Now that's the way to live!

Upon our emergence from the tender  in Santa Margherita this morning I found lots of scooters and mini cars honking and waving but worse- bustling tourists, all clamoring for transportation tickets, talking excitedly about their day's adventures. The busy street was centimeters from the bundle of humanity which walked, huddled en mass from the small boat toward the bus station -so close it was practically on top of the pier. I was beginning to feel claustrophobic and a little too tourist-y so I walked around the building near the lapping of the sea waves.  Around that corner, under the shade of some hundred-year-old umbrella trees I found the locals. They gathered in peace on benches behind the the small bus station/ticket counter cluttered with anxiety -just far enough away, almost out of earshot of all the noise. The locals knew the solace of those quiet benches; couples with a days worth of gossip or complaints or time to read their newspapers. It was just what I was looking for after being crammed into that crowded tender. My American-self imposed on this little scene to wait for the bus. I left Gary as my outpost- he could see bus #82 coming better than I could anyway.
Jessy told me about this when she lived in Spain; she wrote an email to us about it. Older Europeans know how to live and they seem to live better as they age. They are more animated; more alive. Even if you don't understand the language you know they love sharing their views and are very much at peace with the world and themselves. It's important, a necessity to adjust to this tranquility when you're visiting Europe- even in the hustle and bustle of the larger cities.
Without the tourists, Santa Margherita could have been Mayberry, USA- a small town where you'd sit on your front porch and wave to neighbors walking by or play checkers at the corner grocery. This peace is almost nonexistent any more in the U.S. but it's alive and vital here in Italy. And I got to share it, if only for a few moments in one of the most beautiful towns in this country! Wonder how much it would cost to retire here?!?

Jessy's Email from 2003

The older couples that wander the streets durring all hours of the day. They take their canes, their cashmere sweaters from 30 years ago and meander, hand in hand or arm in arm through the plaza and down all the side streets, 

pausing for moments or minutes or hours to chat with other older couples that they know. Sometimes small groups of older ladies meet together in the Plaza and then walk the streets together as a tiny gang of gossiping friends. Its a lot like Monty Python except that they don't beat anyone up. 

They just catch up on the past few hours of events. They´ve know each other for years and years and talk about the ways the city has changed, how it used to be and about their husbands. Nuns also walk around in little groups, though sometimes mixed with other non-nunny women. Nuns are a curious site for me, someone from a non-catholic country. I get really excited when i see 

them and shout and point. Im working on not being so obvious. The only other group of people I get more excited to see are gypsies. Im obsessed with them. They are beautiful, strange and have their own social hierarchy. I´ve 

seen three but all in Madrid. Becuase they mostly live in the south of 

Spain, I wont get to see many, much to my dissapointment. The one lady I did see was wearing what you would picture a gypsies in your head. She looked like a friend of Jack Sparrow, sorry, Captain Jack Sparrows.