Super Nel and I have just hiked a dark tunnel of doom and now down a very steep cliff to get to this secluded, quiet and gorgeous beach. But it turns out it's a nudist beach. When I ask the people who live on the property "just how naked do you have to be?" The response is "as naked as your comfortable with."
At the beach there are about 10-12 other people spread out and for what I can see when I glance around they are all butt naked. Now I'm the last person to be uncomfortable naked. Mr. Richard and I call our apartment "Naked House" and clothing is always optional. I appreciate the human body and love my own. I'm the girl that would walk out onto our balcony in Cabo every morning naked just to see what the weather was like (hot). Naked is not a problem. But naked on a beach where everyone has now turned their head towards you as you climb down starts to feel a little uncomfortable. I tell Arnel that I don't know about getting naked (the walk from the sand to the water is kinda far and now starts to feel like a runway for a model show.
Just then we hear more voices coming from the trail. It's 3 girls and their speaking English!!! Real English, not Brit, Austrailian or Canadian English. This is good for 2 reasons-one, if they don't get naked then I won't either and two-maybe they have real flashlights and we can all go back through the tunnel together.
Again-I'm trying not to stare at anyone on the beach and make anyone uncomfortable but I'm trying to see if the American girls are getting naked. I glance over at them and see them taking off their clothes under a towel. Dang it. Now I feel like I have to represent or else I'm the stuck up American that doesn't blend in. So I compromise-I take off my top and run splashing into the water.
The water felt soooooo goood!!!!! We still don't know if the water in Cinque Terre is part of the Mediterranean or not. We felt more buoyant that's for sure (or maybe I did because of the two free floating boobs I was sporting). Either way the water was great. Now the American girls are getting in the water and I glance over and see that THEIR WEARING BIKINIS?!?? WTF???? Two of them are wearing strapless bikinis so I guess when they were changing under the towel it made it seem like they were getting naked. Now I feel underdressed.
I was not the only naked girl there. After we arrived more and more people started showing up and getting naked (but I was still the only American). Arnel says "who cares? You're on vacation." Mind you, he's not naked. He saw a guy wearing a pair of shorty shorts and at the last second decided to keep his board shorts on (after I'm topless).
It really did feel nice to be floating in the water and I stopped caring after a few minutes that my girls were getting some unrestricted fun in the water.
The American girls-named Kaitlyn, Kaitlyn and Carly-and Super Nel and I are doing the famous 5 conversation (that's what I call "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" "How long are you traveling" "Where have you been?" "Where are you going next?"). We find out that they are traveling for 5 weeks and 2 of them are from Indiana and 1 from New York.
We also find out that they are staying in the next town up and they hiked to the beach. No scary tunnel for them. We tell them about our adventure and they say they might join us on the way back (and they have phones!)
After an hour of enjoying the beach we start drying off and head back to the tunnel with our new friends. I tell them that I speak Spanish and to just play along as we pass the nomads. They agree.
The man I originally spoke with is not at the tunnel entrance and two other guys start gesturing to the donation pot. I tell them that we already donated, than them and head into the tunnel. Two guys follow us into the the tunnel and sit down in chairs and watch us walk away. Crap.
Two of our new friends have phones with flashlights and it makes the hike a lot better because we can see. But now that we can see in the tunnel it looks even scarier. I keep thinking we'll see bones or bodies inside. Arnel took the lead (he was dying to get out) and I was in back. I had to stop every now and then to make sure no one was following us. It was almost as scary as walking through the first time. But better because we had more people. One of the Kaitlyn decides to make a video during the hike and starts narrating in the tunnel. All I can think is "BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT! Noooooo!!!"
Once we were out we decide to go enjoy a victory drink together. We go to a little bar I read about and have some local wine. Corniglia is known for its basil and they make the most amazing pesto. And it just happens to be the day of the pesto festival! We really enjoyed spending the day with new friends and it turns out one of the Kaitlyns is in nursing school in New York.
After we part ways Super Nel and I go check out the beach at Monterosso. It's a sandy resort beach with a beautiful view.
Now the Cinque Terre is not known for its nightlife. Some town bars and pubs stay open late but the trains to and from each town become limited. I had mentioned this to Super Nel before we went on exploring but he asked a local about the train schedule and they said it runs until midnight. Imagine our surprise when we're 4 towns away from Manarola where we're staying and we're told there are no more trains running.
We're both exhausted from the day and its past my bedtime. Plus we still have to walk up a huge hill to get to our hostel. IF we can get back to hostel. It wouldn't be a big deal if we didn't have to catch a train to Rome in the morning and we only had our daypacks.
We luckily are able to find a taxi that will take is to Manarola for a ridiculous amount (those of you who know about Super Nel's $30 bath? The cab ride was a bubble bath all over again). The ride to our town was long, windy, and dark. But we made it safe and sound to our hostel and passed out. It would of been the deepest sleep of my life if our room hasn't been hotter then a sauna. No a/c and the only thing moving the thick hot air around was an ancient ceiling fan. At one point in the night I woke up and tried to kick off the blankets only to realize I had no blankets. It was just hot.
Now to go explore Rome....
Our new friends brave enough to walk the tunnel of doom with us.
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