Sunday ; Mostly cloudy, warm, humid.
This morning we attended church service at “Pink Church” / Santissimo Salvador da Sè Catedral (built in 1570). It has been quite a few decades since I have attended a church service. My interest today was to see if the 4 ½ centuries old massive pipe organ is still in use. It is ! Not only did we have the experience of hearing this magnificent musical instrument perform, but we also got to hear the wonderful church choir.
After sneaking into the Sunday service late, and sneaking out early, we walked over to our nearest grocery store to replenish a few items. We were out of bottled water, Joanne was out of bottled iced tea, on impulse I decided I needed some snacks to sustain me tonight through the Grey Cup (Canadian Football League championship) game which I have decided to stream on my laptop, at reasonable expense. GO BOMBERS ! (Winnipeg Blue Bombers)
We returned to our room to have lunch and a brief nap for me. I need to be rested enough to endure the late night I will have watching the Grey Cup game. After lunch and a brief nap we set off for another afternoon of exploring. This morning we noticed recycling bins near the pink church, so we took some of our recyclable items to discard. As we were standing by the recycling bins, stomping on some plastic items to flatten them, a small woman carrying a large wooden pallet … <blink blink> … walked by. She stopped at the corner to rest. She was huffing and puffing when we walked up behind her. I asked her if she speaks English. She said yes. I offered to help her. She eagerly accepted my offer.
She picked up the front of the pallet, I took the rear. SHIT ! I had no idea that the pallet she was carrying was so heavy. I had no idea she was carrying it another three blocks ! UPHILL ! ! ! She was taking the pallet to a large convent. Yeah … I don’t know ! She invited us to visit the convent, open for visitors on weekdays. I would like to do that. If only just to find out what the pallet was for.
As we walked back towards the pink church we stopped to look at a poster advertising an upcoming event, a “soup supper” fundraiser. HEY … I’m interested in that ! The convent pallet lady passed by us, heading back downhill towards the pink church. She stopped to explain a bit about the soup supper fundraiser, then continued quickly on her way downhill. Joanne suggested we get the hell out of there before she appeared again heading uphill with another pallet. HA HA HA … good advice !
We wandered around for a few hours, exploring new areas, eventually reaching / returning to our favourite municipal park. We spent quite a bit of time there. We had not realized previously how extremely large the park is. Nor had we realized that it is centred on the origin place of Angra do Heroisma, Vasco de Gama’s residence, and … the creek (“angra” in Portuguese) that gives the city its name.
We wandered back to our guesthouse around 6 PM just as it was turning dark. At 7:30 PM we worked as a team to prepare supper from scratch. We are expanding our culinary abilities, having only a microwave oven (and fridge) in our room. After supper I configured my wireless earbuds to my laptop, in preparation for streaming the Grey Cup game starting at 10 PM local time.
At 9 PM it began to rain heavily, but briefly.
At 10 PM my streaming feed to the Grey Cup game began. For the first fifteen minutes or so the video was poor and the audio was horrible, but before the actual game kick-off both the video and audio improved and stabilized..
Midnight. It’s currently half time. Horrible country music entertainment. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are leading the Toronto Argonauts 10 to 7.
2 AM ; AWWWWW … how disappointing. The Bombers just lost the game by one point. They had an opportunity to win with a field goal in the final minute of play, but the kick was blocked. DARN !
Monday ; Cloudy, warm, light rain in the morning, ending by noon.
We had a great day. We left our room about 11:30 AM, having been requested to vacate the room from approximately noon to approximately 2 PM to allow for weekly cleaning service. We dropped off some recycling at the recycling bins behind the pink cathedral, then walked over to the business that we saw yesterday that had a poster in the window about a soup supper fundraiser. The woman there spoke no English, so we had a difficult “conversation” using our phone’s translator function and her phone’s translator function. The soup supper function is in another town, so that’s not of interest to us, but she gave us an information sheet that Joanne translated back in our room later in the afternoon. It contained quite a bit of interesting information about Angra do Heroisma’s upcoming Christmas lighting celebration on Friday evening.
