FOLLOWING LAURA TO ACARBIO-Episode 7: Winter in Tramonti

I loved winter in Tramonti. On the contrary to most people, I preferred winter to summer in these mountains. Not because it was so cold, not because all the shops were closed, but because it brought a different kind of togetherness. Everything was quiet, and it brought new indoor and outdoor activities.

I liked going down to the village to buy pastries and eating them in bed with my roommate in front of a movie. I liked cooking potatoes in all of their shapes as an excuse because it’s warm. I loved going on a little hike without sweating like crazy, searching for berries to make homemade tea, and going to eat cake at the grandma’s house of the little girls I was teaching English to. There were no tourists, almost no buses, but since I prefer the mountains rather than the coast, it was fine. It was also a good excuse to hang out more with the locals than people of my age.

There is a place I would advise everyone to go, either by day or by night: the Vesuvio spot. Located at the entry of Tramonti, it gives you a beautiful view of Vesuvius and all the lights and houses of people living close to it. I learned that it is the most dangerous volcano not because of its lava but because many people are living so close to it; it would kill faster. Yet, people are still not moving from there, and the reason is agriculture. The volcano helps the ground to be more fertile. It is such a high risk to live there, but once you come, it seems almost normal to see life around. We had a tradition to go all together for the last day of a volunteer; we would share our favorite memories of our stay. I don’t know if people still do it, but it was amazing.

We also enjoyed a few parties; the two I remember well were the Armenian night hosted by our two Armenian volunteers, Mariam and Seroj. We learned so much about their culture that day and tasted great food. Of course, we also had an indoor pizza party, as Acarbio is known to host.

I still traveled a bit and had the luck to see Positano empty. If in my picture there is no one around, it is not thanks to Photoshop but really because the city was empty. Coming from the north of France, the weather was still way better than what I was used to because the sun didn’t escape.