I woke up early this morning and listened from my bed to the sounds of a Sunday morning on the island of Ponza... a rooster or two, a dog barking, church bells clanging, boat engines starting, voices from the docks amplified by the water drifting up the hill. The curtains were still, as the sun shone brightly into the room. I guess it wasn't so early after all... 7 o'clock.

I went out to the porch and the sun was casting a silver reflection across the glassy water of the harbor. I got dressed and walked down the steep stairs to the street below, and along the black stoned passage along the water to the Hotel Mari where there is internet access.

I am amazed at how long it takes to upload any photos. I am disappointed that I can't document our daily excursions each night... we already have used two 6 hour internet cards for email and the blog... time passes quickly in the evening after a long day in the sun while you wait for each thing you have clicked on to upload. But there are people to watch as you wait... people out and about until 2 or 3 in the morning... beautiful old, young, big, little, mostly dark tanned people. I find myself counting 20 people passing by before I check the screen to see if things have come up.

So, here is the walkway that we travel along each day to get to the boat we have rented. Today we will take a larger boat, and travel about an hour to another island where we will spend the day.