Next stop was the pallet lady’s convent for a tour. HMPH … closed from noon until 1 PM, like almost everything else in this city except restaurants, which all seem to be closed from 3 PM to 6 PM.
Next on my agenda was to try out the city’s intra-city bus system. There are two bus routes in Angra, one east to west, one south to north. We found our way to a #147 bus stop, caught the bus, and took it all the way around its circuit. That was a great way to tour the city ! And very informative. We found another very large supermarket on the bus route, and our plan for the future is to take the bus to and from the supermarket, instead of the brutal uphill / downhill mile long hike that we did the other day.
After the bus trip / tour we went to one of the local restaurants that had caught our eye over the last few days, to try their version of one of Terceira Island’s famous specialties, Alcatra, always cooked and served in a large clay pot for two people, or an even larger clay pot for four people. Alcatra is a beef stew cooked for a very long time, typically overnight, and served in the large clay pot it was cooked in, piping hot, au jus gravy still bubbling / boiling. WOW … it was fantastic ! ! ! Served with crusty Portuguese bread for sopping up the “au jus” gravy filling the clay pot, as well as rice and fries. Nothing but meat and carbohydrates ! HA HA HA ! We were only able to eat about half of the Alcatra so I asked (as best as I could, with a lot of hand gestures) for a “doggy bag”, known in Portuguese as “caixa de leva” / carrying box. I know this because it was listed as a charge on the bottom of our bill, and I didn’t know what the charge was for, so I used our translator. Charging a “nickel and dime” amount for a good “doggy bag” that we can re-purpose as a microwave cooking bowl seems reasonable.
We returned to our room about 3:30 PM … too tired to go out again later !
Tuesday ; Overcast, mild, intermittent light rain in the afternoon.
We left our room about 11AM and wandered west through downtown / old town to a restaurant we wanted to check out. After viewing the restaurant (and their pastry case, common in restaurants here) we continued over to the closest MEU supermarket to buy a few grocery items. While in the supermarket a lady who overhead us speaking English struck up a conversation with us. Small world ! She is from the Toronto area, and was seated behind us on the plane from Toronto to Terceira Island. She and her husband own a winter home in a small village a bit west of Angra do Heroisma. This is the start of their second winter season here.
We were back in our room shortly after 1 PM. We had lunch, I napped briefly, and we set out again at 3 PM, this time heading east. I needed to ask a question at the Vodafone (our Portuguese cell phone service provider) office and another question at the tourism office. After finishing those errands we decided to catch the north/south city bus, having explored on the east/west bus route yesterday. The north/south bus route was longer and more complicated than yesterday’s east/west route. As we were about ¾ of the way around the route the female driver stopped, looked in her rear view mirror, and began speaking loudly. To us … although we didn’t realize it at first. Sharp eyed woman bus driver ! She did not speak English, but had concluded by how long we were on the bus that we were tourists riding the bus around its entire route, and intended to stay on the bus until it returned to where we got on. BUT … her bus service was going to end for the day when it reached the city’s large hospital. She was trying to get us to get off the bus and transfer to the final bus headed back in the opposite direction, to where we had started. She finally managed to get the attention of a bilingual passenger near us who explained that we had to get off the bus and onto the one across the street heading in the opposite direction, or … we would end up at the hospital, very far from where we had started, and … no more bus service. OH … OK … thank you / obrigado.
We got off the bus, crossed the street, and got on the bus heading in the opposite direction. The driver was waiting for us. Evidently the female driver had communicated to the other driver to wait briefly there for us. How courteous ! Thank you / Obrigado !
When we got off the second bus, at Praça Velha (Old Square) where we had started from, it was raining lightly. Wisely, Joanne had brought a hooded nylon jacket with her this afternoon. Unwisely … I had not ! Wisely, Joanne had brought a small umbrella in her backpack purse. Thank you, my dear.
