Roller Coaster of Emotion

Every year when we get within that two week window of heading home to Canada we find ourselves thinking of what we want to do “one more time”, or what do we want to do that we haven’t yet done, before we have to start the onerous task of packing suitcases. It’s not usually a huge list but it does tend to hold some pretty important things for us and today, well, we started to take care of some of those things.

For many year during our time in Estoi we built special relationships with several folks and have, for the most part, stayed very much in touch with them. Last year, because of illness, unforeseen obstacles, and my very unexpected trip to Newfoundland, we did not get an opportunity to visit a very special person so this morning, we made that a priority.

We drove to the tiny village of Patacão to visit Elsa, the owner of  Pastelaria “Grão e Café”. Such a grand time catching up, laughing at times gone by, and finding out the “what’s new”. It was as if we had seen her just yesterday.

Because we were so close to Ilha de Faro we spontaneously decided to head there, I would go for a walk along a part of the island I love, Marc would park himself on a favourite patio for a tea, then I would join him for lunch. Sounded perfect and checked a couple of things off our imaginary list.

I headed off for the western part of the island, an old fishing village with a lovely boardwalk that I always took immense pleasures in walking. Today was quite a different story, an unexpected one. As I neared the boardwalk I was shocked to see that several of the buildings had been destroyed, completely leveled to the sand, and activity was still happening around demolition.

I spotted a man with his dog collecting his mail at the community boxes and decided to approach him to ask what was happening. He was very happy to talk to me and explain in his limited English. Basically, the community, which consists of 49 buildings, is being demolished as it was decided that many of the buildings were “illegal”, that the shoreline was being eroded, and the land needed an “environmental rehabilitation”!!!!

I finally found a sign that “explained” the work…..here it is literally translated…..

The intervention to be carried out aims at clearing precarious constructions, of an illegal nature, located on the Ancão Peninsula, in the municipality of Faro, on public maritime land, which are built in an area of high vulnerability to coastal erosion and the retreat of the coastline. Subsequently, the vacated area will undergo renaturalization with native vegetation, species typical of coastal environments, whose roots serve to fix and aggregate the substrate, as a way of safeguarding the natural structures of coastal protection, in dune formations, which constitute a fundamental natural barrier against the destructive action and advance of the sea.

This man cried when he told me his story. He was born (42 years ago) and raised in this tiny village . His mother died when he was a teenager and his father died four years ago. He has only worked in the sea, he knows nothing else. He took me into his house……..they have cut off electricity, removed doors, windows, and the roof…..here is a photo…..he has been living like this for a month now and his belongings are in those two big plastic bags along with some shelves.

This “community” has existed for at least three generations and to my mind, it’s heartbreaking to know that they are being “kicked out” of their homes, whatever the driver behind it is. They have been offered apartments in Montenegro, a tiny community about 10 kms away, on the “mainland” but most of them know they can never afford to stay there after the government funding runs out. And so, I went from the high of seeing a dear old friend, to the lows of this news, which I own no part of but………….

They are all supposed to be out by the end of April though many are resisting. Once this is finished they will move to the east end of the island and do the same with 30+ “homes” that are there. I can’t tell you how my heart broke for him. I think he saw my distress as he put his hand on my arm, smiled and said, “We don’t blame the tourists, they don’t know this is even happening even though it is for them, or for tourism”!!!!!

Heavy hearted I headed back down the boardwalk, and beach, in search of Marc and looking forward to trying to forget about it and simply enjoy some time together.

As I neared our favourite terrace on this beach I saw my Marc………that was enough to lift my heart and make me forget (for awhile) my last encounter.

We enjoyed tremendously, our time sitting on that patio of Waxx, an old favourite. There are many changes to the beach along this area with the arrival of beach umbrellas and chaise longues, and waiter in the sand, but still, I guess that’s “progress” from their perspective with the tourism. We still enjoyed it. Here’s a bunch of random shots from our strategically placed table.

Good food, sunshine, blue skies, the sounds of laughing children, and a good glass of sangria, have the ability to snap one out of any stupor and they worked wonders on me! A truly wonderful way to wile away a couple of hours together chatting and planning out our thoughts for the next several months. From there a drive home and eventually a visit in the square at São Brás with Debbie and Fred.

This was a great way to wind up a big part of our day before settling into the evening. It’s wonderful to have like minded folks to kick back and relax with. I love how the universe provides!

Closing with a sbot of yellow hottentot figs……..the Hottentot Fig (Carpobrotus edulis) is a fast-growing, mat-forming succulent native to South Africa, valued for its edible fruits, striking flowers, and soil-stabilizing properties. It’s not native to here but, I still love it.