Last Thursday and Friday we went over the two properties we'd looked at on Wednesday after returning from Andorra. We have been maintaining a list of pros and cons for each place we visit (six of them now). We reluctantly decided against both of these new ones, although one of them was close. We are getting good at this, and learning to recognize the good and bad points pretty clearly and how important they are. We have gone back to the real estate listings for another dive.
Gerrit also contacted the law firm which is supposed to be arranging the government meeting to confirm our residency. It has been almost three months now, and the only time we hear anything from them is when we ask. No progress reports, no information, nothing. We have also inquired with Nia, our immigration counselor and all-around immigration expert, and she agrees that residency meetings are almost impossible to obtain. On November 17 our visas officially expire, but the Portuguese government has extended the actual expiration by a year. It may take that long before we can get our residency cards. Until then we're in kind of a limbo. Travel outside Portugal may be tricky using visas with expired dates on them since customs agents in other countries probably won't be aware of the temporary extension which Portugal has implemented. Fortunately we can buy a house even as non-residents, and there is plenty of exploring inside Portugal to keep us busy.
Saturday it was bath time for
The car wash was more like what we'd call detailing in the US. There was a hand pre-wash of the whole car, including wheel wells and tires, then a basic machine wash, then two guys went through the whole car and trunk with vacuums and rags. They removed the floor mats and ran them through a dedicated floor mat cleaning machine. They thoroughly cleaned the inside of the windshield (a contortionist's job) along with the rest of the windows. They cleaned the dash and the door interiors. They wiped down all the mating surfaces of the open doors and trunk to clean the dust and water from those hidden areas. They used a tire cleaning compound on the tires, leaving them shiny black. Pérola looks like new, and all for only €11. That's right, $11.60 in US dollars.
On Sunday the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. The locals don't seem to think this is unusual, but we're used to a whole lot more rain, cold, and gray skies halfway through November. We decided to take a drive to
Ponte de Lima is said to be the oldest village in Portugal. The old part of town is beautiful and charming, and we had an excellent lunch. The name of the town means "bridge of Lima", referring to the Lima river next to it, and as you might expect there is an ancient bridge crossing the river. Legend has it that the Romans were afraid to cross the Lima, thinking that they would lose their memory if they did. (How does this stuff get started?) A courageous soldier crossed the river as his platoon waited nervously on the other side, and he called out their names one by one from the other side to show that his memory was fine. There is a little set of life-sized figures of Roman soldiers there on the river bank to commemorate the event.
We strolled around Ponte de Lima a little bit and then halfway across the bridge before leaving for Braga. There were hundreds of people out on the beautiful day, enjoying the riverfront of Ponte de Lima: families, couples, groups, and singles. The temperature was a balmy 23 C (73 F). There was a parking lot next to the river for visitors, with hundreds of cars in it. We looked around for where to pay, but it was simply free parking. Unheard of! Everything felt happy and safe. We saw a girl about 10 with her family, wearing a t-shirt "AC/DC Back In Black", and Pat whispered that the girl's DAD probably wasn't even born when that album was released!
  Ponte de Lima scenes
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 On the bridge at Ponte de Lima
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 A Ponte de Lima street
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 Happy at the tiled fountain
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The house in Braga is very nice, but the lot is small and the neighbors in tiny tract homes are jammed right up against it. Plus there was a rooster crowing the whole time we were there. We want a little more seclusion than that. We headed back home.
Today, Monday, Gerrit heard from the law firm. They are actually contacting the immigration agency each day, and getting appointments as soon as they become available. We are number 77 in the queue now. So at least progress is being made, but it still may be months before we actually get the appointment.
Pat found another house which looks good online, and we contacted our real estate agent about a viewing sometime this week. We also took our sparkly clean car to the wonderful
(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge, scroll through them all, and click in the black area outside the photo when you're done.)