Prelude

Saturday I leave for a week and a half in Calabria.  I'm accompanying Cholo, my father-in-law, as he seeks out his roots.  His parents came to Argentina from Italy in the 30s and though he was raised speaking Calabrese, he's never been to Calabria.  He's always wanted to get back while a few cousins were still alive.  One cousin died 3 weeks ago and there are 2 others still living at 85 and 91 years of age.  According to him they're miserable to still be alive.

I'm feeling a rare sense of apprehension before this trip.  I'm used to traveling but this time is a bit different.  I feel some pressure to help Cholo enjoy this epic, defining moment in connecting to his roots.  The pressure is entirely self-inflicted.  Cholo has no expectations at all, as far as I know, other than satisfying his curiosity.  I'm also worried about leaving my wife alone w/ the kids for a week and a half.  She travels plenty so I have lots of experience wrangling 3 kids solo.  Her not so much, and she's not terribly domestic.  I think she'll run out of things to microwave after about 2 days.

I'm gonna try to sent trip reports somehow.  I guess if I was a committed tech nerd I woulda set up some kinda live travel blog that I could post to from my Android.  I'm too lazy.  Hopefully I can email a couple times.  From what folks tell me Calabria is about as "remote" as it gets in western Europe so I'm not sure what to expect aside from spicy sausage and seafood. 

Cholo checks his laptop and is pleased, either by the balance in his Swiss bank account or internet porn.  I'm not sure which.