Christmas with Sharon

 We drove to one of the beaches (by Bordeira) we would have stayed at if we haven’t spent the three days at Praia da Cordoama beach near Vila de Bespo. We had lunch and walked on some of the boardwalks looking over the cliffs and dunes. We drove to Aljezur then following Sharon’s instructions we went to the town of Vale de Telha past the Hotel and Karisma-the local bar. We parked opposite the house and Sharon came out with her dog-Rosie. We walked up the steps and into Sharon’s two bedroom house. Sharon is a good friend of our Auntie Debbie and Auntie Chris and went to Sydney with Mum and Dad in 2008. Us Children had never really met Sharon so we got to know her. And we really like her, she’s kind, generous, bubbly and special like our Aunty Debbie and Chris. We’re glad to be having Christmas in a house especially Sharon’s. William cooked us Pasta and Mushrooms and for the first time in 6 months the dishwasher did the dishes.

The next day we watched movies and went in the Hot tub. It wasn’t a nice day outside and we dared each other to go in the cold pool which was only 15 degrees and like ice. Sharon told us stories about her travelling the world, working in London and her friends that are coming for Christmas dinner. Sharon’s dog - Rosie was from the SPCA and afraid to see so many people in her house, she got more used to us while we were there. Sharon is also looking after the neighbours dog- Scotty. Thomas spent a long time in the Garage painting Jewellery boxes for Sharon and Maddy though they didn’t know this at the time. There is a nice view of a small lake from the hill Sharon is on and when the clouds go you can see some mountains. Mum and Dad slept in the spare room and we got to spread out a bit in the camper. We liked having some of the luxuries you don’t have while travelling like unlimited hot showers and clean clothes and space! Mum, Dad and Sharon went to the Karisma bar a short walk and we had the house to ourselves and we watched more movies.

Christmas eve was Dad’s birthday. Sharon started preparing some of the food for the Christmas feast and Mum and Dad wrapped there presents. We went back in the Hot tub with wine glasses and water. Sharon, Mum and Dad went back to the Karisma. We had Lasanga and watched ‘Miss Potter’. Nanny and Pa called us and it was nice to hear their voices, the connection sounded like Morse code

Christmas day we got up a 8o’clock and didn’t wait as long to open presents as we usually do. Auntie Debbie ad Ernie rang and we got to talk. We put pillow cases up with Sharon last night and Santa had filled them with lots of Chocolate. We spent two hours unwrapping the little two Euro gifts we had bought/made for each other and Sharon. We had lots of fun especially trying to open boxes and triple-wrapped presents.

We went down to the beach at 11o’clock for one of Sharon’s traditions-champagne and a walk on the beach. The river was swollen so we couldn’t cross to the big side of the beach. There were lots of English people that had moved out from the UK and it was nice meeting them. Some of them went for a cold paddle in the waves.

We then had to start preparing veges and things for dinner. The girls went upstairs to count and swap lollies, chocolates and toys. Thomas and Sharon had fun making Christmas mince pies and Yorkshire puddings which we haven’t had before in NZ. ‘The Boy’s‘- Keith, Dave and Mark are Sharon’s friends (who also moved here from the UK), came round for dinner and it was nice meeting them. We had a wonderful English feast from Sharon-two turkeys and a ham, broccoli, brussel sprouts, roast potatoes, parsnip, Yorkshire puddings, stuffing, gravy, Christmas pudding, custard and Christmas mince pies. It was extra special because a lot of these things are difficult to get in Portugal and we probably wouldn’t have had the same if we were just in the camper. Johanna raided Sharon’s wardrobe and tried on all her shoes and put on a fashion show.

On Boxing day we just relaxed and had soup and Christmas cake. We started eating our chocolates and watched movies. Thomas spent all day catching up on the blog. We all watched Avatar again.

Thank you Sharon for sharing Christmas with us. We’ll never forget the awesome time we had and would love you to come back to NZ again sometime.

Wild camping Algarve

We drove into Lagos past Golf resorts, Villa sub-divisions and condominium/apartments. There was lots of advertising for the Lagos Zoo. There were lots of English, German and Dutch people in the supermarket. We had lunch out at a point with small lighthouse and palm trees. It was raining and some us did more Christmas shopping at Intermarche. We went to the Municipal parking in ‘Vila de Bespo’ by the town hall and surrounded by schools for the night. There were lots of other campers and free Wifi so we caught up with NZ. After 2 weeks no internet we get it three times in one day.
We drove to the south-western point of Portugal and western Europe to Sagres-a town without footpaths so everyone walks on the road. . An English ‘snowbird’ told us the old fort was free on Sunday-today. We had lunch and watched some surfers. We drove down to the marina and looked at a sea break made of interesting shaped concrete breakers. We went to the ‘Fortaleza de Sages’ - ‘curtain’ fort with a wall that seperates the point to the mainland and the cliffs naturally protect the rest. There was a little church and a couple of defensive buildings the rest of the point looked like somewhere from the moon-it was all rocky. There were fisherman halfway down the cliffs fishing. There were information panels talking about explorers, discovering the Atlantic and renewable energy sources-wind, solar, hydro and wave/tidal. There were holes connected to caves and the sea and we could hear and see the water?air blowing from the waves. Some of the smaller ‘Furma’(Blowholes) had grates that you could stand on to feel the power of the air blowing though. We drove back to Vila de Bespo to shop then 3km out to the west coast. Steve was there, the musician we met further north. The weather wasn’t very nice but we could cross the small stream to get to the beach.
We were intending on moving to another beach but we stayed. Steve asked us if we wanted to watch one of his 300 DVDs so we got Avatar. We transformed the bed/couches at the back into a cinema and really like the message behind the movie of Avatar.
We walked on the beach even though it was rainy and watched more movies. We did lots of present wrapping and card making. We had a 2^nd and 3^rd night at the beach. A Sheperd had a herd of goats, sheep and cows and walked them from inland to the beach and up onto the cliffs to graze. Dad went walking with Steve who’s a big walker and cyclist. On the third day we discovered a washed up dead cow and it was very windy.

