Borzonasca, Italy

I thought I booked a room for a cheap price, but upon arriving to Camp Mulino II, I realized I booked a slot for a tent. I had given my oversized tent to Angel; it was too big and bulky going back in the car. Turned out it was good that I had left it, otherwise I wouldn’t have had room for two hitchhikers in need of a 3-hour ride to Italy. I had to rearrange everything to try and give them space and it was a snug fit for Ace, I, and our passengers. Afterwards the woman told me that she had asked another person for a ride, and they said they didn’t have room. He only had one bag in his backseat. The couple were from Belgium, the man sat in the front while his girlfriend slept in the back. I gave her a neck pillow and she was sleeping within 6 minutes into the ride. I talked the man’s ear off, I apologized, sometimes when you are alone it is just satisfying to talk to someone. Ace can only listen to my nonsense for so long. Then he gives a fierce huff that shakes his whole fluffy head, and then he goes to sleep too. After dropping the couple off in Genova, Italy, I made my way to a campsite in Borzonasca. It was really hard to find, took me over a half an hour.

I had almost given up, when I finally came across a woman standing on the side of the road. She was waiting for me. I followed her back down the driveway that I had missed twice. I didn’t have a tent and it was too late and dark to set one of theirs up. She offered a room, but it was over 5 times the price of sleeping in a tent. So, I used their toiletries, showered and slept in my car for a couple of days. I felt it was safe enough to be parked in this mountainous, woodsy area with facilities that kept me from squatting in the wilderness. I tell you, I really hated that. So, I booked a stay until the end of the month until I got paid again. I wasn’t able to pay all up front, but they allowed me to pay when I could. Which I was very grateful for. They took care of me in my time of need. Which is amazing for a business to do! I knew I didn’t have enough money to pay for gas and lodging on my way down to Reggio Calabria and my friend told me her landlord was Muslim. Which usually means that they do not allow dogs into their homes because dogs were considered unclean in the Muslim’s eyes. After sleeping in my car for 3 nights, Anto, my British sounding Italian friend, offered a room in the workers cabin. It was small, but it was a bed and a place that I could rest and change clothes comfortably.

I made use of my time by helping pull weeds and doing some yardwork. I was also able to use the wifi at the reception area and sat at a table to write while in the dining hall.  I made friends with a woman who sounded British when she spoke English. She was born in Italy, but her parents, whom were scientist, moved to the United Kingdom to do research. That is where she grew up and picked up the accent. She translated often for me to others, as I worked on my Italian vocabulary. There was the patriarch there, the oldest male, who seemed to be like the grandfather to all. He was a Tai Chi master, but after being wrongfully accused for the death of a woman who had worked there. Well, she died of cancer, but the family was so upset because the people at Camp Mulino II focus on natural remedies. The woman had been ill to the point of great concern and was advised to go to the hospital, but she didn’t want to. Some people do not trust the health care industry and I do understand this concept. There is a large concern for pharmaceutical drugs using drugs that can do more harm than good. Some people die from chemo before their cancer is irradicated. The type of cancer she had was the aggressive sort, the kind that by the time you have symptoms, it is too late.

But Puolo, the Patriarch, suffered the loss of his friend and the wrath of her family, who adamantly accused him of murder. The trial took some time and Puolo did not have money to post bail. So, he sat in prison for a year until he was proven innocent. He stopped practicing Tai Chi all together. The first guy I met was Fabio, who is from Sardinia. There was Chef, who I called Chef, and as you can imagine he was the Cookie of the western world. He chained smoke, he cursed, and he smiled a lot. He loved Ace so much; he laid on the floor with Ace one day in the dining room and they cuddled. This is normal behavior to me, Ace is precious and anyone who meets him knows he is exceptional in temperament and beauty.

I walked around the beautiful camp, they had an apple orchard, which made the land qualify under agricultural property. This classification prevented them from building as there had to be a select amount of acreage dedicated to wilderness. They had a little shop where they sold their homemade jam and cakes, made from the apples from the orchard. They also had a lot of rose bushes, which a company collected the pedals and made their fragrant beer. I am not much of a beer kind of gal, but it was actually good.

Upon walking around, Ace came across an area dedicated to Nestore, the pig who loves dogs. It was cute watching Ace and Nestore meet for the first time. Nestore wagged his tail in happiness and Ace did not know whether to play, fight, or eat this pig. Nestore was bigger than Ace and had 4 tusks, looking like a boar. Nestore also had a very strong body odor, but I made sure not to offend Nestore by making a face or commenting on what he could not help. When I pulled weeds, I put Nestore’s favorite snack on top. The weed had yellow flowers that resembled dandelions and were easy to spot. Every time I walked up to deliver the goods, he ran over to the fence, tail wagging, snorting in excitement and dug into the weed pile.

After some time, I think the body odor got to Ace because he lost interest and went about sniffing other things. I made sure to say Ciao to Nestore, so not to be rude and just walk away. I heard pigs are very smart and are basically like dogs. As I looked around, I imagined all the things I wanted to do to the landscape and fix. These are fevered dreams, what I want and what my body can handle is black & white. I still tried, I looked at the garden tools and they were in very poor condition. All the metal were rusted but still usable, but the handles of most were broken in half, and some were missing the handles all together. The few that I could use for its purpose, I had to get the screwdriver out of my tool bag and secured the handle more firmly onto the tool. Rita, the staff’s waitress, would come out periodically to tell me what a beautiful job I was doing. Then she would give me a hug and kiss on the cheek, to show her appreciation. She did not speak English, but we always tried to communicate to each other anyway.

When I saw Rita, she would walk around with furrowed eyebrows and bit her lip often. As if worried or upset about something. She would catch me looking at her and make sure to give her a warm smile, then she smiled in return. Through my translator app, we were able to figure out that she had a lot of pain in her shoulders and neck, and I started to give her massages to loosen her tight muscles. Sometimes she would start to cry and say they were good tears, then she would call me “Benedetta”. I looked this word up later and found that it meant, blessed.

I contemplated on how long I would stay at Camp Mulino. Truth was, I was struggling financially. I get paid once a month from the U.S. Gov’t, because of my early retirement from the Navy. If it wasn’t for this money, I would not be able to live. I had tried different jobs, the kind that are somewhat physical. I worked for the Kroger Pharmacy central filling station, but I could only do so many hours. Even typing away at my computer causes muscle spasms in my shoulders and neck. Resulting in tension headaches and tiredness from constant or increasing pain. I have been to chiropractors, massage therapy, acupuncture, physical therapy, water therapy. I refuse to take opioids, so my only relief is Ibuprofen and lidocaine patches. I used to dance at Fred Astaire’s, play sports, and exercise to keep in deployment shape. I have changed my diet to Mediterranean anti-inflammatory and do Pilates when I am physically able to.

Anyways, my point is that I had a set budget and I could not get a job to add “mula” to the account. So unless I was willing to sleep in my car again, I would stay until I could get financially back on my feet. At that time, I did not have money for petrol to make it all the way down the coast to the toe end of Italy, near Sicily. I stayed at Camp Mulino from April 19th to about May 22nd. I left before getting paid, but I felt my welcome started to wain and needed to leave before I tainted my fond memories of the place with bad ones.

Until next Sunday, enjoy the videos of Ace making friends with the local camp animals. Corto, Nestore, a kitten, and a bambi. God Bless.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. – Thessalonians 5:16-18