I have a couple of days to cover, and they have been quite adventurous.  Two days ago, I eventually arrived in Monterosso after a few detours and losing track of my friends.  The first thing on my list was food; I was very hungry.  After eating and practising a little Italian with the waitress, I headed down to see the beach.  I met a few women nearby and mentioned that I planned to camp there. They told me that several American women were planning to do the same.  Good luck!  I walked onto the beach in high spirits and saw one of them sitting in a chair while three others were in the water.  I asked, "Are you the Americans I heard were going to camp on the beach?" She replied, "I don't know about either of those. Who is asking? Oh, wait, are you Kelvin?"  At first, I assumed Sibyl and Ash had told these women about me. Then I realised that the woman was Laura, whom I had met in Barcelona.  After we talked for a while, she offered me a place to sleep in the apartment they were renting.  Could I complain?  No.  I also met Michelle from the United States and two Canadians, Jolien and Jenn. Both were very funny.  We swam for a while, then eventually returned to the apartment and fell asleep.  The next morning, we set out to hike the Cinque Terre, five towns spread along a section of the Italian coast that is popular for good reason.  We began at the first town and, after losing track of the two other Americans, made it back to the fifth in about five hours.  It was one of the most impressive places I had ever seen; the scenery was extraordinary.  Everybody was tired when we returned, but after a brief discussion, we bought wine, one bottle per person, and went in search of food.  Somehow, Sibyl and Ashley had also found me on the trail; we simply ran into each other.  All seven of us went to a pasta restaurant and enjoyed a substantial meal.  Afterward, we went to the beach while Sibyl and Ashley tried to find two Irish men they planned to invite back to their hotel.  After waiting for an hour without their return, we became impatient, found our own bottle opener, and released the corks.  Two Swedish men nearby tried to open a bottle but broke the cork in half, so I helped them out.  Throughout the day, we had invited several people to join us on the beach. Jolien and I met even more while getting additional wine and invited them too. In all, 20 people came, which was not bad considering I had known only two of them a few weeks earlier.  We drank wine, played games, jumped into the sea, and went home.  I won’t go into detail, but Jenn and I kissed that night. It was unexpected and became one of the highlights of my trip. I hoped I would see her again.

We fell asleep and woke at about 07:30 or 08:00 because two of our companions needed to catch an early train.

Everybody else left at about 10:00, while I went down to the beach and relaxed until 12:15, when I met Sibyl and Ashley again.  They boarded a 13:15 train, and I planned to stay in the Cinque Terre for another night.  Unfortunately, although the area was immensely beautiful, I didn’t enjoy it as much as other people seemed to.  I enjoy talking, or trying to talk, with local people, and there were fewer opportunities to do that there.