La Casa delle Acque

Welcome to La Casa delle Acque (The House of Waters). The house was abandoned during World War 2 and it took Nirav quite a while to finally buy it and clean it up but here it is. I call it the pink palace. An epic piece of property to say the least.

I said my goodbyes to Vittorio and took a bus from Piazza Armerina to Catania, and I had directions from Nirav on how to buy a ticket from Catania to Paterno, but it made no sense. For at least an hour I was asking people and everyone said something different, like oh it's over there at the Catania station, or over there by this, or yada yada yada. I was in my own personal rat race. I wanted to yell like, I just want a damn ticket to Paterno! Is it really this hard!? I finally found the tobacco shop where I had to buy the ticket and made it to the bus stop in Paterno where I called Nirav from a store phone. He said there was another wwoofer arriving in 15 mintues, and he'd have his friend pick us both up. I waited and waited. 2 hours pass by and I'm just chillin eating my apples that I picked a few days before at Vittorio's. I knew someone would come eventually. Nirav finally showed up with a car full of mangoes. Apparently Lovisa (new wwoofer) got off at the wrong station and when the guy drove past the bus stop where I was at he didn't see me. O well. No biggie.

The mangoes are the best I've had by far. Grown 45 minutes away on the rich volcanic soil of Mt. Etna. I can't say enough how good this food is. Picked local and in season.  

The wwoofers palace. Sweetness.

View of the backyard from the balconi. 

View of the front from the balconi. Such a location near the base of Mt. Etna and the city to the right on the hill is the main part of Paterno. About 20 years ago there were several killings here leading back to the Mafia, but it feels as safe as any other city I've been to. 

One for the history books. From left to right. John from Pennsylvania. Laurence from Munich. Ben from Boston. Lovisa from Sweden. Yours truly. Christian from Berlin. And Christian from Rome. Coming from the quiet days in Piazza Armerina this feels really good, for the simple fact it's such a different experience and vibe. 

Nirav has artistic pieces and sculptures from India all over the property because for 12 years he traveled back and forth from Sicily to India. He also led excursions out on the ocean for around 20 years, and I think that's one reason he's comfortable with having a lot of people around. Other than that I don't know too much about Nirav, he seems to put up a barriers around himself that is easily felt when you talk to him. 

Ginger

Kittens! 

For the first week and a half we primarily did olive harvesting. We'd use nets and place them around the tree and then go at it with little rakes. This one was unique because as you can see it was hanging off a little cliff! A little roller coaster for the olives, I bet they enjoyed it. The team work aspect of the work here is very enjoyable, and it's been fun to get to know such an awesome group of people. 

Little Maya taking a snooze. 

Borus! Such a dude. I'll be laying down on a lawn chair at night looking at the stars and he'll come and put his paw on me. 

The main floor is the wwoofers territory which is pretty sweet. We jam out to tunes, take turns making dinner, share stories, and well it's always a good time. One night I was way over by the bathroom in the wwoofers palace and almost everyone was outside sitting around the table, and I let out a beast of a fart. Christian from Rome said hey trumpet assholo! Hahhaha I was on the ground laughing. 

John and Ben told me a story how they were walking on the road up to Paterno and saw two guys with shotguns hunting rabbits. Ahhh this place is so legit. Just like I said before, anything goes in Sicily.