We arrived back at our guesthouse around 6 PM, shortly before it got dark.
Wednesday ; Overcast, mild, intermittent light rain in the morning. That’s winter in the Azores, I guess.
Well … today was a bit unusual, and not “typical” for tourists / tourism.
We had a slow, lazy start to the day, mostly because of the weather, partially because we’re tired, and slowing down, as tourists exploring a new locale. After an early lunch in our room we set off for a short afternoon of “tourism”. First stop was the nearby military establishment that is responsible for “tourism” at the nearby Fortress of Sao Joao Baptista, built in the late 16th century. We were trying to ascertain if we could just wander around the site of the fort, or if we are required to purchase tickets for their “guided tours”. The “agent” at the front desk of the military office did not speak English, and we did not really get our questions answered. He was able to communicate to us what days the fort tours take place, and how much the tour tickets cost.
From there we wandered over to the convent where I had helped a woman haul a pallet. She had invited us to “tour” the convent. At the convent we found an administrative clerk of some sort at the front door. She did not speak English, but understood our desire to tour the 400 to 500 year old convent. She asked us to wait while she called an “English speaking” nun to give us a tour. We waited about ten minutes until a very old nun showed up. She had less command of the English language than we do of the Portuguese language. Which in our case is restricted to a number of words that you can count on the fingers of two hands ! She took us into a dark, dank, dungeon type of room and attempted to explain that it was the original cloistered domicile of the nuns who spent their days praying and meditating. After a few minutes of this linguistic agony, she asked us to pay two euros each (about CA$5.60) to continue the tour.
Yeah … no thanks ! I said “No … Obrigado” to her and walked out, hoping Joanne was going to be on the same page as me. She was, and followed close on my heels, as the elderly nun hustled along behind us acting like a used car salesman who was losing a car deal.
As a Canadian, and an atheist, I have a preconceived prejudice towards the Catholic church, especially their “all take and no give” attitude towards money. And I don’t intend to wait ten minutes for an old nun who doesn’t speak English, then be asked to pay over five bucks for a “tour” as their thanks to me for hauling a heavy pallet uphill for three blocks on cobblestones to their convent.
I had a bit of a hard time putting the CBT concept of “radical acceptance” into practice. I stomped angrily out of the convent and downhill to our next stop, the MEU grocery store. We bought a few grocery items then walked over to nearby Alto Sé Café to browse their pastry case.
Oh, my … <blink blink> ! Well … that salved my distress ! HA HA HA ! We bought two pastries, one for breakfast, one for bedtime, then returned to our guesthouse room just before the rain began again.
After a nap I went to the bathroom to wash my face. And became pissed off … again … at the clogged bathroom sink drain in our room. I disassembled the sink’s pop-up drain and took a look down the drain. TOTALLY CLOGGED … with an accumulation of who knows how many years of hair and grime, mostly hair.
I cleaned the drain. It was unpleasant, but didn’t take long, and wasn’t really that difficult. It was worth the unpleasantness just so that we don’t have to endure another three weeks of a clogged bathroom sink drain.
I’m left with two questions ;
1. How the hell does that much hair end up in the bathroom sink drain of a tourism guesthouse ? ? ?
2. How could the cleaners of this guesthouse be so oblivious to such basic maintenance as … “the bathroom sink doesn’t drain” ? ? ? How could you clean the bathroom after every guest and not notice that the sink doesn’t drain ? ! ? ! ?
Ever since I made the reservation for this room, about six months ago, I have become more and more concerned about the guesthouse owners’ attitudes. They have consistently failed to answer any queries, starting six months ago, and continuing right up to and including our day of arrival. Their negative attitude replies to customers’ reviews with minor and legitimate complaints on Booking.com’s website are scary !
