Bullfights, Flowers, and a Country Drive

In much of Spain, and some of Portugal too, they still hold bullfights.  These are sporting and thrilling if you're the one with the knives, not so much for the bulls.  The bulls are effectively tortured and then killed.

Another ancient form of the bullfight is the Tourada à Corda, or "bullfight by rope".  The bulls are controlled (to some extent) by ropes tied to their horns while the crowd taunts and teases them.  It's still a dangerous event which tests the participants' nerve, skill, speed, and luck.  When the event is over the bulls, uninjured, are sent back to pasture rather than being killed.

In Ponte de Lima the version of Tourada à Corda is called Vaca das Cordas, and it has been going on for centuries.  It is an annual event, and was held this year on June 18.  The bull is pulled through three turns around an ancient church in the historic town center (shown here), then is brought down to a sandy area next to the Lima river until sundown.  It is a huge affair for locals all around and tourists too.

We got great seats on a stone bulkhead facing the sandy area at the end of the bull run.  People lined up along the medieval bridge by the hundreds to watch too.  Before long, however, so many people had crowded into our area that it was impossible to see anything.  Our friends Maayan and Dan had joined us by this time.  The late afternoon sun was sweltering and the Vaca das Cordas hadn't yet begun.  Since we couldn't see anything anyway through the dense crowd we decided to bail out.

We got seats at a restaurant near the church which the bull was due to circle.  A throng of excited people had already crowded around the church.  Suddenly a cry went up, and since Gerrit was the only one who could get out from our table he went into the throng to see if he could see anything.

And again he was stymied.  People were on others' shoulders, everyone's arms were stretched high with cell phone cameras, and it was impossible to see anything.  The bull was finally there, judging by people's responses, where their cell phones pointed, and the small panicked stampedes of them, but nary a horn was visible.  Dan came out for a while and had a little better luck, but still only a glimpse.

If we're going to see this legendary event next year, we will have to be much more clever.  This year though, we had to just shrug and simply enjoy our dinner out with friends.  Here are a couple shots of the town after the sun had set and the bull had gone home (with a wild tale to tell his friends at his next bull session).

The crowd there was by far the largest we have seen in Ponte de Lima.  It was more like something you would see in a larger city.  There was also a huge stage and sound system set up, which was playing thunderous upbeat pop and Latin most of the time we were there and into the night.  We could still hear it thumping when we got home, about 7 km (4.3 mi) from the stage.  Not loud enough to keep us awake, but it went on until 3 AM!  Party time in Ponte de Lima.

Here is a great video put together by the municipality of Ponte de Lima of the entire event, so you can see what we missed.

The next day, Thursday June 19, was Corpus Christi, a major Catholic holiday.  It is marked all over Portugal with "tapetes de floridos", or carpets of flowers in the streets.  Elaborate pictures and patterns are drawn on the streets with colored sand, colored sawdust, and actual flower petals.  Then a procession from the same church which hosted the bull the previous night marches right over the carpets, obliterating them.  It's a way to remind yourself that everything is transitory and not to get caught up in your ego.  Other cultures and religions around the world have similar ceremonies of elaborate construction and then immediate destruction.

We had a pretty good vantage point at the main door of the church to watch the procession as it started, but next time we will post ourselves somewhere along the procession route.  It would be a reflective lesson to watch those beautiful carpets being destroyed too.

As we waited for the procession to start, we struck up conversations with some of our fellow procession watchers, including a Portuguese woman who currently lives in Massachusetts but was visiting back home.  Her English was excellent, as you might expect.  We also chatted with another tiny old man, a survivor of the Salazar regime.  His Portuguese was very difficult to understand, but we overheard the woman next to Pat speaking a very clear and distinct version, much of which we caught.  It will be easier to understand some natives before others, just like in any language.

There was much more pageantry than shown in the video below, but much of it didn't come out.  We hope you like marching bands.

On Friday June 20 we girded our loins and set out to get our National Health Service (SNS) registration numbers.  This is the mostly free public health care network which is universally available to citizens and residents.  We will use the network, and we also need SNS numbers for other things like driver's licenses.

We found our way to the Ponte de Lima Health Center, where SNS numbers are assigned.  It took three tries at three different clinics before we found the right department, then dumb luck to find the correct administrator.  Signage all over was pretty sparse.  The secretary pointed to a posted list of documents required, all of which we had except a list of our vaccinations.  Printed.  On paper.  None of that, of course, is specified anywhere and seems to be unique to this Ponte de Lima clinic.  The administrator was friendly but firm, so back home we trudged to dig that information up and print it out.  Or maybe go to another clinic. 

On Sunday June 22 we got lots of chores done around the pool and garden since it was cool and would be hot later.  After lunch we set out on one of our favorite pastimes: driving small country roads with no idea where we're going.  We turned north from the nearby village of Refóios do Lima and wandered through tiny lanes and country roads.  Here are some shots from the drive.

