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| With the Vieras inside a Volcano - Algar do Carvão (see explanation below) |
There was one VERY good reason we were looking forward to the Sanjoaninas festa-- The Viera family weas coming to visit during that week. Linda's family had a family reunion in Italy where her mother is from and they made Terceira their first stop! The major reason is David's family is from the Azores, and his mother's grandmother was born in Terceira -- but more about that later! Of course, we were a second reason with translation, housing, maps and food all combined in one package.
Unfortunately, they arrived and left between all the big parades of Sanjoaninas and they still had to deal with the loud bands at night. Even so, we had a great 5 days together and when we went out of Angra, it was quite peaceful!
They arrived Sunday afternoon, after an almost all night stay in the airport waiting for the delayed flight. We picked them up at the airport, and then went directly to the Praia chapel for our afternoon meetings. Ariana provided the music for the interval song, and everyone loved her song and voice. She brought a very special spirit into the meeting.
Back home in Angra that evening, we talked about our visit strategy to use the days effectively and then they went to bed quite early! It had been a loooong 24 hours!
Monday morning!! Time to discover!! David's main goal was to find some living relatives. Fatima Pamplona had done a lot of work on his ancestry and he wanted to find some cousins on Terceira! We started in Altares, the birth place of his great great grandfather, Joachim Martin Alves. This village is on the other side of the island -- about a 30 minute drive.
We went first to the church, the center point in any village.
The church in Altares.
The building ( you can just see the corner on the right) next to the church was a museum, but it is closed on Monday's!!
However, as we learned more about the area, we discovered this was the school house that David's great grandmother attended.
Dennis had contacted the president of the freguesia (basically, the mayor) and when he arrived, we discovered we could not go into the church as the pastor was out of town. However, he did know some old people who might know of his grandmother's family. We followed him in his car to a cafe where we met a 100 year old man who still had a very good memory and, obviously, knew everyone in that small village.
Look's pretty spry, não é??
But, he did not remember anything of the family.
Then, we learned of a fellow who was visiting from the United States who was very knowledgeable about the residents. He comes back every year!! Here is David showing him some pictures of the family when his grandmother and her sisters visited Terceira. (In case you are wondering, the Casa do Povo across the street is a day activity center for the elderly as well as activities for the community).
But David struck out in Altares. He decided that the family moved to Angra in the early 1900's and was lost to the memory of Altares. His great, great grandfather died in Angra. So, that was the next stop!
But, hey!! We are on the other side of the island and MUST go to Algar do Carvão, the volcano you can walk into. (I was going to offer to take anyone there that visited us, but we have moved to the continente and are in Évora right now!!) It is one of the must-see places on Terceira. Here we are outside the visitors center.
The acoustics are so amazing and we convinced Ariana to favor us with a short song.
We were getting toward the end of the hydrangea season. Many of the roads are lined with bushes in full bloom with these gigantic blossoms.
We were taking a short cut on a small road and it was so amazing!!
A perfect couple photo op on their anniversary!
And great for any couple!!
Tuesday and Wednesday were days in Angra. Linda and I had fun shopping and looking around the city. One morning, the two of us went whale watching. I could show you some pictures of a whale touching the top surface. Apparently there were several around, and occasionally you could see something. But with the boats bobbing in the not so calm sea, it was hard to know if I even got a picture of it. I just pointed in the general direction and clicked!!
One of the interesting parts of the excursion was seeing our town of Angra from the middle of the bay -- a very different perspective. Our apartment house is the building just above and to the right of the small yellow building!!! (There was a band that practiced in that building so we got impromptu performances on an occasional basis)
And while we were having fun, Dennis, David and Ariana were on a cousin hunt in Angra. First they went to the library where all the archives were kept. There they got some valuable clues where 2 sisters of his great-grandmother lived. Dennis's language ability and knowledge of the resources available and the streets of the city were invaluable and saved a lot of potential lost time figuring things out.
The foyer of the library has these beautiful, and very traditional blue tile scenes.
As it turned out, with little clues from the librarian, help from a store keeper next door to the now abandoned house, he was able to find 2 distant cousins, almost the only family still living on the island. Most of the family had immigrated to the United States.
