Pozzuoli #1

Lesson 1: Just because there's a sign with an arrow for a particular location, doesn't mean it's anywhere close.

Lesson 2: Buses are your friends. Learn how to use them.

Lesson 3: If you ever have a chance to walk in a volcano with active gas jets and boiling mud, take it.

It was a three day weekend, the women were all off at their retreat, so Greg, Pete, Tristan, and I decided to head off for Pozzuoli, which is south of Rome by Naples. The train and metro ride there were uneventful, but upon arriving in Pozzuoli we discovered that the we were just off the edge of the only map we had: a less-than-useful printout from Google Maps. But, the locals were much friendlier than in Rome, and we had several people who came up to us offering directions. So, after hiking for about a mile to the top of a hill outside town, we found the hotel.

It was about 2 pm at this point, so we decided we'd head off to Cumae. Cumae is a small town west of Pozzuoli, where Aeneas entered the Cave of the Sibyl and descended to hell, according to Book 6 of the Aeneid. However, none of us had had lunch yet, so the first priority was to find a supermarket -- we had spent enough on the hotel; none of us wanted to eat at a restaurant.

Coming down the hill into town, we passed the entrance to Solfatara. After a quick debate, we decided that we were here to see cool things, not eat, and went into the volcano. It was awesome. It got perceptively hotter as we went in -- there were areas of the ground that were best to step over, due to the steam rising from them. These areas were hot enough to cook an egg on. It smelled like someone already had, and they all has the faint yellow tint of sulfur. We soon forgot about the steam due to the pits of boiling mud and the gas jets. The jets were over 300° and quite forceful, and the ground was hissing beneath our feet as we approached. Solfatara is not some tame government-regulated site like you find in America. No, if you were going to be stupid here, natural selection would have its say. We walked right up to these jets, and could have put our hands in them -- but hey, those hands would still have been required to write papers back on campus.

We were still hungry. Upon leaving Solfatara we saw a sign for a supermarket, and decided to follow it, assuming that it must be nearby. After walking along a highway with no exits for about 5 miles, we revised this assumption. It finally looped around, and we, having finished every bit of the little food in our backpacks (one roll purloined from the last meal we had on campus, and 3/4 of a bar of chocolate), worked our way back into town. We stopped at a newspaper stand to ask for directions. They told us how to get to Cumae, and laughed at us we said we were planning on walking there that day. By this time, sunset was an hour away. We found out later it was an hour ride by bus.

We were still hungry. We asked if there was a supermarket nearby. They gave us a funny look, and pointed 100 yards down the street at the big "Supermercato" sign. After buying some bus tickets, we bought food and made our way to the bus stop, praying fervently that the next bus would be going past "Academia Aeronautica," the only landmark by our hotel we could remember.

We made it back at about 6pm, ate lunch, and laughed at ourselves. But hey, it was a Friday in lent -- a good time for fasting.