We started off the morning with a short ride to the island of Salina on the ferry. We were there to participate in one of the cornerstones of Overseas Adventure Travels philosophies, to immerse the traveler in the day to day life of a family. We got off the ferry and were greeted with this beautiful site.

After a long switch back road up the mountain we reached the home of Maria and Francesco who live on a farm on the Island of Salina. They reside on Salina in the summer months and on Sicily in the winter. Maria is a biologist and is still employed. She spoke very good English. Here are some of the pictures of her beautiful home.

So as part of the program we volunteered for certain chores around the farm. Teri and I jumped at the chance to weed in the garden. Most of you know that as part of Habitat for Humanity we created a program called the Villagers Home Assist where every Thursday we go out and weed at someone’s home for a donation. Today we created a program called Sicily Home Assist. As always, there is drama. Teri broke Francecso’s hoe. It has probably been in the family for 3 generations. He worked on it for a while and fixed it so we were back in business.

Now this garden hadn’t been weeded in a very long time and was filled with rocks that needed to be removed. We asked Francesco for a pail to put the debris in but there was a little communication problem. Teri planted the parsley after a lesson from Francesco on how to do it.

Of course we had to have the normal weekly group photo but there was only 2 in our group and one had to take the picture.

Now Juanita chore was to help cook the meal which is what she does best.

The meal was fabulous with lots of laughs and plenty of wine. Maria let us taste caper powder that you can sprinkle on your pasta. It added another level of depth to the dish. I asked her about the powder and she said she made it herself. After some help from Nino interpreting she brought out a bag of salted capers that she had preserved from the farm. I purchased the bag from her. The plan is (with her input) is to soak the capers to remove the salt. Then dehydrate the capers in a low heat oven on parchment paper. Once they are dry I will pulverize them in a grinder to make the caper powder. If it doesn’t work I am only out 10 euros. If it does work I will have a jar of heaven.

We took the ferry back to Lipari. Nino had planned a boat trip for us to another island but the rough seas canceled that plan. Back to the hotel for a short nap and then off for more retail therapy. Both Laura and I bought the coolest gold jelly fish earrings. Since we live 3000 miles from each other it shouldn’t be a problem. She bought the small ones and of course, I bought the large ones.

We returned to the same restaurant that we ate the previous night. Nino joined us for dinner because we have a drama free rule.

Nino told us all about the “Caper Lady”who had a shop on the main street of town. The first time we went by the store it wasn’t open because she was getting her hair done for a grandchild’s baptism. We found it open when we were strolling the next night. What Nino did not tell us is that she spoke no English. The only thing she knew in English was “Do you speak Italian?”

It was an early night because we have to leave at 5:30 AM to take a ferry ride to the mainland of Italy, Reggio Calabria.