Traveling the Dead End Valley - September 21

After breakfast with Vittorio and Giuseppina, dad and I headed out to Bosco-Gurin, a village at the end of one of the off-shoot roads along Valle Maggia. The village is only about 20 miles from Gordevio, but it is a curvy, sometimes single-lane, climb into the alps. The road has many switch backs that are such sharp turns that even the GPS announces them as U-turns. It was yet another gorgeous day here -- with deep blue skys and the cooler morning temperature climbing to about 84 degrees by mid day. The village is somewhat distinctive by its historical German culture/language here in the heart the Ticino where, as I mentioned before, Italian is the primary language -- or as I have learned a Swiss dialect of Italian (some words, idioms, expressions are unique to the Swiss area).

Bosco-Gurin today is like many of the other villages here, a mix of old and new -- but it is even more apparent because of the modern ski lift not far from the center of the village. Of course during our visit there was no snow -- just magnificant mountains. After enjoying the area, we sat in the outside seating area of a local "Osteria" -- a simple eatery known for local specialties and enjoyed some lunch.

The trip back off the mountain was equally thrilling -- not knowing whether you are going to come upon another vehicle in the one-lane areas or in the U-turns, makes for an exciting trip. We stopped at Cevio, the village at the floor of the valley where we reconnected with the main valley road. In Cevio dad found some shade in the central plaza/park area to take a nap and I ventured over to the local grocery store (COOP) to find some candy and water.

After a short break in Cevio, we decided to continue up the valley to Mogno where there was a modern church designed by a well-known Ticinesi architech. Dad remembered visiting the construction area with Giglio during a prior visit and he wanted to see the finished church. The road to Mogno is exactly like the road to Bosco-Gurin -- with plenty of hair pin turns to keep our attention along with such wonderful beauty. We had to walk a short distance from the parking near the road to the church and enjoyed touring it. Dad and I agreed that the structure reminded us of a massive water culvert turned up like a stove-pipe -- and though the stone work was beautiful, the inside of the church seemed stark and tiny. Mostly it seemed out-of-place in the village of stone and wood houses. Certainly a "different strokes for different folks" kind of place. Decide for yourself by seeing a picture of it here:
http://www.swissinfo.org/ita/primo_piano/detail/Chiesa_di_Mogno_dieci_anni_e_una_lunga_storia.html?siteSect=108&sid=6849020&cKey=1153750800000

As we left the church parking area, we decided that we were only a few minutes from the end-of-the-road village Fuzio...and so our next stop was there. The village, hanging precariously on the hillside, is a fascinating sight -- an instant reminder that life here at the end of the dead-in-valley has existed here for centuries. I took advantage of the local telephone booth and made a call to Deb. I love the public phones here in Valle Maggia -- quite booths with both telephones and email terminals that are easy to understand and use, operated by easily slipping a credit card in and out. I especially love the fact that the phone's display shows you exactly how much the call is costing while one speaks...and the calls are very cheap. I probably spoke to Deb for 5 minutes and the call was less than $2.

We made our way back to Cevio where we stopped for dinner, then made our way home to Guisseppina and Vittorio's for a short visit before heading off to watch a table tennis tournament that Rein was playing in. It was fun to watch the intensity of the competition/players -- and we enjoyed watch Rein win easily in his matches.

Another wonderful day in paradise.