I started at the southern-most village and started walking. I didn't plan on it but I ended up hiking the whole thing, right around six miles. Here are some things that I saw along the way...
It was hot as hell outside and the last few miles of the hike were surprisingly strenuous. So when I reached the last village I hopped in ocean for what proved to be one of the most refreshing dips that I've ever had...
Then I got drunk off local wine and sangria...
There were even a couple stretches where graffiti artists were allowed to show their stuff...
The next day I came down to Rome. You know, that place that we've been hearing about since we were little kids? That cornerstone of civilization, progress and collapse? Yeah, that place. I've been here for just over 24 hours, in a city whose history is as rich as flourless dark chocolate cake - so, me trying to write about Rome is kind of like a third grader trying to give a book report on Don Quixote. So, I'm not going to try to explain anything about Rome itself as I will have little to no insight on the subject. But I can tell you a couple things about being an American in Rome...
Walking around Rome as a tourist, it's impossible not to be struck by the ruins. They're thought provoking, interesting, tragic, the whole nine. But after you get over the intital "wow" of seeing a 2,000 year old column standing in front of you, or looking up at the Colosseum, the mind wanders elsewhere. My frame of mind is that of an American, a citizen of a country that is, in certain respects, the culmination of thousands of years of European progress. Add to that, I've been living in Phoenix, Arizona for the last seven years, a place where buildings and streets appear out of nowhere. There are no means in Phoenix, only ends. It's easy to climb Camelback mountain, look at all the sprawl, and be awed by how much stuff is going on.
But atop Camelback mountain, there's no visible history. In Rome, with the ruins of a vast, fallen empire all around you, it brings to light the context of your situation. You see the ends and the means that have all come together - you become aware that there is a historical chain of events that has led to you taking an airplane to the other side of the world, getting your passport stamped, checking into a hostel, and taking a picture of the Colosseum with your digital camera and looking at the display to see how the picture turned out...
I understand, now, how some American's can say, with certainty, "this is the greatest country in the world!" I understand because, being in Rome, one is reminded that that there is a process that leads to a great civilization. This process, the means that bring about the ends, are invisible in the United States. We don't have a Pantheon to remind us of the great, fallen empires of the past...
I wish I could write more about this, but I'm sitting in a McDonald's, using their free wi-fi and they're closing soon so I need to move on... perhaps more when I get home.
So, moving on... Rome is, of course, host to the Vatican City. As you may or may not know, I was brought up in a fundamentalist Christian home. If my faith were a wool sweater, it would have slowly unraveled, some years ago, until I was holding the proverbial ball of yarn that used to be something substantial. But being in Rome, I was drawn to the Vatican like a recovering alcoholic being wooed by the local pub - I just had to get a little taste! So I saw the relics, saw the art, saw the Sistine Chapel and all that...
I attended a Catholic school for five years and the church is, absolutely, fascinating to me. Of course, when I think about Catholicism I think about the immense power, the money, the wars, the Spanish Inquisition, etc. The only mentionin of the Church's dark past (that I saw) was pictured on a couple of huge, metal doors...
I have one more day in Rome and then I'm my way back to the desert, two days earlier than planned. If you can't tell by the detached nature of the last few posts, I'm having a really hard time investing myself in my European experience... I'm too mentally and emotionally distracted to take in, and fully appreciate, the things that he's seeing. I feel like I'm wasting it and I feel ashamed of myself for doing so. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to do more here, sorry that my blog posts are uninteresting. I just can't stop my head from spinning out on the sticky, dramatic, high-stake state of affairs that's waiting for me when I get home. Blah blah blah.
When I get back I plan on posting at least one more entry, likely a long one, in which I will try to process the whole of what I've experienced this summer. But who knows, I might come to McDonalds again tomorrow to give another mini-update.
So I'll be home on Thursday evening. If you live in Phoenix/Tempe, I want to see you this weekend.
Before I leave you, here's some of Rome's nitty gritty...
