Catania

Catania - land of great food, sunny weather and the craziest drivers! We have really enjoyed the different food here. At night you can find charcol BBQs along the streets where you pick your meat...horse, ass, pig, cow... and they cook it up for you right there. Last night we went out with some people we met at the hostel and Scott had an ass burger! The jokes didn't stop all night. Speaking of the hostel I was sitting in the lounge on the first day and started talking to a guy there, who said he recognized me? It ended up that he was from Winnipeg and had worked with Jennifer at the Panic restaurant! Wow!

Yesterday we also went to climb Mt. Etna. We doned snowshoes and explored craters. The mountain is still quite active, the last lava flow was in 2009. The day was really nice but crazy windy...see pic of Josephine! We were worried that Emily would blow off the crater. After hiking we went into a lava tube cave that had bats. We even saw 2 babies that the guide thought were only 2 days old. The mother gives birth and nurses them without waking up! My kind of labour!



Now on the subject of driving. Nuts hardly describes it. Everything here is a suggestion...red lights, lines on the road, right of way, one ways. You take your life into your hands just crossing the street. We were told the only way to cross is to not look and just walk. Ugh! Needless to say there are very few cars without dents and scratches.

Today we walked around the town enjoying all the markets and fresh food. The chesse, fruits and veggies are super. You can get any meat...body part too. I think it's intestine.

We're here for one more day and then off to Rome for a week.

Jane