Mishaps and Amalfi

Mishaps:
1. I blew up my hairdryer within 5 hours of being in Italy. I plugged it into the converter, saw the inside turn bright orange, and within seconds there was a loud pop and a little smoke. Since then I’ve gotten creative. I have a little bathroom heater (ironically, I think it’s identical to the one I had in my bathroom at home and in my office), and I’ve deemed it my makeshift hairdryer. It doesn’t work well, and I’m sure I look pretty lame using it, but it’s better than nothing.

2. I forgot to tell Wachovia I would be going abroad. They froze my bank account and didn’t reopen it until today. The even hung up on my dad when he called to tell them I was abroad with no money and no cell phone. A frozen bank account isn’t good under any circumstances, but especially when you need to pay rent. Thankfully Lucia was very nice and understanding.

3. I missed the bus three times in a row yesterday morning because I couldn't figure out where the bus stop was - literally missed it, in that I was standing there waiting for it to stop, and it kept going. My directions were, “Go 500 meters up the hill and you’ll see it on the right” and then “it’s in front of the red house.” But stops are not well marked here, I didn’t really know how far 500 meters was, and there were multiple red houses.

After I finally figured out where the bus stop was, I went over to Amalfi, another of the little towns on the Amalfi Coast, and the town for which the coast is named, obviously. It was a lot like Positano, only a bit flatter and more touristy - more stores, more restaurants, and busloads of tourists. Positano has lemon trees speckled throughout the town, but Amalfi was covered with them. There was a patch of about 300 of them, terraced into the cliff.  They were netted due to the cold, but still pretty to see.

It was raining, but not hard, and it was still relatively warm. I spent the day walking around the town, got a SIM card for my cell, had a really good Italian lunch, and even got internet access. Unfortunately, wireless is pretty weak here. It’s like being back on dial-up: no uploading pics, no video chatting,  no browsing website even.  I’m still trying to figure out if there’s a better alternative;  but it’s better than nothing at least, so I can’t complain.

I found the shortcut today from my apt to the beach - rather than take the winding road, I can just go straight down some steps - 328, to be exact. They’re pretty steeps, but it’s a great shortcut. I also found out that there is a Pescheria (fish shop) on the beach. From what I understood from the old Italian woman who told me about it, the fisherman go out early in the morning and then come back and sell their catch, and I should get there early to get a good piece. I’m going to check it out tomorrow morning.

I’ve taken a million pics and can’t wait to share them - hopefully soon!