Well ! <blink blink> That was ironic ! As I was reviewing the above journal entry, correcting spelling errors, etc., there was a knock on the door. I opened the door, and their stood a middle aged man holding a covered plate in his hands. Speaking Portuguese, and using hand gestures, he apologized for not being able to speak English, identified himself as the owner, and asked if I was Daniel. Yes, yes, I am. He presented the paper towel covered plate, with two large pieces of apple pie, fresh and hot from the oven, a “welcome” gift for us from him and his wife.
Well ! How nice ! Muito Obrigado, Senhor.
He certainly seemed like a decent, nice fellow. Now … I don’t know what to think !
Thursday ; Angra do Heroisma to Praia da Vitória & return
Sunny and warm until late in the afternoon, then clouding over. A few drops of rain as we were travelling by bus back to Angra.
After morning routines we decided to take a day trip by bus to the nearby beach resort town of Praia da Vitória, about an hour away on the east coast of Terciera Island. Angra do Heroisma is on the south coast of the island. The bus followed the coastline of the island from south to east, about a quarter of the way around the perimeter of the island, passing through many small towns and villages, stopping in some of them to let passengers on or off.
We left our room about 11:30 AM, and walked over to Praça Velha (Old Square). Before catching the inter-city bus #2 at noon, I crossed the street over to the taxi stand and made arrangements with a taxi driver/owner to pick us up at our guesthouse and drive us to the airport on our departure day in about three weeks.
The one hour bus ride to Praia da Vitória was very interesting, passing through farmland, farm villages, and fishing villages. We spent the afternoon wandering around the small city of Praia da Vitória, and along the waterfront walkway. We came across an exhibition building with loud sounds of many children inside. We poked our heads in to see what was happening. It was science exhibition for school children. Many displays and interactive exhibits of science and technology. Lots of school aged children. Lots of noise ! We asked if we could walk around and were invited in to do so. Interesting stuff. Very interesting to see children of different ages “discovering”.
We had a very late lunch, than afterwards bought a pastry at a bakery and went across the street to the municipal park to have a rest and snack. We ended the day browsing and shopping in the large Guarita supermarket, the largest grocery store we have been to since our arrival.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Praia da Vitória was … wait for it … the rooster and hen wandering around downtown. Yeah … I don’t know !
We caught the return bus at 5 PM and were back at Praça Velha (Old Square) in Angra do Heroisma at 6 PM, walking home to our guesthouse within fifteen or twenty minutes.
Friday ; Big winter storm ! Heavy rain ! Strong winds ! Big waves ! We’ve never experienced an Atlantic Ocean coastline winter storm before. It’s quite … <blink blink> … awesome !
We developed a serious leak from underneath our room’s shower stall. I sent a message to the owner of our guesthouse. He showed up promptly with some tools, did a diagnosis, then requested that we live with the problem for the duration of our stay, as the leak is a serious enough problem that it will not be a quick or easy fix, and he doesn’t want to tackle it while the room is occupied, nor does he want to relocate us to another room. He asked for us to just “dam” around the shower stall with towels each morning when we shower, and he will provide us with plenty of extra towels. OK … sure ! This is the largest and best equipped of the three guest rooms in this guesthouse, so we would prefer not to have to relocate to another room.
Pretty darn good communication between two old men, neither of whom speaks the other’s language. HA HA HA !
We hunkered down in our room for the day, riding out the storm. Processed yesterday’s photos. I spent a couple of hours on hold with WestJet, trying to get confirmation that they have the correct information in their system regarding our return flight from Toronto to Winnipeg in March. Their website “contact us” function leaves an awful to be desired. Can’t find an e-mail address. After much “screwing around” on their website while on telephone hold, I found a “message us” function on Twitter. I gave it a try, and within a reasonably short period of time, received a detailed and reassuring response. Return flight in March information satisfactorily in WestJet’s system. Thank you, Steph at WestJet.
