It was mah birfday
I woke up in Mauricio's family's house situated on the Epic Lake Garda, north of Verona. It was my birthday and before I knew it I was receiving phone calls and texts. Rosella, Mauricio's mother, had spent 6 hours compiling a collection of 31 Venezuelan flowers with their names as a gift for me. We spoke to his parents (it was 3am in Venezuela) as I was guided through her gift.
We had arepas (my favourite) for breakfast and were generally lazy for the morning. Mauricio had assumed the roll of my slave for the day! We packed a bag, with special frizzante water as well as plain, and went out for the day in the search of Campo... the abandoned medievel village of Lake Garda.
We took our sweet time climbing the mountain and eventually got to a road block, which we skipped under. We joked that the village (around 1000 years old) would have a resort with coffee when we arrived. To our dismay, it was indeed inhabited, and there was even a small shop serving fanta, wine, coffee and things like that.
I played "keep the balloon off the ground" with a ridiculously adorable and very inquisitive young girl called Arriana. When our wine came Mauricio had been inside talking for, I swear, half an hour. I had been patiently waiting, leaving the wine to socialise with the girl. When he emerged he announced that the woman running the shop happened to be his relative! Basically everyone in Castello appears to be Mauricio's relative, but this was a real surprise. There was even a photo of his grandmother's cousin, Palmetta, on the cabinet display inside.
Mauricio then sat at our table knocking both glasses of wine over and an entire glass dumped itself over my camera (which I haven't used since). This meant that I was unable to get any photos of this incredibly charming place.
Olga fetched us more and we had the most incredible time reconnecting with Mauricio's past. We had a look inside the lounge room of the family house. They had first immigrated to the United States but then decided to immigrate back home. The second immigration was over 100 years ago and they still had the chest for the sewing machine that was used to make all the children's clothes. The whole experience was incredibly moving (and intense) for me but even more so for Mauricio, whom until this point, did not really feel like he had roots in this world. We all hugged and kissed and the little girl gifted us the perfume she had so diligently been making out of the various grasses coming from the rocks.
We also visited the church. Its walls were covered by a giant medieval masterpiece, spread over three walls, painted by an artist who was very famous in Verona at that time. It was unfinished and it was assumed that he died before the completion. The work included the Virgin Mary protecting the town and a wedded couple, St Peter and a strange hippie looking guy. There were several interesting features in this mural, such as the third eye painted onto the hippie and the Mayan cross on the robes of two of the figures. The third eye in particular is not usually a theme in Christian paintings. It was incredible to see such an old and fine piece of art in a (until recently) abandoned town. I was enchanted.
A fountain and stream ran through Campo and it contained melted snow from the mountains. This water was the most incredible and fresh water I have ever had. Here I cleaned my crystals and sat taking the whole experience in. This spot is where the couple that resently resettled the town had their first kiss. Olga told us that if we drank from the fountain we would stay together forever and never fight, just like the couple who met at it's spring. :P
We continued on a small path (once the main road of the area) with fantastic views of the lake, towards the next town, which we think was Castelleto di Brenzone. This town was everything that you would imagine a town in Italy looks like. It was like we were walking in an Italy pop-up book. There were windows and doors in the cutest places and there was even a "discothèque". You could tell because of the word discothèque chalked onto the top of the door. I really wanted to take photos.
Then, suddenly, and before we knew it, we were back in civilisation on the main road. We continued our San Pellegrino pilgrimage along the lake, stopping every now and then to play on the swings or something like that. We eventually made it back to Castello and found the restaurant that we wanted to have our romantic dinner at. It was a new restaurant and hotel owned by Consolini hotels, ie, one of Mauricio's relatives!
The waiter informed us that we were the first customers of the season (and hence, since the opening of the restaurant) to dine al fresco. We were seated on a wooden platform, out on the lake. The water visible beneath the gaps of the wooden planks was a beautiful emerald green. It was incredibly transperant this water.
We essentially had dinner ON the lake.
We ordered a seriously delicious half bottle of white and both ordered pasta. Incredibly, the menu included gluten free. It was, BY FAR the most romantic dinner date of my life and Mauricio agreed. We even sat there planning the details of our civil wedding as the waves lapped under us and the swans protected their babies further up the bank. The sun slowly set as we enjoyed each other's company.
Next was a surprised that I did not expect. Two waitresses brought a gluten free cake that had a LOVE HEART SHAPED SPARKLER on it and they sung me happy birthday in English. It was the cutest thing ever and the best part was that when it lit the sparkles travelled in two directions. This means that at the end they came together in a big burst instead of just fizzling out.
We ate the cake and sipped the complimentary shot of whatever liquor we had been served. I think it might have been prune liquor. I know that sounds yuk but it was totally delicious. Mauricio had also given me a gluten free cake the night before, which, for some reason I had decided to eat entirely without my hands while I laughed maniacally after blowing out the candle. We have video evidence. I was actually totally sober... I swear!
After this Mauricio and I walked back to the house and as we walked a distant sound caught my ear. It was the sound of progressive trance music. Yes, here, at Garda Lake. So we went inside, drank the left over wine, got dolled up and out we went in search of my birthday party. This search led us down alleyways, through an olive plantation until finally we found ourselves at a bar that was part of a boat house. There was a massive spread on the table including a pig's head with an apple in it.
Just as we were about to arrive the dj changed and instead of prog we had some other dj that was playing cheesy generic stuff but I'll admit it. We had a ball and danced- like it was my birthday! And you know who introduced herself to us as we drank our wine?? The birthday girl herself! She had turned 40 the same day as me. She was so happy to have us at her party and actually she reminded me of myself. She told us that next year we would have to call to let her know that we were coming.
We danced and had a great time and when the bar closed she invited us to another bar, so we went. We drank whiskey until the point that the 5 dudes around me who were hitting on me (one of who also claimed it was his birthday) got a bit too creepy for my liking and we went home to pass out.
It was my first birthday out of Australia and the first in a long time that didn't involve a kick ass weekend long party. It couldn't have been better and I am very happy to be 31. It was definitely the most sober birthday I have had since I was a teenager!
This actually happened
If you would like to hear this blog post read in a overexaggerated Italian voice just give mauricio a skype.