Another beautiful day here in Milano with blue sky, temperatures in the high 70s, and abundant sunshine.We either have this sublime experience or the complete opposite with thunder, lightening, and dark skies for days.Italy: go hard or go home.Funny that this philosophy's close cousin, work hard, play hard, does not apply.I'm taking advantage of this cultural preset today as I sip tea in which I'm dunking my homemade biscotti.Time for the second installment of Cinque Terre…

Sabato 25.04.09

We were up and at 'em early again that morning, mostly encouraged by the soft sunrise and Josh's insistent nature.That soft light turned into full sun just as we started up the first path.I thought it was silly that Josh and Joey made us stretch out before heading out, like we were getting ready for the bighomecoming game or something, but that turned out to be a damn good idea since the first path was not so much of a path as a uneven stone staircase up the side of a mountain.I lost count of the insane number of steps after I had already seen a snake in the first 15 minutes and the boys were so far ahead that they didn't even hear us freak out about it.Our slowness was a combination of the fact that we wanted to take it all in at a leisurely pace and we were carrying all their stuff (towels, sunglasses, sunscreen, water, etc.)My new name for that day was "the packhorse".Joey and Josh were in some kind of weird prove-our-manhood mood and Aamir was just happily following along, blissfully unaware of any tension between the two factions.So after a morning of them circling back to make sure we were still alive, commenting on how slow we were, and then "offering" to carry the pack, Hilary and I officiallybroke off from the group, saying we'd meet them at the final destination in the afternoon.This suggestion was met with not even fake resistance.

This turned out to be a very poor decision on their part since we ended up having a blast and they ended up with a broken camera and sore muscles.Our muscles would have been sore if it hadn't been for our break on the beach, but I'm getting ahead of myself.The best story is how we ended up at that beach, and oh what a beach it was.

So we had been going along, taking lots of pictures, hopping from rock to rock when we spotted a narrow side trail next to which was a sign pointing out a "free beach, 15 min".We had already had great success with off-roading when we trekked over a stream and came across a beautiful olive grove where the voices of other hikers didn't even float down to disturb the setting.Fortified with this, we figured we'd try it again but before we even got down three metres we were met by a disgruntled couple coming up the hill.She was covered in dirt like she had taken a fall and he was following along with a tail-between-the-legs expression. I guess they thought we didn't speak English so as they passed, the woman said, "oh those girls don't know what they're getting themselves into…" which whipped us right around in alarm!She explained to us that it was an incredibly tough hike and not worth it at that because the beach was of the nude variety.The horror!

We thanked the couple for the information but just after turning around we paused at the same moment, turned to each other and had something similar to the following exchange:

"…It wouldn't hurt to just see."

"You only live once, right?"

"Just to say we'd done it."

"What's the worst that could happen?"

"Basically nothing.I'm in."

"Done and done!Boy, we're wild."

I think it was our determination to be wild that kept us going through the toughest part of the hike down.That lady wasn't kidding - it was pretty much a cliff face.At three points we had to use ropes anchored to trees to repel down the side.On some parts we had to sit and ease ourselves down rocks and then on others we had to cling to the side of the mountain as we traversed the narrowest strips of the path.Added on top of all that, we were giggling the whole time (not a good state when you're trying to focus on balance).

It took in total, about an hour to reach the rocky seaside.This included stopping twice to talk to fellow hikers we ran into on the trail.One man gave Hilary his walking stick, claiming it to be "like a third leg," after he noticed we weren't the most "serious of hikers on first glance." We took that to mean that he noticed how blonde and beautiful we were.The others were a group of boys from University of Georgia who, upon seeing Hilary's Maryland hat, figured out that we knew someone in common!It's pretty sick when you are across the world on a remote section of terrain and this happens but I wouldn't have complained if they had been on their way to the nude beach and not leaving it…

As we were getting closer and closer, we realized that people were indeed very naked.This allowed us to get out all of our giggles before we actually had to face them.Turns out though that everyone was very comfortable with themselves (obviously), were just hanging out (literally), and weren't really concerned with us.With no cause to be nervous, we were able to enjoy the feeling of swimming in the ocean and then air-drying without embarrassment.I would definitely do it again!And if everything else we'd been through before hadn't done it, this had: friendship solidified.

We ended up meeting the rest of our party at a beach in Monterosso al Mare.We tried not to rub it in too much that their beach was not as nice as ours and that while we were busy having an adventure, they were busy beating the clock for no reason.

Domenica 26.04.09

After the events of the previous two days, I'm pretty sure everyone was grateful for the rain that blew in in the morning.Everyone except for me, that is.I managed to convince Will, Masha, Hilary, and Charles that it would be a good idea to do one last hike in the rain.I wanted to make it over to a viewpoint overlooking a protected marine area but the only ones left after an hour and a half were Hilary, Masha, and myself.Will and Charles actually bailed out before we even lost sight of the town but really, they had the best idea - we were soaked to the skin and worried about slipping on the rocks and then having to live with no-holds-barred teasing for the rest of the week. So we quit while we were ahead and just shopped and ate lunch before our train left to take us back to Milano.All in all, I would consider the weekend a success but only because I was seeing the incredible views with one of the best friends I've ever had.