Agrigento

This weekend, the lifeguards decided to go out and rent and car and figure out how to get around Sicily by ourselves. This is the first time we've actually tried to get around without public transportation or military guys with us (excluding when we drove with Z's mom), so we piled in the car expecting an adventure. What I didn't really understand when my friends told me that "we rented a car" was that it was going to mean, "you're driving us around all day because you're the only one who knows how to drive a stick." I'm not sure how much I've mentioned about the driving here in previous posts, but I was a little freaked out to be the one driving, especially after we got on the road and they gave me the directions: "Ok, go about 90 miles west, and then turn and go about 50 miles south." I had no idea I'd be taking us halfway across the island, but surprisingly, we made it there safely. We ended up in a city called Agrigento, where we were supposed to see some Roman temples, but when we got there (paid for parking) and realized that none of us had and Euros on us, we got in the car to find an Bancomat. Being the driver, I decided to just follow wherever I was instructed to go, and didn't realize that the ATM was going to be in another city an hour away. It was was a fun exploration of the island, and driving to the other city was not a terrible idea because we ended up at the best ice cream restaurants I've ever been to. The Italians working there must have been disgusted to see us so in love with our ice cream that we were licking the plates, but we didn't care.

Afterwards we drove to a beach on the way back to Agrigento. We didn't end up swimming, but took a bunch of pictures of ourselves doing stupid things instead. It was hilarious to us, and for some reason we were the only people on the beach... Probably because by this time it was getting dark and cold out, but we still hung out there until a creepy Italian man started taking pictures of us, too...

When we got back to Agrigento, we drove around for a while trying to find a good place to eat, and ended up eating at a tiny family restaurant where we were also the only people around. We've gotten used to the fact that everywhere we go, we are stared at and talked to by locals, but this was definitely the strangest experience yet. There was a table of about 7 15-year-old boys sitting next to us, trying to talk to us the whole time, and finally figuring out how to say a phrase in English: "What... time... is it?" It made us laugh a lot (especially because none of us had watches, and couldn't even tell them), and our laughter gave them the courage to continue trying to talk to us. After a long dinnner of trying to get them to leave us alone, the mom of all the kids finally broke out the camera and asked to take a picture with us, so we gave up on getting them to leave. They had a blast taking pictures with us, and we ran to our car once they started trying to kiss us goodbye.

It was a good day off. I ended up driving for about 6 hours, but it's good that I finally feel comfortable on the roads, in case we rent a car again in our last few weekends here. Only 25 more days till I'm home!