A Grand Italian Canyon, Sicilian Styles

Sicilians have a curious habit of apologizing for the weather. If it’s not painstakingly, sparkling blue with sunshine beating down, they feel responsible for it.

Sarah explained this to me, after apologizing, while we were visiting a tiny trade fair at a local village. By ‘local village,’ I mean to say that it’s only a 30-minute drive away.

I’ve learned to not watch the road when Italians drive. The drive to Carubbella (Sarah’s B & B) was a sharp snake-winding road up, with acute corners that forces drivers in the opposite lane.

Add to that the gaggles of oblivious German cyclists and suffice it to say that I’ve spent most of these car rides studying the scenery out of my passenger window.

It saves me from gathering a collection of white fright hairs. Grin.

Sarah’s place is perfectly placed in the middle of nowhere, within the natural reserve of the Italian ‘Grand Canyon,’ called the Cavagrande del Cassibile. It’s a stunning rocky wilderness area. Carrubbella is one of those rarities: we felt at home the moment we arrived.

Armando’s friend Zoltan showed up a day later with a small posse of Italians. It really created a sense of community. Zoltan imports Bedouin tents from Africa to Italy, and spends half of his year in Cape Town. Everyone’s friendly, open and tries even if they don’t speak English. It’s warmth.

We’re in some down time at the moment from our respective working lives, which has been great. We don’t speak often on arTrek12 about our jobs, but we’re slowly expanding skillsets and experience with an eye to the future.

We also get to have a lot of fun doing the diverse things clients need. A short-short horror story; social media summaries and business reports have kept me busy. I also helped Armando shoot a video, which was a bizarre start to the day.

Armando spent the day putting up a mini-house that’ll be used for visitors and I revisited my creative things that I don’t often have time for. Photos, my writings, editing to send.

It’s been a similar feeling to the Trullo days with `Paola. Familial and familiar, with a richly rugged Sicilian backdrop.

Tomorrow we’re off to take a walk in the Cavagrande- an Italian canyon. I’m looking forward to shooting the abundance of natural eye-candy.

Happily camping, with no apologies.

You can book for a month or three months, it only depends on you. Let me know if you’re interested and I can send info and photos.