This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)

Even years later, I can say that I have had some incredible encounters on the business trip. I have to start with the South African manager of our accommodation. He would wake up very early in the morning, by the time we left he was already in front of the TV (theoretically in the common room, but obviously his sole property) watching teletubbies.

When we returned, he was waiting for us at the window. He liked to welcome girls by hitting them on the buttocks with his air rifle to be funny. At night (but only on weekends) he would deal pills.

Jailbirds, junkies and drug dealers

On ‘arrival the colleagues had seemed to me to be all Spanish. Actually those were many and as usual they made more noise but there was everything. In my room there were 2 Romanians and I made friends in particular with a Portuguese and a Swede. The 3 Frenchmen left after a day.

Those who stayed were either desperate or stubborn like me. It took little to realize that that was not what I was there for at all. You slaved hard, for pennies, and speaking English was really the least of the problems, as well as impractical. We would leave very early and between travel and work, there was little left, plus we would collapse like skittles from exhaustion.

Business trip okay, but in theory we had the weekend free. We were scattered in the middle of nowhere, though, and the best we could do was go to the only pub where two beers were enough to zero out the paltry income. We were paid every week, but on arrival they had asked for an advance payment for lodging. So the penniless (and there were some) basically got into debt right away and then struggled to get back into it because we also had to pay for food and transportation. Many found themselves forced to work even on Saturdays, which in theory was optional.

One day they forcibly pulled one of my roommates out of bed because they needed people. This one was Spanish and was there with his girlfriend. He had been partying the night before with the cheap pills that were going around the quarters, and for him that day of forced labor was really a nightmare.

I remember him telling me on a break that he couldn’t take it anymore. He seemed to see around him giant dressed chickens boxing little naked men.

Someone healthier but still unusual

Another guy who was very nice to me was one of the few Anglo-Saxons there: a former Scottish mercenary who had served in a private army in Africa (he showed me pictures with his fellow soldiers, all armed with machine guns). He was in crisis and had left there because his wife had cheated on him with his best friend.

Another one I have a clear memory of is the first Swede I ever met. He was definitely black. For one afternoon he told me about his family. In particular about his father who was a drinker, while he was a teetotaler. After a few hours, I passed him with a carton of beers on his shoulder and he justified himself by telling me it was Saturday! Another thing that was strange to me was that he brushed his teeth before eating.

Incredible but also normal encounters

There were not only incredible encounters. On average Italians were quieter; I made friends with one from Perugia. We also met again in Italy twice. One was when we went on TV to tell our story. There was also a definitely battered junkie from Genoa in the room with me. He showed up with I also use your locker and you keep your things on the floor instead. In that mixed environment of unfriendly or super-scavvy people, it gave me gusto to be respected despite appearing to be a good little boy.

Also passing through during those weeks were two girls younger than me, on their first trip out of the house since graduating from high school who saw fit not to alarm their parents; fortunately, it was not as easy as it is now to be in touch from a distance. One of those with whom I bonded the most was a Portuguese navy serviceman stationed on a small island in the ocean who chose to spend his vacation working to try to file a bit of a glaring gambling debt. But while on a business trip on vacation, he couldn’t resist playing the lottery.

The most picturesque of incredible encounters

Among the Spaniards there was in particular one who had run away for raping a woman, but also a very kind and mustachioed father of 6 children and Vicente who took an immediate liking to me. He introduced himself by telling me that unfortunately he had only seen Italy in squares, I did not understand that sentence, but he smilingly played mysterious. I got there after a few days, when he wore the t-shirt of the famous Regina Coeli prison, which he cared so much about; his cellmate had given it to him after he was arrested at the airport for drug trafficking.

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Fabio Viroli

Ho sempre avuto tante passioni, ma da sempre più o meno latenti, le principali sono viaggiare e scrivere. Tra le altre cose ho una laurea in psicologia; ho fatto per più di 30 anni l’allenatore di basket; leggo tanti libri; sono stato molto appassionato di sport e di musica rock; e faccio improvvisazione teatrale. IL mio primo romanzo, che non parla di viaggi, si chiama LE TUE GAMBE SONO BELLE COME LE TAGLIATELLE

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