almost home

I have been back in Holland now for a week and have spent most of that time in bed with a nasty stomach virus, maybe I was a bit vulnerable to picking up bugs after the 10 week exercise , I don't know. I am flying back to Auckland tomorrow and I am looking forward to it.
So I still have to write about my Italy experiences which were a mixed bag, I met some great people, enjoyed wonderful hospitality, also received the worst welcomes and service of my trip. I saw some amazing landscapes, buildings and sculptures, also cycled 2000 km through the rubbish which got me seriously depressed.
I told you before that the weather is just doing the weather and in this case that meant 35 - 40 degrees Celcius for a month, I lay down under a tree , if the rubbish allowed me , for a few hours between 12 and 3 and I had to drink so much that I could hardly eat anymore.
Anyway I owe you guys the drug story which started when I arrived in a small coastal town south of Salerno. I found a small family orientated camping that was packed to the rafters but they found me a little spot in between a few caravans and soon I was surrounded by a few local lads who invited me for a drink. One of them had just returned from his OE in australia and had a good command of the english language which is very rare in Italy.
The Don of the camping decided I was to stay for free , which we celebrated by buying his wine for $4 a bottle. After some pizza from the neighbouring resort for $6 , the daughter of the camping boss appeared all dressed up and ready to rock and roll and to hit the town. It was 11pm so I took a bit of convincing to go with them, at least 5 seconds , and off we went.
The five of us walked up to the road and they started to hitchhike as they did not want to walk the 3 km into town. 2 minutes later a little Fiat stopped and a squeezed into it. The driver had obviously spent too much time in the gym, he was very muscular and a sharp dresser. he started talking to the girl who was sitting in the front and my mate translated a bit and said that this guy was from Colombia and that he spoke very good Italian.
We stopped at a Hotel as Mr Colombia indicated he needed to deliver something. My mate poked his head out of the window and asked him if he had some weed. He looked at us indignantly and said " I only do Cocaine" and showed us this plastic egg that he was about to deliver. As he went inside the youngsters got scared and excited, they obviously already had a few puffs at the camping, and started looking for a gun in the car. When he came back my mate got so nervous that he tried to joke with the Colombian by saying "I thought you were going to kill us ", the guy just laughed and dropped us off in town and wished us a pleasant night.
He was the kind of man that could turn up on Career day at your kid's school and after listening to him you would probably seriously consider it a good career option for your child.
We chatted a bit about him in the pub and we came to the conclusion that he was the real deal as they did not know of any Colombians in Napels and Calabria who came there to pick tomatoes.
These kids were about 28 years old and all university trained but that did not stop them from having seriously fucked up ideas about women and relationships.
They started with giving me tips on the price of Pizza in Naples and quickly moved on with tips you will not find in the Lonely Planet guide for Italy such as the price of Nigerian hookers which lies at 10 Euro ( NZ $20 ) in the whole of Naples because of the Comorra, the Napolitan version of the Maffia. They were all regular visitors and they assured me of the quality by saying "Riccardo , she is going to make you sooo happy "! When I pointed out that this was modern day slavery and that the girls would probably get 5 Euro for the privilege of being violated they just shrugged their shoulders. In fact one of them explained that it was good for relationships because his girlfriend knew that if she played up or started nagging him he would just go around the corner to the nigerian girls. If it costed 50 Euro he would have thought twice about it but for 10 Euro it was an effective way to keep his girlfriend in check, so they were happier as a result and the nigerian hooker still got some business from him so all in all everyone was a winner ! You can't argue with that.
Arrividerci

Dino and Marina's B and B near Messina

just a little plug for these guys who hosted me in their fantastic family home in a little town called "Villaggio di Mili " , just outside Messina in Sicily.

I had a great meal with home made wine and fresh fruit and veges out of their own garden and if you wish Dino will arrange great deals to the vulcanic islands , cycling tours or horse trekking.

for more info or bookings email : escursioniinbici70@libero.it or phone 00 39 348 4096 198

Rome , the end !

strange feeling to not cycle anymore, i am doing some sightseeing in rome today and trying to find a box to put my bike in for the plane ride to amstrerdam.
Internet cafes were invisible in rest of italy, I still have a few stories in the pen like the one wehere I got a lift from a colombian drug dealer and we had to do a delivery of cocaine to a local hotel. It is all in a day's cycling !
So updates from the last 2 weeks and photos will follow early next week.
ciao