And on Monday June 23 we returned to the Health Center to try again with our vaccination documents included this time.  The same friendly secretary was there, but now we learned that they won't scan our passports and registration cards, we need to provide printed paper copies of them too.  Maybe she told us that last time and we missed it.  Anyway, we went to a nearby copy center, had a delightful chat in mostly Portuguese with the clerk there while our copies were made, returned to the clinic, and seconds later we were on our way.  We will be notified when our actual SNS numbers are ready.  All we had to do was get every one of our documentation ducks in a row and they paddled right through the gate.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

Read More

Viva Vinho Verde!

Friday June 13 was the start of the three-day Festival of Vinho Verde in Ponte de Lima.  Like we said, they take their vinho verde (a crisp, low-alcohol, slightly fizzy white wine) seriously around here.  About 5:20 we drove down to the historic city center, where a street party was to have kicked off the celebrations at 5:00, but it was practically deserted.  We sat puzzled for a while, then moved to the exposition center parking lot a short distance away where later events were supposed to take place.  We found where the judges were announcing the winners of the vinho verde competition in an open plaza in front of a bold new bronze statue.  A grand piano had been placed there, and a soprano and pianist in formal classical concert attire performed what sounded like a Schubert lied (pronounced "leed").  The judges were all dressed in formal suits and gowns too, a very formal occasion, and they gave long tributes to the winners.  At least we think that's what they were on about.

After a while we meandered over to the equestrian area, still not finding any street party, where dozens of booths had been set up for winemakers and food vendors.  We sipped a few and made a little small talk with the winemakers.  After a while a large crowd trailing behind the contest judges started coming through, as the judges gave the actual awards to the select few proud winners.  We watched as a winemaker whose wine we had just tasted received an award, with congratulations and photographs, and as soon as the crowd thinned we said to each other "we want some of that".  To our credit we had thought the taste we'd had there was "really good" (using the official oenophile term), so it was nice to see that the judges agreed.

With two glasses of Caça Velho in hand (well, actually in these clever little bags around our necks, picked up as we entered the festival grounds), we found some Portuguese street food and sat at a nearby picnic table to enjoy it all.  The crowd was building and we ran into a few friends and made some new ones.  Finally, well before the band at the huge rock stage started signaling Portuguese party time, we left for home.  Night owls we are not.  We planned to come back the following night, resolved to stay up till 10 PM if it killed us.  Oh my.

Saturday morning was a little drizzly and we went for a drive on the way back from shopping.  Here is a picture of a nice little riverside park and fountain in the village of Arcozelo near us.

We had another great time at the Festival that evening and did in fact manage to almost stay up for the 10 PM show.  There was a Brazilian band playing when we arrived (video below), we met many friends again, sampled more wines, and bought a few bottles.  We had a cheese and charcuterie platter for dinner this time, and sat with our expat friends Phil and Odette.

And to round out the entire festival we went on Sunday too.  The events were earlier in the day that day.  We watched a ceremony and performance of several folk dancing and singing groups, in their beautiful traditional costumes.  The music and dancing were wonderful, but the solo singers were not so good.  They were shouting, shrill and out of tune, and way too loud.  They needed a good sound man, Gerrit thinks.

On our way out we visited some of our favorite winemakers and stocked up on a few final bottles.  At the last stop a tiny old white-haired man struck up a conversation with Gerrit.  We told him we lived in Portugal now, how much we loved it, and he wholeheartedly agreed, holding Gerrit's arm and extolling the beauty of the countryside, the food, the wine, and the girls.  We learned the correct pronunciation of our home village Calheiros from several of the bystanders when Gerrit mispronounced it more like "caleiras" (which means "gutters").  The velho (old man) told us he was about to celebrate his 90th birthday.  We had a great time visiting with him for a few minutes and left the best of friends.

We see the occasional tiny Portuguese adults, only maybe 1.4 to 1.5 m (4-1/2 to 5 ft) tall.  They are all older, like our festival friend.  This is a result of poor nutrition when young, and was specifically aggravated by the poverty conditions during the Salazar dictatorship which ended in 1970.  (By the way, J. K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter series, lived in Portugal for a couple years and did much writing here.  She named an evil villain character Salazar Slytherin after the dictator.)

Tuesday June 17 was a busy morning.  We had our energetic and hardworking gardeners Rosa and Emília here for the second time, whirling through the rest of the yard they didn't get to last time and taking care of some other things Pat wanted done.  We also carefully took down the weathered old tripod which the ipê tree was lashed to, since it is no longer necessary.  The ipê is now standing free and pretty.  The place is really getting spruced up.  Our handyman Andrew came by too, and continued slashing some weed trees which are invading the lower property.

