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Entry V of “Azores Journal” E-Mail Inge
A Day To Celebrate.....
Well, while the world keeps spinning and becoming more and more bizarre it seems, I am happy to report that our GREEN CARDS (blue) finally arrived. We are now legitimate permanent residents of Portugal. A day to celebrate because the longer we are here, the more we like it.
The weather has continued to be mostly beautiful with a little rain thrown in now and then feeding the amazing profusion of flowers (Bird of Paradise on their second blooming cycle) Azaleas in full bloom and fragrant Freesias galore along with Wisteria and Poppies of a size and color I have never seen before.
This is main planting season. Farmers are busy every day of the week, yes, even Domingo (Sunday) planting every square inch of the rich volcanic soil with every conceivable type of veggie your imagination can conjure-up.
The speed at which they grow leaves me speechless yet again as well as the diligence of the farmers. This is NOT the time to stop for a friendly chat – they are BUSY!
If not planting, then fishing with the traditional long bamboo rods is their passion and as you know – I shall never interfere in that area again unless something is caught and worthy of praise.
The other day I stood on a cliff about 150 feet above the water, the ocean was relatively calm as the Azores go and I could see schools of fish, some rather large, right from where I stood playing in the 3 to 6 foot high waves. With the brilliant afternoon sunshine reflecting of a Mediterranean-blue sky it was quite a spectacle.
On the way to my special spot I had stopped by my donkey friend and fed him some carrots, apples and sugar. While not crazy about the apples, he firmly established his love for carrots and sugar for desert, licked my fingers clean and left a sloppy mess on my hand but heck, what are friends for.
My landlord provided me yet with another big treat, a huge bunch of Azorean bananas which are delicious though small but more flavorful than the foot-long bananas served-up in American supermarkets.
It is staying light longer out and in the late afternoon, prior to going home he showed me the other day that the entire vineyard has been staked properly and leaves are appearing rapidly on the low-growing vines. Unlike in the Rhineland or in California these vines are pruned to grow close to the ground in order to protect them from the salty winds coming off the Atlantic which tend to burn the leaves of the precious vineyard and all other vegetation. Maybe one of the reasons my lips get chapped easily, a lot of salt in the air.
Spring is near (not that according to my experience now I would consider what we had was a winter) and the summer-homes in this very pretty town are being spruced-up and opened for the approaching season.
Apparently more cruise-ships are stopping in PDG (that is what all the natives call Ponta Delgada) since I see more tour-busses with tourists heading for Caloura Harbor and watching them having to turn around on these narrow roads is often quite interesting (they don’t know that a new water-run-off system is being installed).
Crews of municipal workers are constantly busy keeping the sides of roads clean and free of excessive growth, something making a lot of sense due to the speed driven and the curvy nature of the roadways. Temperatures have been ranging in the high 60s up to 75 degrees, most pleasant but at night it usually drop to good sleeping temperatures, the high 50s or low 60s.
One of the more interesting features of the Lenten season are the annual pilgrimages dating back to 1522 when a heavy earthquake took half of the then capitol city of Villa Franca into the sea where ruins can still be found by divers.
This is another of those dichotomies and proof of the Azores straddling the past and present well, old customs are being preserved and even have increased as reported over the past 10 years again.
This being the 21st Century, pilgrimages for women also have been instituted, though they do not walk around the entire island.
This particular custom called Romeiros (deriving from the word Rome as in going to Rome) is unique to Sao Miguel and not practiced on the other islands of the archipelago.
Each town or village sends out a group of young men lead by an elder in the front of the procession as well as one at the rear who walk in any kind of weather with a staff and a colorful cloth wrapped over their shoulders around the entire island stopping at every church to say a Rosary. They pray for the sick or for healing of a friend or family member along the way and at night are taken in by families who provide them with a good meal, a bed and dry or wash their clothes. It seems to be sort of a right of passage and much like watching a horse-drawn milk-wagon alongside a BMW on the streets these groups of pilgrims are well watched over and cared for. It provides a feeling of accomplishment for the participants considering the unyielding terrain to be covered in some areas as well as the feeling of support and freely sharing by the people who provide shelter for them at night.
Oh why can’t the entire world be this peaceful and get along, giving and receiving freely I ask…………………….
Until the next time when I shall report from the Furnas Azalea Festival where intricate “carpets” are woven using flower petals in front of every home………..and we shall participate!
02/06/2008 19:10:16 -0700
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