The End of WWOOFing: my time in tudia

To say the least, WWOOFing has been one unforgettable experience after another. This farm is no different. It tops the cake with its eccentricity. So, where to begin?

After a very exhausting few days of traveling and then subsequently being stranded in Palermo, Amy, Chris, and I finally made it to Tudia, Sicily, where the farm is located. What did we find? Isolation. Pretty much nothing except some wild flowers, bushes and a stray dog or two. When you step out of the farm’s walls, you step into nowhere. We can see one other house from the farm and that’s it.

The farm is beautiful though. It is the biggest farm I’ve stayed at, with over 240 hectares of land. They grow mainly olives and wine grapes but they also have a small vegetable garden and fruit orchard. The agirturismo is a restored farm complex, complete with a massive courtyard, long corridors and multiple rooms. It seems like the building goes on forever. I could (and did) get easily lost in there. They have a swimming pool and outdoor bar for the guests and anyone else from the next town over who wants to take a swim.

There are about 8 other WWOOFers here with us, yet we don’t really do much, except hangout with each other. The Sicilian lifestyle is very different from the American lifestyle and even the lifestyle of northern Italy, which I’ve gotten used to over the past two months. Here, we call it a day after about two hours of work. The rest of the day is spent hanging out around the pool, sleeping, reading, or just relaxing. While at first this seemed like a fantastic break, and it was, I find that I miss work. Not only has UNC instilled a hyper-motivation gene in me since the day I set foot on campus, I also simply like the satisfaction of knowing I put in a hard day’s work, that I deserve my dinner, that I am truly exhausted when my head hits the pillow. Instead, we lounge around all day and do nothing. However, it seems a little harsh to be complaining about this. It could be much worse.

The owner of the farm may be the MOST eccentric person I have ever met, seriously. Sudir (or Vincenzo before he changed his name, I’ll get to that in a bit though) reminds me of a mix between Santa Claus, the king from Cinderella, and Shaggy from Scooby Doo. He is a 60-year-old child. He loves life and wants everyone to have fun, hence no work. He is also not really all there. He told us a little bit about his life, and I am partially amazed and partially terrified. He learned English from living in Hawaii growing marijuana. He spent two years on a commune in India, studying under this whacked out guru, who changed Vincenzo’s name to Sudir. His mother was a noble of Sicily, who owned almost half the island, and then Sudir lost most of the property by playing poker and the other parts he sold and gave the money to his Indian guru. He married an American woman simply to get a greencard. He has never met her and they are still married to this day, even though Sudir has another wife. To put in bluntly, he has lost his mind. At times, he just sits there and laughs at you, without ever saying why. He does have a quirky side, though. He loves to dance and play foosball. Surprisingly he is very good at both.

At the farm, Amy and I are constantly being exposed to new habits and customs, some are typical Sicilian, and others are just typical Sudir. We’ve meditated, done morning yoga, learned Sicilian card games (they even use a different deck), had our tarot cards read, cooked and cleaned for about 100 people, and witnessed a dog give birth. Unforgettable experiences. We’ve come to get used to being constantly surprised with what each day brings and we both agree that a year ago neither of us would have guessed we would be doing any of this.

Amy and I have befriended the bartender, Angelo, who works at the pool. Yesterday, for our day off (like we needed one anyway) he took us to Cefalu, which is a beautiful beach and city about 30 minutes away from the farm. It reminded me a lot of Greece, with rock cliffs leading right up to the ocean and water as blue as a sapphire. We walked along the cobblestone streets and found a great restaurant to have lunch. Amy tried her first Italian gelato! YUM! In Sicily, however, it is common to eat it in a brioche, almost like a really nice ice cream sandwich. I liked it, but I think I may stick with the traditional cup and spoon from now on.

When we got back to the farm, we found out that everyone was heading out to this large tomato festival in the next town over, so off we went. The festival was fun, like most of the other festivals I’ve been to in Italy. It was very small, very quaint, and everyone shows up. In a small side street, there was a man playing really loud music from his car, marketing it as an outside discotheque. Well, you don’t need to tell Sudir twice to start dancing. All ten of us (8 American and English WWOOFers, Sudir and his wife) started busting a move in this tiny little street in Sicily. We were obviously not from Italy and completely out of our comfort zones, but that made it all the more fun. We were the entertainment for all the locals and of course, a crowd started to gather to watch a bunch of white 20-year-olds attempt to dance. I find that I am the local entertainment a lot over here. We eventually got other Italians to join in and made a huge party on the street.

All in all it was a great day, and a great time in Sicily, full of adventure and spirit.