The Island of Pico up close!
On clear days in Angra, we could see the island of Pico soaring in the distance over the closer island of São Jorge. We wanted very much to visit it and the other islands of the Azores.
We also wanted to contact the members that lived on the various islands, according to the Angra, Praia and São Miguel branch records. Many only had addresses and no phones, meaning that we had to go in person.
Putting those two needs together, we planned a trip in September, 2016 when the ferries would still be running before the rough winter seas began. We invited the district president, President Luis Alves, to join us. That was very helpful as he could talk to people better to find the addresses and not just 2 old American missionaries. He also had a vested interest in these people as members of his district, and as we discovered, people he knew from the past.
We took an airplane to the island of Faial and then the ferries to São Jorge and Pico and back to Faial. Then it was off on the airplane to Flores, and finally back to Faial for the return leg to Terciera.
That is the short version! It was a wonderful trip with some success with members and lots of success with beautiful scenery!
*A map of the Azores is at the end of this post so, if you want, you can see where each island is in the group.
Faial & São Jorge
Monday, September 19 in Faial
Tuesday and Wednesday: September 20-21 in São Jorge
(Translation: Welcome to São Jorge)
This is a painted tile picture, an art form very common in Portugal. Many tiles are the traditional blue and white, but you do get some with other colors. Velas, the name below the city emblem in the bottom left corner of the picture, is the capital and largest city of São Jorge.
Our first flight took us to Horta, Faial and we left the next morning for the island of São Jorge on the ferry. We had a 30 minutes ride to Pico and then a hour and a half to São Jorge. Fortunately, it was a very calm day and a smooth sail.
We were used to ferries in Cape Verde. We did notice that this ferry was much newer than the one that travels daily from Mindelo to Santo Antão and back. Horta is the city in the background -- and the only 'large' city on the island.
This was an early morning trip ( left at 9:00 a.m.). We will pick up more when we stop at Pico in 30 minutes.
Pico dominates the horizon in this part of the Açores!
This is looking at the island while boarding the ferry. Faial and Pico are very close, about 4 1/2 miles apart.
Here we are approaching Velas, São Jorge. It is the largest city (and probably the only one that can be called a city) on the island. The island itself is very long (53 km) and very narrow (8 km). There is a 'mountain' range down the length with Pico de Esperança topping the island at 3455 feet altitude.
Here's our team. President Luis Alves, a good friend and president of the Açores District, Elder Broderick and Sister Broderick. It was a little late in the tourist season and the recommended restaurant, high up on the mountain above Velas was closed. But, the food was good at this restaurant and the others we frequented and we enjoyed the time together.
First, a little tour of Velas. Although it is the largest city, with only 9500 residents on the entire island, it isn't a metropolis. It has the calm, quiet feel of a small town. You could usually find a parking place near to where you wanted and the cars didn't go so fast and were not so plentiful.
The central plaza with the mandatory gazebo for performances during the festivals.
A pedistrian walkway with shops and restaurants. It is a little late in the day, but you can see it is not super busy!! Below is a closer photo of the section of stone work shown in the photo on the left. They do quite intricate designs with the cobblestones!!
Below is São Jorge (from whom the island gets its name) battling it out with the Dragon, Another piece of cobblestone artwork in the main plaza area.
A dragon head as part of the fountain.
Well, I think it is time to get to work!!! All the members for which we had addresses lived in the villages up the sides of the mountain. It was a beautiful countryside with great views!
Often the road through the countryside is relatively flat, but to get to the villages, you have to go down or up. That is the nature of volcanic islands.
A church in Santo Amaro high up on the side of the mountain. This was an interesting place for me. I had done some family history research for a sister in our Angra Branch and her father was born in this village. So, I had to take some pictures of it!
And as I said, Pico dominates the horizon and everytime you looked, it was just a little different. This afternoon, Pico wears a hat!! (The island is about 11 miles away)
Our first Success!! We found Maria, alive and still living at this address several years after her baptism.
She and her husband were in Angra, Terceira, for medical treatments for him when they met the missionaries. They were taught the gospel and she was baptized first, and he was baptized a week later. However, just 2 weeks after her husband's baptism, he died. She was in Angra for a little while, but went back to her home in São Jorge where she lost contact with the church.
To the left is the picture of her baptism that she still has displayed in her home.
Well, we did. Several times. One thing this trip taught us on ALL the islands is how to make a U-turn and try again!! Finally we were successful in guessing the right house!
