The hardest most incredible hike!

So I'm sorry that it took me so long to finally start to catch back up on my blogging! I know some of you have been dying to know what I've been up to lately! So 2 weeks ago my group and I went to Cinque Terra! There were a total of six of us and so we ended up splitting into two different groups. The people who wanted to actually hike all 5 cities were Dom, Taylor and I and then the other 3, Kari, Karen and Heather decided to take it a little easier. The first 2 cities were fairly easy and were only 1 km each. However, it was insanely hot so even though they weren't much of a hike we were still sweating like no other! So what we ended up doing is deck changing into our swimsuits and jumping in the ocean for a little while to cool off! Then we really started our hike! In the second city we came upon this random man sitting at a table carving stones. He would go down to the ocean and find rocks and carve them into shapes and put it into a necklace so Dom and I both ended up buying one. I got a cool black and white and gray rock carved into a heart and I wear it every day! At the end of the 2nd city we took a random road off our trail and ended up hiking straight up hill for a good hour! We turn around and look where we had hiked and felt like we were absolutely on top of the world! The sight was incredible! We realized that we weren't going in the right direction and that if we wanted to finish all of the cities alive we better head back and continue hiking the trail so we went back down to the bottom and found our trail again. We continued through the 3rd city and then to the 4th, Verazza. In Verazza we stopped off and got some lunch since we were starving and craving some cold water! We got seafood spaghetti and gnocchi with pesto and cold water all around! It was wonderfully filling! After our lunch we walked around the town a little and just explored the culture. We found a castle so tried to get in there but you had to pay and we didn't really want to go in that bad so we bailed on that. We started hiking the 4th city and started going straight up hill! We looked back down at Verazza and had the most amazing view of so many colorful umbrellas and boats and buildings right by the water! Absolutely glorious! These 2 cities, 4 and 5, were so intense! It was uphill stairs then downhill stairs, then some more uphill and downhill! It was a total body work out! By the 5th town we knew we were hitting the end and it was a good thing because we were exhausted! As we are going downhill on the last stretch we ran into a man on the side of the road sitting on the other side of a face with a hole in the middle, selling lemonade and lemoncello. So we each got a lemonade and watched him make it for us right there! Squeezing lemons then adding some sugar and ice water! It was so refreshing we thought it was a perfect way to end our 5 city hike! Little did we know our adventure was not over! We found this hole in a gate and the very end of the trail and decided to go through it and check it out and we ended up coming across these rocks where 2 italian boys were jumping off into the water! So what did we do? None other than strip down to our suits and join them! The rocks were 12 meters high and the water was such a perfect teal color! Dom went first with no fear and then Taylor freaked out a little, but ended up jumping and flailing! Then I went and it was such an awesome feeling! We all were so excited that we ended our hike with jumping off rocks in Cinque Terra! We then stayed at a wonderful campsite that night! They were elevated tents with 2 beds in each. It was so fun! We all watched the Spain and Germany game and then went into my tent and played some games. The games didn't last for very long though since everyone was totally exhausted and just wanted to go sleep! The next day we headed back home and went right back into work! This trip is still my favorite not only because of the beautiful landscape but the people and the work out and drive it needed to finish all 5 cities! It couldn't have been a more perfect weekend!