banana banana bo-bova

i think that we had the most impressive bus driver ever. i wanted to shout "bravo" e "grazie mille." the roads up the calabrian mountains seemed impossible and to drive a huge bus around the corners was quite the fantastic feat. around every corner the mountain would just drop to huge valleys below with stretches of green land and rows of olive trees as far as you could see and then the bus would revv its engine further up the hill. it was never ending. i had to hold my breath at times. i wanted to live in and refurbish every abandoned and overgrown little house on the side of the road and have a wild farm to live off of. the sch-sch-sch-sch shutter sound of my anti-blur camera shots couldn't capture the dramatic depth of the landscape.

finally though, the little town built into the top of the mountain came into  view and we arrived in the cute picturesque town of Bova. it was so charming to me, right out of a story book, or a movie set of a traditional, typical little italian town. the men in the bar came out to look at this giant bus parked in their square, the little kids yelled "what's your name" in english but wouldn't say another word when i tried to answer and ask them, "come ti chiami?" ok, my italian sucks. two handsome italians sat in the square rolling paper cigarettes, and yes, we were admiring the beautiful italian sceery :)

we took a walk up a steep steep hill of smoothly paved stones that would be disastrous in any spritz of bad weather. dusk was setting upon the red clay tiled roofs and a low laying canopy of thick clouds enveloped the green mountains and revealed the deep blue sky. we entered into a church of san leo, who believed in both protestantism and catholicism - which i thought was a good one for me.

we had dinner an abudnance of food i don't think anyone was hungry for, but included a crostini topped with sundried tomato paste, a platter of torta fritta/fried sardines and fried pumpkin flowers in the shape of hearts as they were made with lots of love, then a plate of fresh ricotta, a plate of capicollo with pecorino, a platter of pork/bacon/fennel sausage, salad and braised fennel greens and then a chocolate almond cake followed by a bergamot wine sample. the staff were all very enthusiastic playing their tamborine along with the music and then eventually enticing everyone to dance. with everyone's adrenaline pumping, we all wanted to continue dancing back at the bergamot plantation, but once in the bus again, only a few of us could be convinced. not me.