Day 14, August 16: Mellow Day! Woke up and went to see the house that Mom and Dad are building here in the village before going to the pools in Roccamandolfi. Only the shell of the house is there right now with windows and shutters but it's already a beautiful home. It will be amazing when it's done, 3 stories high and built to last.
The pools were a welcome treat and a beautiful surprise. They're tucked away in the middle of the mountains, apparently mafia owned, at least as rumor goes. There are 3 pools complete with a bridge, rocks to jump off of, and waterfalls. The water is chilly at first but when you're baking in the sun, it feels so good. The only thing that would have made it better was if people weren't smoking around us. It's already 94 degrees out, why add any heat to it? It's disgusting how much people smoke here. But the location serves for fantastic people watching. There was a woman in a thong, men who need a back wax, but the best by far was a young man rocking a swim outfit straight out of the '70s. It was a matching set of short swim shorts and fitted, collared, short sleeve shirt open at the top in a '70s floral pattern of pinks, corals, and oranges. Oh, and a pair of aviator shades. Hotness.
After the pools we came home for a shower before going back to Jovanine and Michele's for dinner. We got a tour of the property from Michele and learned in translation through Mike to Dad the full process in making prosciutto. He and Jovanine will actually slaughter the pig on their property and cut off the leg to make the proscuitto. These people do NOT mess around.
They cut the leg off a freshly killed pig, salt it, leave it for a month or two, salt it again and press it in a press (similar for wine) for 3-4 days. After that they hang it in a room from bamboo pole lattices across the ceiling, smoking it for 3 months slowly. It takes place between January and March since it provides a good cold smoke. After the smoking is completed and dried it hangs in their basement behind a screen (to protect it from bugs) for two years. It develops some serious mold but once you clear that away, you shave the meat off with a deli slicer. No wonder the stuff is so expensive.
Dinner was homemade by Jovanine of course. We had a delicious baked gnocchi with tomato sauce, much lighter since it wasn't made with potato. I didn't even know until today gnocchi could be made without potato. Turns out there are different kinds. There was also prosciutto, sausage, cheese, grilled zucchini and eggplant drizzled with olive oil, chicken, and bread. All amazing and probably all from their own backyard. Dessert was limoncello and a delicious melon (also from their backyard) that looked like a cross between a honeydew and a cantaloupe. It even had the green flesh with a tinge of orange on the top.
After dinner we followed Mom and Dad up the way to meet Michele's brother and wife. Apparently, the brother has had a falling out with the family because of how the brother handled things before their mother died. Their mother was Cosimo's sister and she took care of him until his 40s. Then he married this Romanian woman and they all lived under the same roof. The mother claimed the new wife was mean to her and she couldn't live there anymore. She moved out and died shortly after. The family doesn't care much for her because she's not as open as the rest of the family.
After that awkward visit we went to the big festival in another town. We took a very long winding road and parked on the side of a pitch black road like everyone else. We walked into town where it was lined with stands of junk, art, candy, and food. That's more of what I expect to see at a festival. There was a band playing music and walking further up into town, we arrived at the main square where there was a fantastic blind singer performing. His name is Eduardo Bernado and he sang for over two hours! But his music was fun and he had a talented band and backup singers.
I've come to accept that in this culture blatant staring is normal. Especially when it's me in a small town. I don't think they mean anything by it (most of the time) but I assume they're fascinated or baffled that I'm there in the flesh. But it's a little frustrating with the lack of smiling. Eastern Europeans aren't known for smiling but even when making eye contact with them or smiling at them, there's no response. It's strangely flat like they're startled I caught them.
There was a couple Jovanine and Michele know who said hello to them but we were standing a little further away so we didn't meet them. The wife was obviously bored at the concert so she was looking around and I noticed out of the corner of my eye, she kept looking back at me. I caught her at one point looking me up and down, blank faced. Maybe her face at rest looks unhappy but I smiled at her and she blankly turned back around. Shortly after, she tapped her husband with an annoyed look like, "Let's go, I'm tired".
Finally, Eduardo finished and we went back out of town in order to watch the fireworks. It was weird since they did it in two sets. The end of each set was like they accidently fired off the reserve in one go. It was so loud and so many exploding it sounded like they were starting the next war. And at the end there would be three clean bursts to let people know that was the end. It was very impressive.
At 1:30, we were finally home. I think Croatia's parties spoiled us. I have no interest in coming back for the festivals, mainly because we couldn't ever sit down!
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