Festivo serpentine

This hours day we planned to take the day off and travel to cuculo, for the snake festival. It's held first Thursday every may, until this year. It has now switched to the first of may, but luckily we found out late last night and ADAPTED accordingly. Game plan was 440 wake up, train hat 510 to pescara. Pescara to cuculo at 620, fun and snakes all day. We arrived on time, but there is no 5 am train on holidays, such as may day! Luckily here was one at 8 30, so we hunkered down on the beach and watched the sun rise. Then napped, chilled, thawed, and walked back to la stazione. We barely made the pescara connection, a special train running only for the festival. We made cocullo at 1130, great timing. It's a mountain town about two hours away, with 280 inhabitants. Te patron saint is domenica, guard against toothache and snake bites, and today is a celebration of him. It is a mass famously ending in a bell rung with teeth, and hen they parade a statue of the saint down the main street. The statue is covered in snakes! So it's a big party, with street vendors, period music and costumes, meat, sweets, junk. We left at 440 and got back to Ffossacesia @ 8 thirty, now we're home and pooped, goodnight.