Without a Traceroute

NOTE: Written on October 4.

Yesterday started out lame, but wound up rather awesome. The train station people were very nice about not deliberately waking me up and rousting me out. A janitor came in around 7:30 I think, I sort of half woke up, but he didn’t say anything and even mopped around my bags on the floor. I thought it was nice of him; maybe he was just happy to have an excuse not to mop that part of the floor. The tourist office in the train station never opened, but I caught a bus down to the port.

At the port, I got seriously jerked around by the guy working the ticket booth for the ferry out to the islands. First he sold me an €11 ferry ticket, then he told me the ferry didn’t leave until 6:30 pm (they’re on the off-season schedule now, with less frequent service), but there is a hydrofoil leaving at 12:15. It was only about 10 am at this point, so I’m like, “Fine, can I get the 12:15 instead?” And he does some fast change action where he takes back my ferry ticket, and all the change from the €20 bill I’d handed him. Then, he doesn’t give me a ticket, and he says “Ok, come back here at 12.” I was was like, “What?” but he was very insistent like, “It’ll be fine, you come back at 12 now,” and hustled me out the door of the ticket office before closing it and locking up.

I spent the next couple hours buying some groceries to take with me to the islands to save money on food, and then waiting in the tourist office at the port (where I discovered a hydrofoil trip is supposed to cost €16.50, not €20).

When I did go back to the ticket office (at 11:45, not 12), there was already a mob of people there, and I had to wait. I got to the window and it was the same guy; sure enough, he wanted to charge me again for another ticket. I stood firm and was like, “No, I already paid you, you need to give me a ticket.” he finally relented, only by then the 12:15 hydrofoil had sold out, so I had to wait for the 1:15.

I’m still not completely sure what to make of this situation. It’s possible the guy intended to take back the ticket and all my change and give me back the €20 note, in which case it was an innocent mistake and he wasn’t intending to rip me off. On the other hand, he was very pushy and obnoxious. A guy who lives in Milazzo later told me that the ferry operators have a reputation for being jerks to everyone, locals and tourists alike.

I think the lesson for me is that I need to be less worried about looking like a jerk, and more worried about getting ripped off. I should’ve been clear about the price, and I should’ve demanded a ticket or my money back on the first go around. This is hard for me, because I’m generally a pretty easy-going guy; especially in foreign countries where I don’t always understand the way things work, it’s easy to come off as the pushy, demanding tourist.

The hydrofoil was pretty cool. Boarding was an adventure, though. The Italians in general do not do lines. Everyone just mobs around a narrow gangplank and shoves their way forward. I got elbowed in the face by a woman who could’ve been my grandmother.

The trip took about an hour and a half. I’m really glad I decided to come here though. Lipari is incredibly beautiful. Accommodation prices are way down during off season. I’m staying at an apartment rented by a nice old Italian lady who speaks basically no English. I have my own private room with private bathroom (this is a first for me on this trip), a balcony with a view of the Mediterranean, a refrigerator, and there’s a shared kitchen here. All for €20 a night. When you consider that I paid €18/night for a bunk bed in a hostel dorm in Palermo, you can see why this is awesome.

I wandered around the town of Lipari, which is the largest town on the islands, but still quite small and charming. I walked up the hill to see the castle or fort at the top, and I was recruited by a very nice old man to come see the Lipari Maritime museum (which was free). He spoke no English, but was incredibly enthusiastic about showing me the different exhibits in the small museum. At the start, he asked me, “English?” which I took to mean, “Do you speak English?” and replied “Si”, but he took to mean “Are you English?” and so he made a special point to emphasize any time the museum’s exhibits made reference to somebody British. I tried to appear suitably impressed by photos of the British royals’ 1960s visit to the Aeolian islands. The museum was a weird mix of “Here’s people who’ve visited here” photos, historical relics from early ships from the area, and a LOT of exhibits about fishing: different types of nets, traps, spears, hooks, etc. In what has been a recurring theme on my trip, the old man took me for a very detailed tour, talked to me excitedly in a language I didn’t understand, demonstrating with pantomime how to use the various fish-catching implements, and I tried my best to show interest.

Afterwards, I visited a very beautiful church on top the hill, with a well-preserved “Norman knave” (this was what the sign said, I was unaware that the Normans were in Italy). But beautiful churches and antiquities are a dime a dozen in Italy. What made this church awesome was that it came equipped with its very own kitten! He was quite frisky and curious, attacking my shoelaces and the straps on my backpack. He also wore a collar that appeared to made from rosary beads. Sweet.

The only downside I’ve found in Lipari so far is that all the internet cafes (there are 3) seem to be run by some sort of internet-cafe monopoly cartel called “Internet Point”, and they all charge €6/hour for internet access, which is absurd. I understand that many things on the islands are more expensive because they need to be shipped in, but it’s not like they have to haul the internet in on a boat. I’ve taken to drafting my posts, but not posting them so as to not waste money there.