cementing in new rocks. the view of the island from up here was impeccable. palermo sits in a valley of mountain that surrounds it. it's interesting because in most places, you can easily identify where the city is because it's the most densely populated part of the land; there are just tons of buildings. but here it's hard to tell. it's very crowded. buildings are everywhere. and no one lives in houses; they're all apartments. he asked if i could live here, and i said yeah maybe when im old. this place is so chill. it's the place you go when you don't really have obligations anymore. then we were talking about something, and he buchered my name and i felt relieved because he felt like he messed it up and we all reintroduced ourselves. his name is michael, and his friend's name is stu. michael is an artist in brooklyn who was raised in alabama. stu is a police diver (i'll go into detail) who is from perth. from my guess, michael is about 30 and stu is about 50. michael creates art and costumes for theater and private events. i asked stu what the craziest thing that happened to him on the job was, and he said someone called him to tell him he strangled and killed his own wife [for cheating on him, and the guy only served 6 years in jail!]. stu's job was mostly involved with problems at sea, like people's boats sinking and the sos calls, people trying to kill themselves by drowning... gnarly stuff to say the least. so yeah, really dope people. it was super hot outside, so stu treated us to some coni at una gelateria and i had the Best melon gelato of my life.

looking up at the hilltops we saw some really nice cathedrals and spotted a red castle-ish thing at the top and started to drive to it. tons of switchback roads later and stunning views along the way, we reached the top only to find the entrance had a locked gate. based on the sign (and i know very very very little italian, it was a study center for a private institution).

we drove back down, and we stopped a little but for michael to make a business call. his next project is for an art gallery that's opening, so the private event will be to please the donors. he's going to put a girl in a fancy outfit and hanging her by these chords from the ceiling so she can play the violin in the sky, all of this is stuff that he is going to make.

in the evening, before the sun set, we went to the beach just to walk along the coast. the water here is beautiful turquoise and warm. tons of people were camping and probably living on the beach; there are no rules in palermo i guess. we also found out that people trust street fish and other weird "freet food" and granita (a trad sicilian dessert) is actually just slushie with real fruit! then we said goodbye to stu and dropped him off at the train station since he's flying out tonight. and i'll probably never see him again.

michael and i continued the adventure. first we went back to michael's hostel called the Jonathan, so he could check in for another night. if i ever come back to this island, i'll stay there. it's super modern and nice and clean, and they have a nice terrace and common area and it's pretty cheap. i met one of the hostel workers, liam. he's from london and is a workaway volunteer. he's been around the world just on workaway, so i definitely need to try that. we sat on the terrace and talked about how sicily is dirty and grungy enough to have character and canada is too hygienic for his taste. we also talked about how americans don't travel the world as much as people in other countries. why would they because we have all the scenery we could want in the states? but also we need to, because we lack culture. then he told us about his 1kg gelato sandwich that sat in brioche and was dipped in chocolate. and it was only 3 euro. you see what i mean when i say italians should be obese???

then michael and i had a courtesy struggle (going back and forth saying doesn't matter, what do you prefer? until we almost died). then we headed back to his car, because he thought he lost his passport. he found it. then we looked up things to do and decided to eat. we had dinner for almost 4 hours at Pasticceria Alba which is 20 minutes outside the city center. it's a pastry bar/restaurant that's open til 1am (hence 'alba'). you order on tablets and they have basically whatever you could imagine. would def go again. we watched a little boy steal like 5 napkin holders, ordered a bunch of different things and split them. i tried a soda called "crodino" which you can only get in italy. it's kind of bitter and tastes a little bit like alcohol, but doesn't have any in it. so for anyone who wants to try alcohol but not really... crodino. we had some arancini, eggplant and zucchini, fungi, and couscous. i've never eaten so well in one day. i'm ded. we talked about life and tried to keep the whole convo in spanish since i said i should probably practice more before going to spain. he speaks really well for someone who basically learned it all on the street. we found out that we're both the 2nd oldest in our families, and that we both grew up catholic. we talked about ut and ny. somehow we got around to the real talk. he recently broke up with his girlfriend of 10 years who he was engaged to and he's trying to figure out life now. he told me jokingly "being engaged sucks, don't ever do it." but then he laughed and said, "but seriously, if you do it, just know you have to be in it 100%, you can't just kind of be in it, because it's a big deal." i said i was sorry, and he said he was too. then we got to the conversation where i told him about the lds church and how amazing it is. then we talked about buddhism, and italian, and other asian languages. the waitress gave us our check; here the service is hecka slow because tipping is not a thing so they have zero obligation to please you. and in general italians are not in a rush. ever. which is kinda nice...

we drove back in his little red car, and he walked me back to my hostel since it's kinda creepy at night, he told me more about his trip tomorrow to a little town on the island to learn more about his family history, we exchanged contact info and he told me i should use marco polo (kind of snapchat ish app) to stay in touch, we struggled to open the door, and we hugged goodbye. i'll probably never see him in person again. i think that's kind of the beauty of this whole thing though. we're all just a bunch of decent people trying to have a good time and figure out life. but this really restored my faith in humanity and men.

solo travel

pros: meeting new people, going on random adventures, having an open schedule, trying new things, striking up convos on city tours, great stories

grateful for: people who live cool/inspiring lives, the fact that age doesn't matter when it comes to friendships, also the fact that people think i'm about 25, good food in good company, cars, people who can drive in crazy cities, gelato and water on hot days, city views from above, food places open late, safe places, the kindness of humanity, free tours