Campotosto the First

"Do you think they have Chinese food here?"

"Why are you asking about Chinese food? You'll stick out like a sore thumb."
"Oh, yeah. You blend."

- Adrienne and Marco, reenacting a scene from My Cousin Vinny

We are way, WAY off the grid here but are coming to you live via blackberry! Thank goodness for a law job that sufficiently warped my thumbs so I can type on these things. More thanks to Emma for helping us access the interweb machine and posting for us! Grazie molto! (From Emma: "Prego!")

We are in Campotosto, the town where Marco's Dad, paternal grandparents and other family were born. The town is extremely small - the entire place is easily walkable in about 20 minutes. There are no traffic sounds here or other city noises - only birds and a few barking dogs. Campotosto is a village in the mountains where, traditionally, the people relied mostly on sheep for their livelihood. There are still a few working shepherds here today, although now the town is used mainly by Italians as a summer getaway.

In many ways, Campotosto seems frozen in time.


We are staying in Marco's family's house that they own here. This is the view of the front.


This is the view of the back (where we parked the car.)


Directly behind our house there is a little piazza with a church.


The house is quite large. Four bedrooms upstairs, two large bathrooms, an enormous kitchen and a couple of rooms on the main floor. Out of our bedroom windows, we can see the mountains and Lake Campotosto:


Campotosto is near L'Aquila, the site of the recent, devastating earthquakes in Italy. Unfortunately, some of Marco's family lost homes and businesses in the disaster, although luckily none were hurt. The quake was felt here (as were some aftershocks) but the town seems mostly unaffected. However, walking through town, you can see that some of the older buildings did not withstand the quakes:


As you all know we're dog lovers. Here dogs roam freely around the town. However, these guys are not like Rocky and Joey - no Christmas outfits or Buddy Rinse conditioner or booties for the snow for these guys. These dogs are working sheep dogs and they're nasty. Gina warned us about them. Now I understand why.

On a stroll through town, where I was (as Ray says) "looking for another vantage point", such as this:


Marco and I got a little too close to a flock of sheep. Now, if you're a ratty sheep dog and two very white people wielding two cameras approach the flock, this can only mean one thing: the sheep are under siege and you have to protect the flock. The dogs took one look at us, growled and then ran at us with their big, Canadian-biting teeth! Like the idiot tourists we are, we ran away and avoided injury, although not embarrassment. Note to self: do not attempt to hug sheep or sheer same to acquire sock yarn.

My hands are cramping up and I have no sensation in the fingers on my left hand. This may mean it's time to stop blogging. Tomorrow Sandra, Mario and kids will join us here. Until then, we are under the excellent care of Candida, Fausto and Mariapaola, which is lucky for us since we seem to be a bit ridiculous on our own.