Here is David in front of his great-aunts house. (Obviously, from the roof, no one is living there). The house is just up the hill on a corner intersecting our street (though the name changes down below). It was amazing how close his family lived to us!
This is Orbela. She was widowed very young, never remarried and has no children. She lives in a corner house on a street near to our church. She was so pleased to meet Dave and fell in love with Ariana.
We walked past her house MANY times and had no idea we were near to David's cousin!!
This is Joaquim, Orbela's twin brother. He is retired and spends his days on his little farm with goats, pigs and a big garden. He is a very generous man with his produce. He has one son, also named Joaquim.
We have since gone back to talk to them several times. David sent a picture for Orbela and one day when the sister missionaries needed a 3rd sister companion, I asked if we could also stop by Orbela's house to deliver the picture. She was very friendly and we had a good visit.
She also said that one day she had lots of grocery bags to carry home, and the sister missionaries stopped and helped her carry them. She appreciated their service and remembered them!
We also visited José and Fátima Pamplona. Fátime had done a lot of family history work on his grandmother's ancestry. It was a great opportunity for David to thank her for her time and expertise!! Thank you, Fátima!
And we got some fun thing in too -- like a Tourada: the bull on a rope. Basically they close off a section of road (and this one a particularly busy route with buses and all) 4 times for 20 minutes each time to let a bull loose on the street. There are 4-5 men on the end of a rope attached to the bull that helps to control it. When the bull is released from his box, they send up 1 rocket. When the bull is reboxed, they send up 2 rockets and everyone knows the road is safe. The backed-up cars have a chance to get through, although the spectators also go out onto the street. It is quite fun to watch from a distance!!
Here we are, on top of the wall next to the Nunes's house, members of the Angra Branch. They really don't like touradas, but stay home to make sure their home is safe. There are a lot of people on the street!
And we just had to buy donuts from the street venders!
(In case you are wondering, yes, we have a young missionary with us. No, it is not p-day. Yes, she is legal. Her companion had left on Monday and her new companion wasn't coming until the evening of the tourada and she could not stay home alone. So she joined our merry group!. Dennis, Sister Bateman and I left half way through the tourada to go to the airport to pick up Sister Rust. Sister Bateman had a fun time shopping and doing all the touristy things on a Tuesday and Wednesday! And thank you Ariana for sharing the living room couches. We had a very full apartment!!)
These are the rope holders. They are specially trained and their white shirts in that style and black hats are the uniform of the team! Always!
Looking down from our perspective on the street. The truck/trailer has just delivered the 4 bulls in the boxes at the bottom left. The boxes are shaking and jumping with a bull that wants to GET OUT!!
And here is the bull in the street.
Many of the men gather in the street but as soon as the bull starts to run to them, they high tail it away. There is usually one man (trained) to tease the bull with an umbrella to get him riled up.
A Walk through the Park! The Angra jardim (garden) is near to our house. We enjoy walking through it and seeing the currently blooming flowers and enjoying the peace.
Here the Vieras are sitting by the grandstand, mimicking the picture David had of his grandmother and her sisters in front of the same grandstand!
The garden landscaping is very well done.!
Exploring Angra!!! And we met up with Vasco da Gama himself!!!
This is a new sculpture. They finished remodeling the square and installing Vasco in time for Sanjoaninas!!
It has become one of the popular photo spots in Angra.
Note: Being Portuguese, Vasco da Gama is a very important person in Portugal. He and his brother Paulo da Gama's came to Angra during one of their voyages where his brother died and was buried.
Of course food played an important part of the visit!! After all, you HAVE to eat!!
We had some traditional Portuguese dishes that I have learned here. David made the comment that rather than introducing him to the food, it brought back many memories of celebrations and eating the same things back with family in California. At least we were authentic!!
We did find a wonderful fish restaurant in São Mateus, just down the road from Angra. We ordered the assortment plate and enjoyed it all!!!
Thursday morning before they left on a jet plane, we enjoyed a hike on Monte Brasil. The white lilies were in full bloom.
It was wonderful to take a walk with Linda again. We have been walking companions for over 20 years. That's a lot of walking and talking!!
Thank you Linda, for being a wonderful friend!
Thank you Viera's for coming to see us. It was a wonderful week!
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