They Came They Saw They Conquered

They made it. The family finally got to see where I have been hiding for the past year. After a long flight from Canada to London the made the hop to Lisbon, rented a van (big enough for all the tourists in Nazare) and drove to see me.
Kootenay and I were walking through the plaza when we saw them. We were both happy to see them. I think my dog may be tired of hanging out with just me.
While they were visiting we swam in the Atlantic, ate fantastic seafood, and heard some great music.
Aisha managed to drink her first legal beer, taste a great sangria, have a mojito, and get kissed by a cute european musician. She did more exciting things in her first two days than I did in my first six months. Look out cute euro-boys i need to catch up.
We hit Obidos a small walled town for an afternoon of tourist pictures and some cheese, bread, olives, and various other tapas. Yummy. The portuguese do a great bread, and their cheese is pretty good as well.
After an amazing dinner at Maria de Mar, which consisted of a cod boullaibasse, shimp in lemon and garlic sauce, sardines (bigger than you would expect), pork alentejana, and wine Aisha, Jerry and myself went to Ta Bar to see a friend play some music. You can google him at Blister music. He is pretty talented. Check him out.
I was reminded how small a town Nazare was, there was long hair, bad hair, dalmatian dad, and Maria who cooked us dinner all in the same room. Maria even sent us over a round of drinks. Aisha can't seem to keep off the beer now. She seems to be channelling her mom.
We are now in Milan, but my internet time is running out so you will have to wait a day or so until you hear about it. Just a sneak peak tough.... it includes amazing pizza, large beers and rude waiters....

There are a lot of people in town right now. My sleepy little cobblestone village has become a summer resort town. During the winter Kootenay and i wandered the town and the beach leashless hearing very little english. The little that we did hear was usually from friends calling us over to chat.
Last night a boy came up to us and wanted to throw the ball for K. He wandered over and asked in accented english if he could have a turn tossing the ball, and he wanted to know what type of dog Kootenay was.
His mom quickly ran over to interpret for him. She was surprised to find that understood him. She was even more surprised to find that I couldn't understand a word she said in Portuguese.
They are from New York and have family here. The boy had a NY drawl. Not too difficult for a Canadian girl to understand.

Tourist Trolling

Kootenay and I take our big walk in the evenings now. There are so many people here that night is the only time when we can get anywhere near the beach. This has exposed us to a whole new group of people. Here are a few answers to the questions I have been most consistently asked over the past three weeks.

Sorry. I don’t speak a lot of Portuguese. Falar um pouco de portugues

We are from Canada.

I have seen a bit of Portugal. Alentejo, Comibra, Lisboa, Porto, Tavira, Fatima

I am not really comfortable walking in the forest at night with someone I don’t really know.

Tell your Mom thanks, but I have already eaten dinner.

Honestly we have met a few times already.

Yeah. I am the girl with the dog.

Ahhh. When you asked me if I wanted a little Portuguese I mis-understood. I thought you were talking about dinner.

I don’t really see Canadians as being that culturally repressed.

No. Thank you. It was a flattering proposal.

Really people do that in the tents at night?

Ha. Ha. (uncomfortable interjection)

I understand what puta means…

I said your phone was fancy. Not that you were my fantasy. But….

Luggage? Really?

I am pro recycling. I think we throw too many things in the garbage that can and should be recycled or reused.
In Nazare recycling can seem like a lot of work. There are lots of places to drop off your garbage, but a limited number of bins for recycling tin, paper, glass etc. The recycling bins nearest to the apartment are by the taxi stand across town. The taxi drivers line the benches along the street waiting for fares and keeping up on the town's comings and goings. At first they looked at me very questioningly as I dragged bags of stuff the bins. Now that it or I has become a regular occurrence they smile at me rather than shaking their heads in confusion.
My only convenient recycling bin is for wine bottles. That has come in handy as I have developed a taste for vinho verde and that has led to a lot of wine bottles for the recycling department.
Friday I landed in Lisbon after a week long visit to meet my new niece Emily. She is beautiful, pink, and has the newborne cone topper. (Jen is a small woman and us Chambers' have big noggins. Some have even been compared to pumpkins.) There I saw evidence of of a re-user that tested the limits of the usefulness of the idea. As luggage started coming off the plane a slightly used sun umbrella came tumbling down along with all the bags. The umbrellas here run from four to ten euro, so I have to question the sense of dragging one from Germany to Lisbon. It would seem the carbon footprint of that umbrella would be rather more than buying one in Portugal and gifting it to some beach family as you leave town.
Then again i just increased my carbon footprint enormously in order to meet my new niece. That umbrella must really be loved.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Canada.
A new Irish Bar opened in Nazare this weekend. Last night Michael and I went there to have a drink and help support the new establishment. I was almost overcome with joy to see that they had cranberry juice. I have been looking in the supermarkets and corner stores hoping to find some. I've seen mango, papaya, pomegranite, and a variety of orange and apple juices, but no cranberry. That all changed last night.
To celebrate Canada's birthday I will be helping Carlos learn how to shake a Cosmo (martini). Vodka, Cranberry, Lemon/Lime and ice. If only someone would import Hawkins Cheezies i would be in heaven.