Erica and Vavaldo HelpX Goat farm

We walked about a km down the dirt road then up a short steep driveway. In the courtyard was Erica. We went on HelpX looking for goat farms and self-sufficient set-ups. We found Erica and Vavaldo in Bensafrim and wanted to come and help out and learn to make cheese and learn about the Portuguese culture and self-sufficiency. Erica was originally from Germany but moved to Portugal 20 years ago with her two kids and met Vavaldo while he was building her house of rammed earth and clay. The goats were slightly wild and not friendly petting goats. They also didn’t get in kid so Erica wasn’t making cheese. We were happy to stay in our camper by the stream.

We arrived on 10th Dec and Erica said we could stay in the nearest village-Barao de Sao Joao. We were next to the dump and there were lots of stray dogs. Anneke and Thomas walked into the village and discovered little grocery stores, local bars, a post office and antique/second-hand shop and got some oranges that were probably from the tree in his garden.

The next day we went and parked below the driveway in the valley. Vavaldo was making concrete for his courtyard and William and Thomas helped and didn’t say much just lot’s of sign language. The rest rebuilt the compost pit. Erica’s Mum made us some spiced apple pancakes and some soaked salted beans to eat like peanuts, we put them in soup. There were quite a few people around. There was a French boy playing with Johanna. We didn’t want to go back to the car park/rubbish dump so we parked in the mud by the pigs. We were on the greatest lean we’ve ever had to sleep. We spent the morning in bed talking about ideas for our farm at home and possibly building the house we were going to build before we left but powered by the wind and solar like here. Erica came down and suggested some jobs for us to do. We started cutting large sticks with hatchets and a French lady in the caravan neighbouring us showed us how the Portuguese used to cut their wood. They put the saw up-right between their legs and moved the wood up and down the blade. She also gave us a chainsaw which we didn’t use. She also told us a story about how Portugal is changing especially since joining the EU government. After lunch we went into town to fill up with water and had hot showers while Mum went shopping. We went up to the house for dinner and brought an Apple crumble which Erica had never had. We had simple/organic/Portuguese food-a huge pot of bean flavoured with herbs and things. We moved our camper to a flatter spot further away from the house.

On the 13th William and Dad rebuilt a stone retaining wall washed away from all the rain. The rest of us went up into the hill to bundle sticks for firewood and make a firebreak. Thomas helped Valvado rebuild the barricade the dog was jumping over into more like a fence you’d see in NZ. We discovered more of the surroundings and the farm. There’s a huge vegetable garden by the creek and some small fields for crops. There are lot’s of tobacco plants for Vavaldo. There’s a pond full of frogs and Salamanders and cork oak trees. As well as a normal bathroom there’s a composting toilet and outdoors shower for summer. We had dinner by candle light because the camper is out of power because we haven’t driven much. Maddy and Anneke had been trying to look after a sick goat but discovered it had died in the stable. The stable has hay in the loft and pigeons in one side. There’s chickens everywhere and a pregnant donkey. Erica asked us if we wanted to stay longer and learn how they kill a pig and make sausage.

The next day we watched Vavaldo sacrifice two 6 month old pigs and drain the blood for Black pudding and Blood sausage. He then burned the hair and prepared it. He kept all the meat and hear, lungs, liver. The longer we stayed the more we liked it and it became more of an exchange. Mum would wash clothes by the creek and we’d bundle sticks. We started herding the goats down the road to eat grass in neighbouring paddocks. Thomas stayed in the camper and wrapped presents and did some ‘housework’ while the rest of us prepared the meat for sausage. We were invited to lunch-liver and white wine, heart and rice and spinach and olive oil soup. Mum and Dad drank homemade wine Erica had traded a pig for.

The 17th was Anneke’s 13th Birthday. We had pancakes, bacon and eggs. And did other things to make it a special day. We had ‘After eight mints’ and a candle as a cake. There were quite a few mosquitoes and we got lots of bites, we still have to use candles. Mum and Anneke stuffed meat and spices into casings for the sausages and Valvado smoked them on the veranda.

It was raining on the 18th when we left Erica and Vavaldo. We had an interesting experience and learnt about the Portuguese culture and self-sufficiency. We were a little sad to leave. We drove to Lagos-a completely different world only 30km away.