Our New Maltese Friend

"You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place"...Miriam Adeney

Traveling can sometimes be a hassle, no doubt about it. The long plane rides in very cramped seats, long, bumpy bus rides, hotels where things don't work, and the occasional tourist trap. But occassionally you have an experience that makes it all worth while. Today we had such an experience. 

We are in Zurrieq (pronounced Zur-eek) for the big Festa of Santa Catarina. Santa Catarina is Zurrieq's patron saint, so this is a big deal here. The streets around the church are filled with big statues, large colorful banners and many other things. Over 5,000 flags fly over the city, most from private residences. This festival has been going on for over 150 years and even the archbishop of Malta shows up. 

There is no information in English anywhere as to the day's events, so as we were walking near the church I saw some older men talkin together (a common occurrence in Malta). I walked over and asked one of them when the parade was happening. He told me it would be in an hour or so and then proceeded to ask all sorts of questions; where was I from? Where was I staying?  Why come to Malta?  Soon, Amy came over and we were in a great conversation with this man, as he was telling us about his life history, all 85 years of it. 

His name was Ron Zammit, "As in goddammit", he told us. He was soon telling us his life story. During World Was 2, the Axis bombed the hell out of Malta. He and his family had to hide in caves, outside the city of Valletta, where they lived. As you can imagine, it was quite traumatic for a 10 year old and he has never been back to the caves since and couldn't tell you where they were even if he wanted to. As a career, he ran a club for British naval officers. He had 10 people working under him. There were also many American naval officers who visited his club and recently, one of these came back to Malta on a cruise and looked him up, 35 years after he had last seen him. Ron carries his business card in his wallet as a momento. As we were talking, everyone would stop by to talk to Ron and he would introduce us as his new Anerican friends. 

Soon, the parade started, local dignitaries followed by a local marching brass band, followed by the archbishop of Malta (a really big deal here in this tiny village). This is all for Santa Catarina, the patron saint of this town, and this festival has been going on for over 150 years. 

After the parade, Ron took us to his club for a coffee. He's a member of the marching band's club, right on the main square.  Apparently, you don't have to be in the band to be a member, just a friend of s friend of a friend of someone in the club.  Ron continued to regale us in his stories, how he still rides his bicycle several times a week out at the old airport, his opinions on the migrant crisis and so on. Everyone stopped by to say hello, including the crew who makes the amazing fireworks we saw the night before and that morning. They were sitting at the next table and were going through many bottles of the local beer. 

Ron gave us this beautiful hard cover book, a book published last year for the 150th anniversary of this festival. It will be a great momento of our time in Zurrieq. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Hagar Qim temples, megalithic buildings over 5,600 years old. These are more mysterious and amazing buildings built by people we know nothing about. Built way before the pyramids of Egypt, some of the stones here weigh over 40,000 pounds. Archaeologists have no idea how these were carved or transported here, since people of this era could only carve with stone or deer antlers and had not invented the wheel. As the line in "2001, a Space Odyssey" goes, its origin and purpose, still a total mystery. 

By 5:30, we were back on the main drag ready for the day's big event, the big procession where they bring the statue of Santa Catarina and parade her around town for a few hours. We were having a beer, when who would show up but our new friend, Ron. He had a great story to tell us. His brother in law had called from Melbourne, Australia to tell him that he saw his picture on Facebook. WTF?!  The only thing we could figure was that, while in the brass band's club, Amy had used their WiFi, put some pictures of us on Facebook, and had used the club as a location. Ron was amazed at all this, as he doesn't to Facebook, email or any computer. 

Soon, the procession was on, the banners came out of the church followed by many priests carrying crucifixes and finally, the Saint herself. 

Fireworks went off, cheers rose from the crowd and everyone was happy. We soon had to say our goodbyes to Ron and we went our separate ways. 

Traveling can be a real pain sometimes. But when you meet someone like Ron, you realize why you go to all the trouble. We will take with us back home a real piece of this great island by getting to know him. We may never meet again, but Ron Zammit will always be in our hearts and I will be eternally grateful for his gift of friendship.