Monday, April 25, 2011

Trapped in Pozzallo

I left my hostel in Siracusa this morning at 5:30, only to find that the daily 6-o'clock train wasn't running. (Although the Trenitalia website said it would be.) No buses, either. So I was stuck catching a taxi for the hour-long drive to the ferry port at Pozzallo. It was a great hour to work on my Italian with Giovanni, the driver, although the fare cost what a semester-long course in a language school would cost.

When I arrived in Pozzallo, the winds were so strong that it was difficult to walk outside. I waited an hour huddled against the shuttered ticket office, then someone came by and pointed out a sign that said the ferry had been canceled due to inclement weather. The seas were high, frothing in the wind.

I stood behind a coast guard building for protection as I considered what to do. I was a couple miles from town with no way off the island. Pretty limited options. Finally I hitchhiked into the village and found a bed and breakfast with an available room. It appears that the next boat to Malta isn't until Wednesday morning, so I'm trapped here for a couple nights. That's a bad blow to my Maltese research, but maybe I can make it a good time for writing. There doesn't seem to be much else to do here, at least not in this weather.

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