Ruben was glad to see us. We had given away the books we grabbed for the days visits, but left him with 2 Ensign magazines and told him we would return the next day to bring more information. However, when we returned, we were met by his brother who told us in no uncertain terms that we were not welcome in his house nor were any books, or anything about the Church. His brother was also a member, and it is hard to understand why he would not allow Ruben to enjoy learning more. Ruben wasn't there, so we couldn't talk with him either. We were very disappointed.
Continuing along the island, we enjoyed the countryside. It really is a beautiful island.
We drove half way down the island to the village of Calheta, almost a town. We met with one member, the son of an active member in Angra. However, he had been offended, and probably rightly so, as a youth and though he didn't have much happiness in his life and was pretty negative. He didn't see how the gospel and the Church could bless his life and those of his family. We could only invite!
From Calheta you drive all the way to the end of the island to the parish of Topo with about 500 residents.
This is the Ilhéu do Topo, the most eastern point of the island.
Just to the right and up from the Ilhéu do Topo is the light house that guards the tip of the island
And, like in Angra, here is the local imperio or Spirit house.
From São Jorge, you can see all the islands of the central group of the Açores. This is Graciosa, which at the right spot on Terceira, you can see as well.
One fascinating aspect of the volcanic island geography is the formation of flat stream deltas along the edges of the island which provide some arable land at the base of steep volcanic mountain sides. Along the side of São Jorge are several of these flat places or fajãs in Portuguese, all with a little parish.
They are so flat and so low, I wondered if they had problems with the sea washing over them!
We decided to descend to visit one!
And you do go down, and down and down, all at a pretty steep incline! And it is one switch back to another. Fortunately, there is not very much traffic!
And hidden by the tree, is the church below.
Well, we traversed from one end of São Jorge to the other and drove on both sides of the mountain. We made a couple of contacts, found that many others had moved or died. It was time to go to the next island, Pico. Below is the end of day view of Pico from São Jorge.
Pico
Thursday, September 22 on PicoAfter looking at Pico so many times, it was time to actually go there!! The day we were there, the peak was in and out of the clouds all day, but we manage a couple of views and photos.
Time to catch the ferry!!! Obviously, we aren't on this ferry, but will be soon!
When we found the house, it was the right one, but the mother had died and he had left for Pico where he is staying in a home for adults who can't make it on their own. He was pleased to see us, but without an organized branch on the island, he will not have any contact with church members. He is well cared for and seemed to be content.
Another address and we found the correct home. These were for 2 children, now in their teens. When we found their address, the current occupant said they were in a children's home after being taken from their drug-abusing mother, who was not a member.
We found the home and.
Dennis and I stayed outside and enjoyed visiting the nearby church on the left. President Alves went to the Catholic Church run home alone in case the adults there were suspicious of why 2 older Americans with missionary badges were asking about the children. We found out they were doing well in school and were content and happy to be in the home. Again, without an organized branch, they probably will not keep in contact with the church.
We had two more contacts. One, a brother, at first sounded very interested in meeting with us, but we never could get in touch with him again to set up a specific time and place. Another was a young adult sister. We found her house easy enough but no one was there. We came back later and found someone home. He said she had moved, and gave us her address and description of how to get there. It wasn't far, just down the main road a bit. Well, we drove back and forth with much u-turn practice but never could find the right house or the address. We stopped at the most likely candidate, but the older couple didn't recognize the name at all. They were very pleasant and we had a good visit with them. But no member contact. We decided they gave us a random address to get us to go away. Such is missionary life all over the world, I think.
We didn't have any more addresses for Pico, so decided to finish out the afternoon by driving around the island and for part of the way, going on one of the upper roads circling the mountain. It was quite the adventure!! President Alves was very patient with all our side trips.
It was a dirt road and some places were a bit dicey with deep ruts.
The country side was very pretty, as usual for an island in the Açores!!
As we were continuing our circuit on the paved road, we came to this lichen covered wall. It was very soft!
To finish the circling of the island, we stopped at the rocky beach at São Roque. It is an island, after all!!
And you always get a better view when you can get up high!!
These flowers were coming out in full bloom along all the roads. I don't say the name in English, but the Portuguese call them: "Little Girls ready to go to School". These flowers are all over Terceira as well and was well known to us in California. They have lily-like leaves that come up in the Spring, die off, and then in September the flower pops up by itself.
As we were finishing up our circle, Pico came out of the clouds! We had to do a Portuguese stop (meaning stop where you are and even in part of the lane if there is no other choice) and take a picture at a good break in the trees!
Faial -- again
Friday Morning, September 23 in Faial
We took the early morning ferry back to Faial where we would fly out later in the afternoon for the island of Flores.