Hung up the phone. Hope I never have to do business with WestJet again, after flight home in March. Future travel arrangements that require flight from Winnipeg to Toronto to make connection will NOT be with WestJet !
Rain and wind ceased by suppertime. Oh, goody, we can go to Preça Velha for Christmas lighting ceremony and choirs.
We left our guesthouse at 6:15 PM and wandered over to Preça Velha. As we approached the “Old Square” at 6:30 PM the Christmas lights above all the streets came on, and Christmas music began to play. All week we had been seeing municipal workers installing the elaborate Christmas light decorations above the streets.
There were about ten or so food vendor “sheds” like you might see at a country fair set up in the town square, each operated by a different fund raising group, mostly school groups, but also Girl Guide groups, etc. All of the food offerings looked delicious, and were very inexpensive, so … we had supper while watching two coro infantil /children choirs perform Christmas songs in both Portuguese and English. It seems like a good way for younger children to learn to speak a “foreign” language, although the enunciation of English words by the younger children was a bit amusing.
We had supper “backwards”. First we had a large slice of peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake before the first choir sung. Then between the first and second choirs we each had a piece of quiche. Joanne had ham & cheese quiche, I had “many vegetables” quiche. After the second choir we wandered around a bit, then Joanne had a bowl of bean and chorizo soup.
We had missed our daily exercise walking so at 8:15 PM we decided to walk home for a rest and a drink, then return to Preça Velha at 9:30 PM for more entertainment. On our way back home, as we passed by the pink cathedral, we were … HA HA HA … “accosted” by a gaggle of girl guides with baskets full of stuff to sell. As many little girls nattered quickly at us in Portuguese I held up a hand to silence them, then asked in Portuguese if any of them spoke English. One did. She showed and explained what was in their baskets for sale. I bought a large tub of home made rice pudding … of course. HA HA HA ! Buck and a half to a good cause ! Well … euro and a half, actually.
Upon arrival back in our guesthouse room, we found a plate with two more pieces of freshly baked, still hot from the oven, apple pie, another gift from the landlord. So … two pieces of apple pie, a tub of rice pudding, and two pasteles de nata (traditional Portuguese custard tarts) purchased in Praia de Vitoria yesterday are now in the fridge. No problem figuring out what to eat for breakfasts or bedtime snacks. HA HA HA !
At 9:30 PM we wandered back to Preça Velha, but the late evening entertainment seemed to have been cancelled. So we wandered around downtown, enjoying what turned out to be quite lovely evening weather ; warm, humid, no wind, no rain.
MMMMM … great pasteles de nata for breakfast.
Around noon we headed over to Preça Velha to find out what “Insufláveis” (Inflatables) on the Natal Em Angra (Christmas in Angra) program means. When we arrived at Old Square it was immediately obvious ; bouncy castles ! On the way to Preça Velha we passed a marching band (? ? ?) playing Christmas music. It’s great to experience another culture’s Christmas spirit and traditions.
We had a lazy, relaxing multi-course lunch, purchased from the variety of charity fund raiser food booths. Sopa verde for me, sopa pedra for Joanne, some kind of wiener wrap in phyllo pastry for Joanne, an alcatra meat on Portuguese crusty bun sandwich for me, a shared piece of some kind of chocolate cake.
After lunch we wandered around town for an hour or so for exercise and sightseeing.
After supper in our room we returned to Preça Velha at 8:30 PM for the first of tonight’s four evening concerts that comprised part of Azores Trad’Fest, a festival of traditional Portuguese folk music, in conjunction with the Christmas Village festivities in Old Square from now until New Year. The concert was delayed until 9:15 due to a stage and sound system power failure. We watched the five person group EntreParentes (Between Relatives … must be similar to our phrase “Family Affair”) perform for an hour. By then we were cold, and needed a bathroom, and couldn’t find one (! ! !) so we returned to our guesthouse.
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