Aussie in the Boot: Sicily

I am spending six months travelling around Italy. I am staying with hosts around the country, WWOOFING (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). Learning, sharing and creating great connections. There will be ups and downs, but I have my yoga mat packed and a 560g jar of Vegemite, so I’m ready to take it all on. 

Region: Sicily

Host: Serra Guarneri

“Hot weather and deep fried everything!”

I started the journey with another long ferry ride. This time I rode with a more common ferry company, Tirrenia, therefore I had no problem finding the boat and the boarding process ran smoothly. Besides the fact that I was close to losing my new carving knife when I had to go through the security scanners before boarding, and that the boat had to turn around because someone had a heart problem … I spent around 16 hours in total on the ferry!

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When disembarking the ferry at Palermo, I met an African man, Richard. We talked and I found out that he lives in Palermo and is also heading to the train station. It was a wild ride of bus chasing and then getting in a random van with other tourists … but we made it to the station and before I left for my train, Richard gave me a strong warning about Sicily that I have to really watch out for myself here! I was a little taken back, what was to come??

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I caught the train to Cefalu, a beautiful city by the sea that is very touristy! I was picked up at the station by two of the workers of Serra Guarneri, Franka and Gungie. We drove up a steep road that leads up the mountain to reach the camp. I met the other volunteers, a French couple that are part of a European volunteer program and a German woofer, Martin. They are all very kind and super interested in my avocado seed carving!

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I am staying in a room that is in a courtyard that they call the “Pirates corner”. There are some animals: chickens, rabbits, cats and a little dog that looks like a wild pig but at the same time, it is one of the smallest dogs I have seen in my life.

Serra Guarneri gets its name from the mountains that stand behind the camp, like a saw. Gungie told us the story of an earthquake when he was young that caused the mountains to crumble down, he said that they once stood seventy metres higher (I am yet to confirm if this was 17 or 70 … the accent causes some issues).

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The first dinner was at 9:30 pm!! I guess this is the way of the south!

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There are shepherd houses that have the key in the door, any shepherd (or other people) can use these houses when passing over the mountains. Serra Guarneri was originally one of these houses.

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I had arrived on Saturday afternoon and they told me that Sunday would be a free day for me. The German woofer, Martin, has a car so we decided to spend the day together and go on an excursion. I would also like to mention that Martin’s car is an old French car, a Renault 4, it shouldn’t be able to make it up the roads that we went on, but it’s Italy and the small cars can go everywhere!

We hiked through the beautiful national park that is above the town of Castelbuono. We found a shepherd house on the hill. These houses can be found all through the mountains as they are used by the shepherds that make the journey with their herd, up and down the mountains. The key is always in the door.

After a beautiful walk in the forest, we made our way down to the town of Castelbuono, the staff of the camp had informed us that this is where we would find the best gelato. It is also special because they use manna, it comes from the ash trees and replaces the conventional sugar in the gelato. The manna is a sweet and air dried juice, which flows from the manna ash as a result of an insect bite. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any vegan gelato … it was a great town anyway. At the same time, they were also celebrating Republic Day so we were able to see a parade through the streets.

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I am covered in massive bites, I am assuming from the ferry — they are weeping. It is bringing back traumatic memories from the bed bugs. I am again, unable to sleep because of the itching.

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When hiking up to the rocky mountains in the morning, I came across my first wild pigs! There were two little ones, I watched them for a moment before walking away slowly …

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I worked for the first day until 10:00 pm. This did not bring me too much joy. But Martin and I got away at some point in between and walked to the top of a mountain to watch the sun go down.

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I began getting strange feelings about the place. I am not sure if the feelings are maybe just the coming down from the high of Cala Jami, or that I know what I want now? Either way, I don’t feel super comfortable, maybe this place just isn’t the right fit for me at this moment. I am also questioning why I am wwoofing, this location has caused me to ask myself what the purpose of this kind of travel is for me, constantly working for someone else.

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I had a long day in the sun, working with Martin in the garden. We had many discussions about the location and possible alternatives. After work, we went down to the sea and had an awesome swim!! Also starting to plan our getaway!

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The amazing thing about this location is the beautiful national park that is next door. In the morning I am able to walk along the winding paths that remind me of trails at home.

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There is a bit of a food issue here. I’m not sure if its because we are in the south or just Italy, but they seem to think that cookies are sufficient for breakfast. There also aren’t any fruits or vegetables. The only vegetables that we have are deep fried. I am starting to have lots of digestive issues and diarrhoea … we also are not really allowed to eat what we want. They said that they prioritise the children and we eat the second best stuff or what is left. I think that this is okay for the other style of volunteers that are here, but Martin and I are wwoofers — the only “pay” we get is food and board.

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I made a plan to leave with Martin on the 10th. We called another farm, they said that we can email them and they might be able to sort something out. This isn’t easy for me and I am feeling unsettled and uncomfortable. I never do things like this, I have been so loyal to every farm that I have been at and have always stuck to my word. I think that it is a great place with great people and they have a really good project that prioritises children and education. But I just didn’t have a great feeling. I thought that this might be because I now know more what I want.

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I told Giuseppe (manager) that I will be leaving with Martin. It was hard, but he was understanding and said that relationships are more important than the work. It was nice that he was so understanding and I am now able to get excited about a little road trip around Sicily!

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There are two sets of volunteer couples, one from France and one from the Czech Republic. They are great people but it may have been tough to have been alone here without Martin, I would have been a fifth wheel.

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Everyone thinks I’m German so I’m owning it. I’m trying to learn some of the languages with Martin and we both wear our Birkenstocks everywhere, even up the mountain!

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We went on an excursion to two towns with the Czech couple. In one of the towns, we saw a donkey that replaced the garbage truck! The first town was Castelbuono again. This time I was keen to get the gelato and so I approached the store next door to “the best” and talked with them. They make very interesting gelato. They use 100% Sicilian products and the flavour I got was made with wild strawberries. It was made with manna and in the same place as the best gelato that I couldn’t get last time.

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Another day of hard work in the hot sun. All 6 volunteers worked together, making it much easier. We stopped in the middle of the day and continued working after 4 pm. The weather is much like Australian summer, hot and dry, with a sun that doesn’t give in.

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The farm that Martin and I called accepted us and we are planning to take 3 days to drive around the island of Sicily on the coast before arriving at the farm.

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We had our final day of work at the neighbour’s house. It was a great day with beautiful people. They let us pick herbs to take with us on our travels to cook with!

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We got the car packed, did a final walk up the mountain and said our goodbyes before heading off — road tripping!!

See ya, arrivederci!

Kindly, Steph.