mazara del vallo (part 2)

so... i dont know if i'm going to find the family canollis i'm desperately craving, but the search continues. for a city of maybe 35.000 people there are about 10.000 bakeries which only makes things more difficult. i've got this weird sensation about being here, especially after traveling the balkans. feels a bit like i'm on the edge of the world, perhaps the easter island of my travels. i look back at the path i've drawn and it seems to fall over the side of the planet.. this sensation makes me a bit uncomfortable but soon i'll regroup and redraw my lines. mazara is cool but its really hard to meet people who speak my languages. i'll soon take to palermo for some jollies for a day or two.

i had some introspective thoughts when i was watching the sun go down over the mediterranean. i thought about the world and how many attempts i've made to explore the strangest of its corners. it really seems so limitless but i'll not set out to conquer the world. i guess i'm just drawing lines around it. you hear these cliches about how people are people no matter where you go but really its in the differences that things become interesting. perhaps thats why we travel, to see different things. its the little things that tickle me. i've learned eenie meenie minie moe in half a dozen languages and i've learned what mothers say to their children who dont finish their supper (my favorite being the turkish one.. 'if you dont finish your food it will cry behind your back'). i've seen gypsy people with the craziest coloured eyes living in camps on the side of the roads to nowhere. it all blends together after a while and weaves itself into some sort of tapestry that i cannot yet use as a quilt.

these pictures are a little scattered, but whatever..

photo of a camp from the albania/makedonia border a few weeks ago

my vessel to italy

met these two jokers on the boat from durres to bari. didn't speak a lick of english but we got by somehow.. then fate put us in the same room together. a little crazy, but good guys.

SAMMY!

then the invasion begins..

MUNCU!!

brave cats.. have to respect that. muncu lost her tail in some previous attempt i'm sure.. dig in, afiyet olsun!



san vito.. for whom mazara del vallo dedicates itself. named after saint vitus who i believe originates in sicily.

could be?




for grandpa joe :)

sicily is cool. its one of those place i never thought i would end up. however sicily is only a link in a long adventure i've set before me. i'll stay here for a bit then return to the balkans where things are always bound to get interesting.