Tuesday, July 12, 2011

zip line, beach and other good times








Havent ventured far out of town yet, just learining all the necessary and happening places around Brindisi. Saturday the weekend after we arrived, one of the boeing ex-pats put together an excursion to go Zip-lining. The kids were all for it, Daniel and I made it immediately known that we would take pictures, pay, and go for support :) When most people think of zip lining you think of going over the tropical rain forest, with the canapy of trees underneath you. Well in this case think of traveling about 40 minutes up into the hills of Italy, and having a zip line strung from one mountain peak/rock to another crossing over the land below. Having seen the line as we ascended, and verbalizing "That can't be it, it's too dangerous" two of our children decided they weren't risking their life, I wont say who backed out, but Sarah and Samuel said they had a great time,although they said after the heat and the 1 mile hike to come back across the line, they didn't need to do it again. Yesterday, Monday ???, I have no idea of the date,and barely can figure out the day (happens when you have all day everyday to do whatever) anyways, we went to Boomba beach with Jaime (new friend :) and her daughters. In Brindisi there is a strip of beaches, and I use the term beach lightly, think rocks with a small strip of sand. We can get to them either walking about 2-3 miles or by taking a 10 minute bus ride. I'm going to veer off topic here a little to talk about the common courtesies we take for granted in America, or at least I experienced in California, that are not found here, because we exerience most of these on the bus ride. There are no lines, it's push your way to the front. Young people will not give up their place on the bus for even 70+ men or women. Smoking is all over the place, and there isn't any thought to make sure your smoke doesn't go directly into someone elses face. Deodorant is optional :( Staring,pointing, and talking about a person as your staring and pointing is okay,don't need to guess if its you their talking about lol. Back on topic, the beaches are either public or private. The nicer ones are private and you pay a membership which guarantees you your assigned spot with an umbrella and 2 beach chairs. The locations also have snack bars,storage closets,showers,kayaks,floaties,lifeguards,bar and of course a coffee bar. They are pricey to join but if you go often enough you will get your moneys worth. The families went for about 4 hours and had a great time. Tried for the first time to take the bus home,and was told by the nice bus driver,who pulled over a cop to help with the translation, that we were headed out of town and needed to get on a different bus. Only the second time we have had an Italian local go out of their way to help us :) I hope after all the gracie's we said he will not hesitate to help other lost foreigners. Fun was had by all :) We got home showered,ate and watched the rest of Season 1 Supernatural(Samuel's DVD's)

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful pics!!! Mom and I thoroughly enjoyed ur recap of ur enciting trip. And we won't mention which Auntie aka Bindy guessed which Niece and nephew stayed behind. I DON'T BLAME them. YOU could not have paid me enought, cleaned my apartment for a year nor rescued me from storage to take that trip. That's my "Final Answer" and Mom aka AMA dittos that! LOL Do u need us to mail a care package yet? Love ya all, PS I will. Give u or Daniel $10 to take that ride. I didn't think so!!!

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  2. wow!
    Hola Tulcan family! You kids are mighty brave looks like fun, great pictures Darlene.
    This is miss chavez by the way! Its so cool to see ya'll all grown and in Italy!
    Much love,
    vanessa

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  3. C-R-A-Z-Y!!!! How appropriately you put it, "two of the kids were not willing to RISK their lives". Made me nauseated just thinking about it!!
    Beaches in Europe take getting used to when we are so used to SO much sand area to spread out as much as we want to. Just wait til you're at the beach and have to watch topless ladies maneuver their way over the rocks on bare feet coming from the water!! Worth a very good laugh!!

    xoxo Michaelann

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  4. Haha, your comment about deodorant brought back some "fragrant" memories! One of the more pungent recollection was a man in our apartment building. We did not like sharing the elevator ride with him!!!

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