More Sicilian thoughts (pictures from Palermo)

After I posted yesterday, I kept thinking about some things that happened in Sicily. One of the reasons I liked the trip so much was that it gave us the opportunity to bond as a group. Because Gioiosa is so small, I pretty much knew where everyone in my group was, or could guess one of the three places they might be. I was working in a "clan" with people I hadn't necessarily worked with before, and was able to become friends with them. I feel as if I could walk into anyone's room right now and have a conversation, whereas before, that might have only been true for part of the group.
My last morning in Gioiosa before that delicious breakfast I spent sketching. I had gone running two days before and had found the cemetary. It was such a beautiful place I decided to come back and sketch it. There are rows and rows of rectangular, coffin-sized marble containers, stacked on top of each other. Ok, my cemetary vocabulary is really not up to par, but I'll try and explain it. And unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so I don't have any pictures. But each gravestone/marker at the front of the coffin had a miniature shelf. Almost all of them had fresh flowers and a fake, plastic candle. The marker usually had a picture of the deceased on it too. And there were some families who had their own small, enclosed mausoleum with candles and a place to kneel.
When I went back on Sunday morning to sketch, there were so many people bringing flowers and tending to the markers. It was something I haven't seen in the United States. I even lived by a cemetary this summer. In fact, I biked past it every day. But not once did I see any family members visiting the graves. Only people trimming the weeds. The entryway to this cemetary was just fabulous- after you walked through the gate, there were a few stairs, and then an inclined pathway lead to a small church/mausoleum. And this pathway was lined with trees- the type that don't have any branches until further up on the tree. It was a very picturesque "light at the end of the tunnel" type of view.

I'm not sure if I've ever described the siesta. Basically, after lunch, around 1 pm, businesses close until about 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. Here in Rome it is optional- in Gioiosa, it is the exception to not do it. Which made it a little frustrating to try and do errands, because we would forget that things were closed. And the town was like a ghost town. I could tell that we were the outsiders- we were the only people walking around! But if you took a snapshot then, and then again at 9 pm, it was like two different towns. In the evening, people would flock to the small piazzas and hang out with their friends- Gioiosa came alive! And as it got later, Vespas and cars would rev their engines and speed down the main street. And they would do that again. And again. When Allie and I went to go measure our site, we saw the same car filled with guys drive by at least 3 times, blaring music. It was funny after awhile- it's not something most of us would do- seems like a waste of gas. But they liked it. And then around midnight it would start getting quiet again, because everyone headed out to a different town for the nightlife. Very interesting to observe a day there.

And I could see the same women in the grocery store in the morning, and then again in the afternoon along the main street. We once went to the same restaurant for lunch and then again for dinner because other ones were closed- that was kind of embarassing. The same waiters were there- we got to recognize pretty much everyone in the places we frequented. I've never lived in such a small town. But I liked it!



I bought these pants in Palermo!