the time i almost died camping

faithful readers,
if you have read my blog for any length of time, you know by now that i am a bit of an exaggerater. that word is spelled wrong. maybe it isn't actually a word. exaggerator? anyhow, it isn't true that i almost died. however, all numbers and temperatures quoted below are the honest truth, however shocking they may seem.

okay, i'll be honest. in hindsight, it really wasn't that bad. the bus ride from Trento to Canazei was long (and a bit nauseating) but incredibly beautiful. trento is in the foothills of the Dolomites, and the ride only got more spectacular the closer we got to Canazei. Miles upon miles of rolling apple orchards became little mountain towns, peopled with smiling, rosy-cheeked citizens and fluffy sheep-herding dogs. the architecture became markedly-more german/austrian, and the street signs began to be listed in both languages. we had arrived in SudTirol.

unfortunately a cold front arrived with us. and a rainy front. for two days, we lived for glimpses of the sun and brief parting of the clouds, even if in parting they revealed only gray sky. the first night that we pitched tent, we were wet before dinner, due to a slow, steady drizzle. by the time we were ready to tuck into our tent, i was shivering uncontrollably. the temperature that night was 5 degrees celsius - about 40 degrees fahrenheit - which i suppose might not be that cold to you...but personally, i am only happy in 60 degree weather if i have a sweater. so 40 was really darn cold to me. the next day we went out and bought gloves, hats, fleeces, and wool socks, and i slept in all of it...and still, the third morning i woke shivering.

we took a cable car to Belvedere, one of the peaks in this area of the Dolomites, and walked among the clouds. it was a nasty, rainy day (still), and incredibly cold at that altitude. however, in one of those brief slivers of sunshine, we were rewarded with an amazing view down into the valley where we had been camping below. 100 million years ago, when the surface of the earth looked nothing like it does now (see "A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson), the Dolomites were actually a coral reef, and it is easy to imagine them as such. The mountains still look a lot like pictures of the sea floor, full of strange, craggy peaks and jagged drop-offs, and the valley, so incredibly green from the rainy climate, actually looks like seaweed covering the mountainside at times. Alexandria found a perfectly intact and lovely shell on one of our hikes, and Neotha and I found some marine fossils as well, which is apparently a perfectly normal occurrence.

i have to say, the bratwurst and sauerkruat and strudel made up for the cold weather, especially now that i am home safely in tuscany, where the warm summer sun has made me forget the fear of losing all my fingers and toes.

pictures of the dolomitian adventure will follow shortly - neotha was the group photographer, so i have to wait on her. there are new songs on the website, and in a few days there will be another called "if i stay," which is an outtake from the thin thread recording sessions.

lots of love and good wishes all around,
vanessa