Today I am moving from Ortisei to the heart of the Parco Naturale Delle Dolomiti d'Ampezzo, so I had to gather all my stuff. I had drying clothes all over the place, maps and books, a small kettle I bought to be able to have coffee early in the morning, and all my travel documents ... but where is my passport? Last time I saw it was three days ago because Italians are obsessed with "il Documento", which you have to show when you register at a hotel. I must have put it in my pocket, but I don't remember seeing it in the last three days. Diomio! What if it dropped off my pocket in that hike from hell?
Trying not to panic I went over all the pockets of my backpack. Niente di niente. What do you do to get a replacement passport? Might there be a US consulate in Milan? I went to the car and looked through it very carefully with no good results. Panic was rising. I went through my hotel room all over and then, for lack of something better to do I started going through my backpack again. And there it was, in the pocket I normally keep it, but not with my other travel documents. Allora, tutto é a posto :)
Before leaving Ortisei, let me tell you that Ortisei claims to be the wooden-toy capital of the world, with at least 200 families dedicated to manufacturing those wooden toys we associate with old Europe. The most famous citizen of the town is thus Geppetto, the father of the famous Pinocchio. The different toy manufacturers have formed a cooperative to promote the sale of the toys, and by now they have fallen back into a high level of specialization.
I am still very sore, but I
didn't want to waste the day, so I drove to the Parco Naturale Puez Odle, to
look for an easy hike. The thing is, I couldn't find a place to park, so I had
to limit myself to looking with awe at the high peaks all around me. Parking in
the narrow mountain roads is very difficult because there is no shoulder, and
wherever there is a tiny spot there is a sign that says the space is reserved
for this or that. I miss driving through Mexico or the US, where there is
always a chance to stop and stretch your legs.
I was more successful in il Monte Pana (pana is the italian word for the cream you put in your coffee, so it would be Cream Mountain). Clearly this is a ski area that makes an extra euro providing for family recreation activities, such as having the cows out where you can walk among them, offering pony rides, operating a mini-golf, and having a playground. I must have been very dull because all I had seen were older people hiking, but this is clearly part of the holiday season and the Dolomites are a big family recreation destination. The cows were super chill and, with the back drop of the tall rock peaks and the mantle of green meadows they constituted the perfect Tyrolean scene. The modern Sud Tyrol is what administratively is known as the Alto Adige province, and it used to be part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. When the axis powers lost World War 1, Woodrow Wilson readjusted the boundaries of Italy, which in 1920 formally annexed the south part of Tyrol. This is why all old inscriptions are in German, and many folks here still use German as the business language.
My last stop of the day was at the other end of the Parco Naturale Puez Odle, in the area of Vallunga, which was my dream walk. The valley here has been carved by glaciers that have excavated a lovely U-shaped valley not unlike that of Yosemite Valley. The towering sides of the valley are coarsely crystalline dolostones that have lost all their primary textures. My kingdom for my geologist hammer! Anyway, going up the gentle slope of the floor of the valley was probably the best I could have done to try to stretch my badly cramped legs. I was reaching the point of return, half the time that I had paid for parking, when it started to rain. Not heavy enough for being of concern, but it reminded me that here in Europe it is fairly common to have summer rains.
I started on my way to Cortina d'Ampezzo, 50 km away, when it started to rain in earnest. I was happy inside my comfortable egg of a car, but I saw many cyclists caught under the torrential rain, which brought back vivid memories of the recent motorcycle trip in Thailand. Rain is the one thing that can easily ruin a bike ride!
My room in Cortina is right
under the eves, so I can hear the rain coming down. I hope it lets out
overnight, because I am not ready to deal with rain while hiking.
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