We also had a technician from the pool cover company come by for on-site measurements.  Pat and I pulled the old cover off the pool before he arrived, and found greenish hazy water, dirt, and leaves under there.  Some cleanup will be required.  The pool cover tech had flown in from Spain and spoke only Spanish, so we made good use of our phone translators along with our pidgin.  He described a way of installing the cover mechanism and bench so we could access the skimmer filter baskets, and also the wiring installation we would need to complete before the cover could be installed.  The pool will probably take most of the summer to whip into shape.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

Read More

Stitching and Mending

On Sunday June 8 we had plans to go to the cherry festival in the inland town of Resende with our friends Maayan and Dan, but the day prior we all decided it would be too hot there with temperatures expected in the mid-30s C (well over 90 F).  As if on cue our friend Bernardo then invited us to lunch at a cooler oceanside restaurant with his family and some friends.

The restaurant was north of Porto, about an hour's drive south of us.  The weather was breezy and temperate, we sat outside, and we all had a great time and shared some fresh Portuguese seafood.  The main course was grilled turbot, a delicious white fish.  We met another American expat couple there, Sande and Lloyd, from northern California, who have been in Portugal since last September.  Sande lived and studied in Brazil for several years, so she spoke Portuguese quite well.  The conversation was an interesting mix of Portuguese and English, with Sande and Bernardo interpreting sometimes.  We got a good deal of the Portuguese on our own too, which was quite exciting.  Below is the best of four group photos.  Too bad it looks like Gerrit was hurling.

Restaurant scenery

The main course

The happy group (minus one)

Gerrit had the best language experience ever when we went shopping on the following day: he was recruited as an actual interpreter!  At the hardware store (where we are quite regular customers) an English-only customer was trying to work a deal on a lawn tractor with Carlos, one of our favorite employees there.  Carlos caught sight of Gerrit and motioned for his help.  Gerrit told the customer he spoke a little Portuguese and maybe he could help.  He went back and forth between them, switching languages and explaining to each of them what the other wanted, using the simple words he knows.  A deal was struck including a price match, complete with home delivery, and Gerrit left feeling pretty proud of himself.

Then at the checkout line we met the customer again.  The clerk there was not sure that he understood about the credit he had earned on his account with his purchase and her English was weak, so she turned to Gerrit (whom she knew spoke English) and asked for his help.  Gerrit explained the credit to the guy and all was well.  What a thrill!

Later we were at a huge cash-and-carry store, similar to a Costco, for the first time.  We picked up a big jug of a special super-eco-friendly biodegradable detergent, made in Portugal, but weren't sure whether individuals could shop there or only businesses.  At the checkout two clerks were trying to explain it to us.  They were sincerely trying to help but we weren't getting it very well.  They asked if we had financial numbers (NIFs) which we did, but they seemed to need a card showing that.  Finally we understood that they were asking for a business NIF, but it was fine to shop there as individual customers too.  We all smiled in relief, we paid, and then one of the clerks came over to help us to the car.  He carried the big jug and cheerfully wished us a good week.  We thanked him, shook his hand, and left, quite overwhelmed (again) with the kindness and decency we find here all the time.

All this shopping happened in the morning, before it started getting roasting hot.  It got up to 34 C (93 F) in the afternoon and we turned on the home air conditioning for the first time.  Even set to 27 C (81 F) it provides blessed relief, both due to the cooling and the blowing air too.  We are still on conventional electric power, so when we use A/C it pulls from the grid and costs us too.  Soon, within a few weeks, we'll have our own solar panels and the equation changes.  At that point we will actually unload the grid, even when we use heating or A/C, as long as there is some daylight or battery.  We'll be creating our own electricity and being less (or none) of a burden on the grid.  It seems like cheating.  We've always thought "gotta save power", but soon that will hardly ever apply.

Pat has worked up another batch of limoncello, again from our own lemons.  She makes the best limoncello, better than any commercial varieties we have tried.  The peels need to be marinated in vodka for four weeks, agitating them daily, and then the nectar is strained and a simple syrup is added.  The latest batch has just emerged and it is delicious!  Liquid citrus sunshine (which will be the title of our next indie song).

There is a small patch of adjoining land above us which is for sale, but the owner wants a ridiculous price for it.  With the help of our real-estate friend Bernardo we said no thanks, but that the land does need to be maintained and thinned for wildfire safety for us and for our neighbor.  We didn't think anything would actually come of that, but on Tuesday June 10 a crew showed up and started felling trees.  They seem to know what they're doing, tying off the trees so they don't fall on our property, and it will make for a safer wildfire season.  We'll miss having the trees 15 m (50 ft) outside our back door, but the law says they do need to be cleared for fire safety.  And maybe someday the seller will come to their senses and we can buy the land and re-landscape.

