Jerry and Joyce had a serious hike lined up for today. They were hiking from Levanto to Monterosso. It was a 3 hour hike. Larry was still resting his foot so declined. Debbie also declined as it was mostly in full sunlight and she was still recovering. She had a mesmerizing effect with her lips from the first burn and wasn’t sure what another dose would do.
For Debbie and Larry, it was post office day. They had packed their boxes, filled out forms and were ready to post. They gathered up all their euros and began the march to the Levanto post office. This was not the one where Debbie had gotten the boxes with no customers. No, that was 45 minutes away. This post office was the main branch in Levanto with customers taking a number to be serviced. Of course, they didn’t know that. They also figured out that not many English speaking people visited the post office.
Some of the customers helped the pair get the correct number and line up. It took Debbie awhile to figure out that the numbering was who had been served not who needed to be served. You can imagine the postal employee’s excitement when those two rolled up to his window. The clerk, who will be called Marco, was very patient. There was a lot of google translate, hand waving, head nodding and consultation with supervisors. After 45 minutes, one package was done. Another 15 minutes and the second was done. Total time was one hour. Smiles all around and waving and Marco released them. Each had reduced the weight by at least 10 pounds. Bring it!
In celebration, the two went to the salami and cheese shop. There was more Google translate, hand waving, and nodding. They couldn’t figure out how much to order and what unit of measurement. They finally told the guy to cut until they said stop and extrapolated back. Debbie even agreed to sheep cheese.
They continued their post office celebration by walking around and eating calamari and chips along with some fish.
To top off the day, Joyce and Jerry came back with focaccia bread for dinner. Focaccia is a type of Italian yeast bread baked in flat sheet pans. Focaccia dough is flavored with olive oil and sometimes topped with herbs and other vegetables. The two broke out the cheese and salami. Debbie likes the bread a lot.
Debbie thinks that the packages will get there after they return home possibly 2024 or never.
