One of my favorite side trips while in Sicily was to the necropolis of Pantalica. Sometime around 1000 BCE, thousands of tombs were carved into the walls of a deep gorge running through the hills of eastern Sicily. It is now a protected national park.
The guidebook was unclear on specifics, but it seemed like it would be about an hour on the bus to Sortino, plus another hour to walk to the park. I packed food and water accordingly, knowing that it would be a hot day.
Three hours after leaving Sortino on foot, I finally arrived at Pantalica. It had been a difficult hike, with lots of hills and valleys along the way. There had been nowhere to get water once I left town, so I was already running low. I stopped for a quick lunch when I got to the entrance of the park and then descended into the gorge. Steps had been carved directly into the rock, worn away from thousands of years of use. Thousands of tombs and larger caves dotted the sides of the cliffs. It was a truly awe-inspiring and humbling moment.
I didn’t get to explore as much as I wanted because of the water situation; I had to turn back and head into town after only about ninety minutes in the gorge. I ran out of water about half-way back to town and dragged myself the rest of the way. I arrived in Sortino exhausted, dehydrated, and covered in dust from head to toe, but extremely satisfied with the day’s adventure.
This trip reinforced two things I think I have always known, but never really solidified in my mind. The first is that I am a desert person. I love the climate of the desert, I love the landscape, I love the vast amount of space between one place and the next. I attribute this at least partially to the time I spent growing up in Joshua Tree, and I am going to continue this series of photographs in southern California and Baja Mexico next year.
The second thing that was reinforced for me on this trip is the fact that I am a wanderer, to an extreme degree. I was happiest when I was out climbing mountains, hiking long distances, getting out and away from the city. This, too, I attribute to growing up in Joshua Tree. I had to walk for miles to get to school, to visit friends, or even just to go to the store. My hours of wandering back then gave me the chance to explore the world, and I think that I got a chance to revisit that feeling of discovery in Sicily.
A few hours alone in the desert gave me the chance to concentrate and really engage the visual side of my brain. This is not something that is instantaneous or even easy for me; I am easily distracted and it usually takes me a little while to switch gears. This is especially obvious in my contact sheets from that day; the first roll is so-so, and the fourth is a bit weak again because I was getting tired. But the two contact sheets in the middle are full of visual ideas that feel fresh and new to me. Having that time to really focus and let the landscape sink in had a tremendous impact on the quality of my work that day.