Pat visited the big aquatic center in the nearby town of Arcos de Valdevez with Maayan on Thursday June 12, and they both had a good swim in the big pool there.  They are both water lovers, Maayan has been swimming there a long time, and they think this will become a regular thing.

We are on the mend.  Pat has some good topical antihistamine for her mosquito bites, and we have found a good solution for mosquitoes in the bedroom at night: one of those wall-outlet insecticide vapor gadgets.  Pat found one which uses pyrethrin, derived from chrysanthemums, which is not toxic for humans and has no odor.  It's been a few nights with that and we've been bite-free in the mornings.  Ahh...  And Gerrit's knee has been healing nicely with very little pain or weakness remaining.  He is back on the rowing machine daily, resuming his workouts gently and keeping to minimal knee bending, and everything is fine.  It's sobering how fragile you get as you age and how long it takes to recover.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

Read More

The Adventures of Limpy & Itchy

When we last posted Gerrit was limping and Pat was itching.  Both complaints are fading: Pat found a topical antihistamine which helps with her mosquito bite reaction, and Gerrit is taking it easy and wrapping his hyperextended knee while it gradually heals.

Not so much that he hasn't been outside pressure washing all day long though (but sitting as much of that time as possible).  He's cleaned off tons of that Portuguese black algae and discovered gleaming granite and concrete under there.  It's a big job, but if it only needs doing once a year or so that's not bad.

Then his pressure washer broke, just a few days after purchasing it.  He packed it up and returned it to the hardware store, and found out that warranty returns like this are treated just like repairs in Portugal.  Instead of just exchanging machines and sending the failed one to the manufacturer like you'd expect in the US, Gerrit now has to wait 2 to 4 weeks for evaluation and approval.  We were told that this is the law.  It is probably in order to certify that the problem was not due to misuse, which is sensible we guess, but it puts the consumer out of the use of his new item for weeks and at the mercy of whomever decides whether the warranty claim is legitimate or not.  If it fails under warranty, especially within a few days of purchase, it should just be replaced, we think.  Portugal is generally pro-consumer, but this policy?  Not so much.

Here are some photos of the front of the house with the plants blooming.  We'll post more house photos once the place is all pressure-washed and gleaming.  You can see what a terrific job our new gardeners are doing, after only one all-day visit.

On Sunday June 1 we went to our friends Maayan and Dan's for a vegetarian dinner and get-together with some Israeli friends of theirs in celebration of a Jewish holiday.  They live in a secluded rural area on the mountain which we explored some weeks ago, on the other side of Ponte de Lima, in a lovely house which they are partly renovating.  It was a very nice evening; everyone's native language was Hebrew but they spoke English with us and made us feel at home.  The daughter of one couple was about one and a half and had the most beautiful radiant smile.  She was a joy for everyone.

Gerrit had a phone conversation with a rep for automatic pool covers, which we've decided to have installed.  Our pool needs that, plus a good thorough cleanup, plus chemical balancing and a heat pump, and it will be all ready for year-around swimming.  Well, maybe not in January.

We're also on the calendar for a visit from the solar panel installation company we selected.  There really isn't an optimum number of panels, which makes that decision a little fuzzy.  We opted for a large number of them, for more self-sufficiency through more of the year and plenty of electricity for all the powered equipment around here.  With the right electrical utility we can sell surplus solar power too.  We will also have a large battery, for normal nighttime off-grid power and to help bridge us through power failures even in winter.

Pat cleaned the accumulation of pollen and dirt from the patio furniture.  (And see all that white granite?  It was grungy black a few days ago.)  Plus she installed some additional Ikea shelves in our hall closets, because she's the Queen of Organization.

There are European Turtle Doves (rola) which roost around us, who make the nicest purring sound.  Here is a brief recording from out our back door.

We're working with our immigration consultant Nia to get our Certificate of Baggage, which is required in order to ship our goods from the US to here.  Nia is collecting all the necessary documentation, but a bank check in US dollars is also required in order to to pay the consulate fee.  What?  A mailed paper bank check in dollars?  How quaint.  And annoying.  No Portuguese banks issue bank checks in dollars, we have to have one sent from the US!  How ridiculous, expensive, and time-wasting is that?  A perfectly secure money transfer in any currency could be done in two minutes from your laptop.  Nia is incensed, and has written the Foreign Affairs Ministry to register a complaint.  Meanwhile, Pat's cousin Jeff will be getting the bank check for us and mailing it to Nia.

Today we paid our first visit to the local farmer's market in Ponte de Lima.  It's not the sprawling everything-for-sale affair we went to a couple weeks ago, it's just a simple farmer's market with fresh fruit and vegetables plus flowers.  It's much smaller, more local, and friendlier.  Today we just bought some fresh olives because we're stocked up on everything else, but we will make this Saturday market part of our weekly routine now.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

Read More