Taormina, Italy

Today I woke up early, had breakfast here in the hotel and did some work until 11am. I then took the car and drove all the way to Taormina, Italy which is about a 1.5 hour drive from here. It took me more because I stopped in every place I found interesting including: Aci Castello, Aci Trezza, Avireale, Giarre and a few other places I don't remember the name. As I already knew, Italy is Brazil. I've been to Portugal and it does make more sense for us to have been colonized by Italians than Portugueses. Everything here reminds me of Brazil, the education of people in the traffic (or lack of), people throwing trash on the streets, but also some good things such as the happiness, the way they seem to know how to enjoy life, the nightlife with many many bars on the streets. Traffic here is so crazy that it becomes funny. I can't imagine leaving here but for 1 week I can survive and even enjoy. Even Rome is not as bad as this here and I heard Palermo (where I'm going after the conference) is worse than here. I remember a lot of Mano and Robson (two of my brothers) while I was driving because this places is full of small, tiny bars that they would love. Now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow the work starts.

Good Dinner

I had an excellent dinner yesterday. Giuseppe (the local organizer) has been a very good host and took me to the city of Nicolosi for a nice dinner at the Antico Orto dei Limoni which is a typical Sicilian restaurant. The food and the wine were very good. We had a 3-course meal with anti-pasti, primi and secondi piatti. Now it is 10am here and I'm leaving to visit some of the cities around Catania. The conference starts tomorrow.