After finishing the camino, Noah and I headed to Portugal to stay with his aunt, whom he had never met before but had been in contact over the internet. We were really excited to get some time to chill after hiking for six hours every day and sleeping in hostels every night. We took a bus to Porto, Portugal, just some six hours away, and then a train to the town of Pombal. We were immediately greeted by Noah’s aunt who goes by Twinkle or Twinks, and her husband Bruce, who whisked us away to their village of Serta. The ride was about forty-five minutes and we soon left all traces of metropolis’ behind us and ventured into the Portuguese countryside. After stopping for a quick beer at the local café bar, we soon zipped off to their homestead. Twinks refers to her place as the “hovel”, which is the quaint little adobe house set on an open field of their very own crops and surrounded by lovely pines, oak, and many eucalyptus trees. Their house is completely off the grid and they live very sustainably, growing most of their vegetables on their farm right outside their front door. You can see numerous stalks of corn, tops of zucchinis, carrots, potatoes, and the unstoppable force of tomatoes that seem to fill every corner of space. Noah and I could be seen picking as many of these delicious cherry tomatoes as we could, we could barely help ourselves! These crops have not been easy to grow either mind you, as the soil in this part of the desperately dry Portugal is almost the texture of concrete. They have worked extremely hard but enjoying home cooked dinners with the freshest of organic veggies really pays off! The animals on their farm can’t be forgotten either, two beautiful white goats, a spunky dog named Sprocket, two wiley but incredibly sweet cats, and a couple of bunnies.
It was a great change of pace in Portugal after the strenuous hiking and vampire-esque sleeping schedule we had on the camino. Long conversations were had by the four of us; Noah’s aunt, uncle, Noah, and I, while sitting on comfy couches sharing pots of tea. Time didn’t matter here, we were able to be on our own schedule of the sun, and when it began to get dark, candles were lit and the conversations continued. I have never spent time with anyone from countries other than the USA and had really political conversations, and seeing as Bruce was born and raised in the UK and served in British Armed Forces for numerous years and Joan, although was born in the U.S., moved to England for about twenty years and had become aligned with the majority of English culture and politics, we got the upfront version of an outside viewpoint of Americans as well as in depth explanations of other countries have, although very different, ideal forms of government and policies in comparison to the States’.
We also met their friends, also Brits, who after living in Canada for some time, recently moved to Portugal as well. They had a great sense of humor and were a blast to hang out with. It seems the consensus for those who have moved out into this remote location have made a decision to live sustainably and abstain from the craziness of city life. Living in rural Portugal is much simpler; living in a small tight-knit community where farmers trade produce and to ensure that each take turns of who buys the morning coffees; and debts are not collected, rather just reminded. People deal with their problems themselves and take measures to not have the police involved in their business. It’s an actual community, which is so rare to come by these days. We had a great time meeting the neighbors and local shop owners and were privileged enough to taste the freshest olive oil (it puts Extra Virgin Olive Oil to shame due to the fact it is the freshest it could be and totally unfiltered) and the adega wine, meaning the wine made the in the adegas, or basement areas, of the farmers.
The heat is extremely intense so many afternoons were spent inside the cool hovel and hoping no fires would break out in our area. Twinks would always ask, I wonder how much of Portugal is burning today, due to the immense amount of fires occurring and we would examine each puff of cloud, just hoping it would relieve the earth with some moisture or even rain. On our last full day, we set of for the “river beach” which was a beautiful gorge; lush green covering huge rocks with a cool riverbed running through the bottom. We unfortunately forgot our camera but it was a beautiful site to see. We got in our bathing suits and went right in, and climbed up over the rocks higher in the gorge, coming to a fern-filled serene pool.
The whole trip was unique, it seems every place we go is exceptionally different than the other, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Twinks and Bruce were amazing hosts, and cooked us the best food we’ve had. I also had my first fried egg sandwich thanks to their friend Mike, which was awesome! After leaving rural Portugal, we headed to Porto so we could easily get to the airport, and also had a blast there. It is right on the water and fulls of hills and nooks throughout the winding streets so we decided to take advantage of its beauty and take some photos. Now we are off the Paris, back to the city life, so I gotta pack up my green monster (my backpack) and head for the airport; can’t ever stay in one place for too long!
Traveling Days... 