An Eventful and Warm Thanksgiving! ★Cinque Terre★

Upon arriving in La Spezia, Italy, we had to wait a little while before our courchsurfing host, Marco, came and picked us up from the station. I had exchanged 1 email and just a few txts with him to coordinate a meeting spot, and only 1 review had been left on his profile, so we had essentially no idea what to expect. Finally, this man came briskly walking up to us and greeted us. He's a 28 year old naval engineer who lives by himself in a flat in La Spezia, and decided to start hosting travelers for some company.
We went to his appartment and got settled in, and then his friend came. They made dinner for all of us (we didn't know that was part of the deal) which was pasta and sauce (ham and a loooottt of butter) - a typical bachelor's dinner on a bachelor pad. We hung out, drank a bit, talked about our lives, and then watched a movie. Marco is hyperactive,  and also a little creepy, but we figured we were okay since there were 2 of us and we were both in tune to all that was going on.
The next morning we took day packs and walked to thevtrain station. We took a train to Monterosso, the first of the Cinque Terre (Five Lands). After some difficulty with our eurail passes, we hopped off the train in Monterosso, at about 10am. At the station, and at the beginning of this 20km path, we met another traveling Ausie, Tim. He's also approaching the end of his 3 months of travel before his return to University in Australia.
The 3 of us set of on the path (Tim, carrying his 22kg pack). We only made it about 100 steps before I decided to jump the railing, and drop down 3 meters onto to beach and go climb a huuuge rock that jutted out of the ocean...Tim joined me as well.
Once back on track, we strutted along the much used path that is such a huge tourist attraction, especially in the summer. We were surrounded by intended on walking to the next town, Vernazza, but were forced to make a detour due to the trail being washed out. We had to go up the mountain to a road, catch a bus back into Monterosso,  and then take a train into Vernazza (10min ride) where we could resume our walk. There was a group of Argeninians who had been hiking behind us, so, my spanish came in very handy during that whole ordeal.
Once in Vernazza, we explored the beautiful, old, colorful town for a bit, bought some fresh fruits and veggies at the outdoor market, and then hit the trail again. We soon came to a beauuuutiful lookout among cacti and rocks where we sat to eat our hard earned food, and enjoy the abnormally clear and sunny day! Kelsey went litchi fruit harvesting :) ...which turned out to be more prickly than expected.
Many jaw-dropping views later, we came to Corniglia, the midfle of the Cinque Terre. It was 3:30, so we planned to continue hiking to the next town. But, we soon found out that we had just hiked the only complete section of trail between any 2 towns :( So, we bought a bottle of wine and walked doen toward the beach. We hung out, talked, drank our wine, and ate chocolate on a beautiful plateau overlooking the sea and the cliffs. By 4:45 it was 8ºC out. We watched the sun set across the water, and then said goodbye to our new friend (who decided to sleep right there because he didn't have anywhere to stay).
We took the train back to La Spezia, grabbed a beer in town with Marco, and then went back to his place (mainly because I hadn't planned to go out afterward, and was inappropriately dressed for the cold. Marco cooked dinner again, and then we hit the couch at 9ish, exhausted from out eventful and active day. ...Also, I couldn't take any more of Marco's flirtation...
In the morning, we packed up, bought our next plane tickets :O bought some food for the day, and then took the 12h26 train southeast, out of La Spezia.
More adventures to come...
♡Iolani
P.s. To our families: We hope you had a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving, full of laughter and happy times with many loved ones! And rest assured that we were thinking of you, and how we would have loved some cranberry sauce and stuffing after our long hike!