Paradiso in Sicilia

First what I have to say is that I completely condone the steriotype of Italian food being amazing. Everything here is fresh and tastes great. I will give an account of my first dinner.... Mrs. Vancheri cooks whole shrimp with heads and all (Gamberoni...and take that crumby old Red Lobster). That was finger-food and very good and was followed by a salad (insalata) with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. After that was an assorment of fruit that I have never heard of. My favorite was a fruit called Fichi d'India (Figs of India) which has the texture of a very soft apple but is much much sweeter. Also we had a fruit that looked like honey-dew but was also much sweeter. Afterwards we went to the ancient part of town called Ortigia which is a small island to the south of central Siracusa. There are three bridges to get to the island and we used il ponte vecchio. Now one thing I do have to say that the roads are very small, but easy enough to get around in. I rode on the back of a smaller harley davidson with the father to Ortigia. There we got gelato in the Piazze Duomo....and this is the best ice cream I have ever had... no joke.
      The mythical story of Siracusa beginnings go like this.... there was once a beautiful woman in Greece named Aretusa. One day she went down to the river to bathe and the river god, Alfeo, saw her there in her full splendor. He transformed into a young man trying to seduce her because he was so madly in love with her. She did not feel the same way right away, so she pleaded to Diana the Huntress (a Greek Goddess) to protect and conceal her, so Diana said yes and brought Aretusa all the way to Siracusa to protect her. She also transformed her into a beautiful natural fountain to further protect her. The water of the Fontana Aretusa run into the sea. So Alfeo searched through Greece, but could not find her. When he heard the news that she was transformed into a fountain he made the sacrifice of turning back into a river so that as a river his waters would eventually meet the waters della fontana di Aretusa and man and woman would be together as one. Now next to a fontana di Aretusa there is a statue that is Alfeo and Aretusa together inside of flowing water.
        The true story of Siracusa is much less romantic. A powerful Athenian came here when Athens was destroyed and founded the town.... thats about it, but there might be more, but I dont remember. Today I awoke and we went to the store to buy supplies for school. The children here are required to have 20 notebooks and 20 books of graphing paper because of all the work that is done. After that we went to the local cliffs for a swim in crystal clear blue water. There I tried a drink made of Almonds... kind of like a pina colada except of almonds. Did I mention a local product is Almonds and almost everything has a Almond flavor, but it's the best thing I've ever had. Now I am here listening to Alle (Alessandro) piano and sipping an Italian energy drink that is like a very weak Monster (oh how I miss Monster). I will post again soon. Ciao