Perugia and its festivals

I got to the stop for Perugia over an hour early, okay maybe I was a little paranoid about missing it! The one and half hour bus ride through the hills of Tuscany was lovely but arriving to Perugia with my orange monster (backpack) was not. I dreaded having to walk around with it. Luckily there was an escalator at the stop I was let off at and I was able to cruise up the hills of Perugia with ease. I knew that the last Sunday of every month there was a festival in Perugia, so I wasn't surprised when I hit the main street and there were tons and tons of booths filled with pastries, meats, clothes, wines, everything you could imagine. What I didn't know then was that this was not just the monthly festival, I had arrived at the once-yearly 5 day festival of music, food, and fun. Unfortunately, I couldn't check into my hostel until 4pm so I bought some fresh Norcia Proscuitto (they honor their pigs). I found a spot in the sun on the steps of a big cathedral overlooking the market, fountains, and historic center. I ate this wonderful proscuitto that melted in my mouth and watched the people having fun and enjoying the perfect day with all the festival activities one could wish for.

Later at the hostel, I met Eduardo a university student who was from Sicily and we went through the market where we met Lorenzo (also from Sicily) and we sampled delicious olives and salame with truffle oil, fantastic. I also tried a traditional Sicilian dish that is rice, tomatoes, peas, ham all put into a ball and fried, yummy. After way too much fair food, we and some other students went to sing Karoke at a local bar. I was a hit singing Hey Jude and Alanis Morisette and I even sang R.E.M.'s, It's the End of the World in Italian. I sang many songs in Italian that night and decided that Karoke is a great way to learn.

The next day I met Erica, who is a 66 year old nomad, who has been traveling for the past 6 years all over the world including sailing. She is a hoot and absolutely fascinating. Born in Hungary, she has lived in Austria, Argentina, and Key West and speaks 4 languages fluently. We went and took the minimetro to another one of the markets in Perugia that was filled with every imaginable item. We looked at everything but when Erica spotted a stall of beads her eyes lit up. She sold jewelry in Maui for 5 years previous to her nomad yrs. and these beads were a steal. By the end, I had even ended up with some Peruvian turquoise like beads called Chrisacola. The view from our hostel was breath taking and seeing the morning rays shine through was wonderful. It seems like everywhere I go there is some vista that blows me away! The terazza here was also covered with flowers overlooking the historic center. Fall had made its way to Perugia as well and I saw many beautiful sunsets over the mountains and churches. There are also several universities and Erica and I attended a student led Italian conversational hour which was great practice. I even sang a little bit when telling everyone in Italian that I was a cantante (singer).