We celebrated early though with a round of aperativo here at the Farm....
Got a little carried away....
yes that"s my almost clean shaven chin, take note cause I don't think you will ever see it again!
And rode to the beach in the mid morning a little hung over but totally stoked.
Got to the beach, the Bagno, pronounced "bahn-yo" KUTA and had the place to ourselves....
went for a swim in the Adriatic....
Sampled some amazing fresh(-ly fried) seafood....
And then got ready to look SOOOO GOOD back at the hotel in time for the concert at Hana Bi.
All by getting around the stretch of lovely beach by bike...even if there were 5 bikes and 6 people... not a problem for us.
Hana Bi is one of several Bagni (baths) dotting the coastline from Marina d Ravenna to Punta Marina, a good 10 km stretch of public access beach lined with pine forests. And Italians know how to do the beach! It was tough to get used to at first, and now I feel like I might have trouble adjusting to american beaches again! The Bagni are all privately owned but run like public retail. You can rent an umbrella or a chair in the sand, or kick it in the grassy area for free, they have wifi for those of you who are supposed to be at the office, and changing rooms, awesome coffee, stiff drinks, overpriced beers but allow you to have a picnic too. Lock up you bike, grab a spot and proceed to get relaxed! KUTA is the best place to kick it but Hana Bi has amazing free shows booked all summer. They are owned and run by a show venue in the city of Ravenna so they have some clout with bands. A small stage excellent sound and the lapping surf close enough that some bands have chosen to run out and swim during their set. Each bagni has a night to rock and tuesday is Hanna Bi's night to rock. And rock it did!
The band Sleepy Sun is from San Francisco, fans of Trouble Coffee, my homie Guilietta's coffee joint in the outer sunset neighbourhood, and rockers of amplified harmonicas. The show was awesome and not wanting the fun to stop, Sara and I decided to joint the dance party, scare the pants off the younger generation of Italian dancing kids, and work up quite a sweat on the outdoor dance floor. So much so that rejoining the crew all I could do was to convince them to do a little late night swimming...uh oh...no one remembered to bring a suit...I wasn't even wearing any chonies, so we all decide to bond over some late night co worker nekkidness in the Adriatic. Sorry no pics. Next time.
Again my comfortable world view has been sufficiently challenged and my comfort levels confirmed. A big deal to go nekky in america and with all the shame and indecency we are taught to conceptualize our bodies with, its no wonder people have a tough time loving themselves. Sara put it best last night when she said "Whaaaaaat? come on...we all have the same stuff... who cares... we are going for a swim" Nuff said! No one mentioned the group of 20 or so friends that culminated on the shore, no one I knew, who got a late night treat while passing a joint around... pale nekkid americans crawling from the sea, ready to lose their tails and evolve into real humans. Who at that point were getting thirsty again.
About 5 more overpriced beers from the late night trailer van that sets up to serve the drunken party goers on the weekends and we were ready for bed, but not before spying this lovely dredded skullet...
but another treat waited around the corner. Another fantastic display of thunder and lightning that kept at least me awake until the wee hours in the morning.
Next day...breakfast in the hotel, with all the rest of the sunburned vacationers, and a big bike ride, in which I almost crashed real bad trying to shoot video while riding with no hands on an overgrown path... back to the Farm just in time for a 2:30 meeting. All in all a fantastic day.
S.
No comments:
Post a Comment