We had one more member, Fatima, we wanted to visit. She is the ex-wife of a less active member in Praia who moved back to Faial when they divorced. She even offered to pick us up at the ferry station and take us to her home for the visit and then take us to the the airport.
We had a good visit, but she needs to make changes in her life and, again, without the organization of the Church on the island, she finds it difficult to maintain her spiritual growth. She too accepted contact from a visiting teacher back on Terceira.
Flores
Friday afternoon, September 23 on Flores
Our last new island to explore was Flores. Flores, along with its tiny neighbor, Corvo, form the western group of the Azores islands.
We could take the overnight ferry, but decided, for time sake, to take the airplane!! This is the small, inter-island airplane, very similar to the planes we took while traveling between islands in Cape Verde.
Here is a view of Santa Cruz das Flores, the largest villiage, with approximately 2500 residents.
Here is the last new island that we will see on this trip --
Corvo. It has one tiny village on it and I am sure it is a beautiful and
peaceful place!!!
We had made phone contact with Sergio before our trip.After
landing at Santa Cruz, we were getting our rental car. As Dennis walked out of
the terminal, Sergio came up to him, recognizing the white shirt and badge.
After many rejections it was so wonderful to be met by someone looking for us.
He was at the airport as part of his work to pick up a car
for the maritime agency he works for and we were just coming out. We followed
him to his house (nice not to have to ask 3-4 people where a street was) and
waited while he took the car to the agency and picked up his wife at work.
They had joined the
Church almost a year ago in Almada. It was actually a reference I had sent on
to the missionaries there.
They took the lessons and then as they approached baptism,
he got a transfer to work in Flores. The missionaries worked with them and they
decided (without the missionaries there) to get baptized. They were baptized a
1 a.m. and at 6 am they were at the Lisbon Airport to fly to Flores.
They are such good people and were grateful for the
information we brought. She actually is Lithuanian and they speak English in
the home. She is working in the library at a school, so gets along in
Portuguese. We had a good talk in the only 1 ½ hours that he had before going
to another activity that night. We see great potential for their growth. We
hope that they can have continued contact through phone home teaching and
visiting teaching.
That contact done, we only needed to drive to our hotel for
the night, which happened to be on the other side of the island. There weren't
many hotels on the island and though a distance to drive, it was worth seeing
the island!!
There are 4-5 deep lakes formed in volcanic craters.
The scenery was spectacular!!
Getting to the other side of the island, there were cliffs with small waterfalls cascading over them.
We thought we were getting close to the hotel, looking for Aldeia da Cuada. We finally found the road sign, turned left onto a very small road that went down and down. We came to the end of the road, a small cul-de-sac and no big building.
The Aldeia da Cuada is actually a restored village, with each house a 'room' for the guests. To get to our house, we had to walk and walk and walk downward on a rough cobblestone path. Fortunately, they brought our luggage to the house on a trailer pulled by a little tractor. (They also picked up our luggage and brought it back to the parking lot when we left)
Breakfast was served the next day is another house about halfway up.
The stone houses were very rustically furnished, but very comfortable and with all the amenities you needed.
Home Sweet Home! (for one night!)
Our house was near the bottom of the village and the view opened up to the green fields and amazing views.
The next day, we returned to Santa Cruz (and the airport) stopping along the route for morning photos. First we stopped at an old water mill
then went past the cliffs with the waterfalls.
A view of the countryside at a view point on the road.
The views just can't be beat!!!
Faial (for the last time!)
Saturday, September 24!
We left Flores in the morning and when we landed at Faial, we had nearly a 5 hour wait until our flight back to Terceira and home. Not wanting to just sit at the airport, we decided to hire a taxi to take us to the volcanic crater in the center of Faial. It was clear as we talked to the taxi drivers that tourists do this all the time. We actually saw several people on our flight at the crater.
I wasn't quite prepared, as we walked through the tunnel to the edge of the crater, for its immensity. You could almost not take it all in at the same time.
Below is a panoramic picture ( a single shot wouldn't do everything!). And it still doesn't quite do it justice!!! It has about a 2 kilometer hike around the rim.
We enjoyed the scenery as we drove up and down the mountain to the crater.
I think Dennis enjoyed it especially as he could freely look at the scenery and not worry about driving!!
A panoramic view of Faial with Pico in the hazy background!
So, here we are, back in the airport at Faial with time to spare and waiting for our flight.
We are tired! It has been a whirlwind of 4 islands over the past 6 days, We feel good about the time spent, both in searching for members and seeing the beauty of the islands.
And we will be glad to arrive at the Lajes Airport on Terceira and drive home.
Bur first, as we fly away, we say goodbye to São Jorge
Graciosa
And Pico!
*Here is a map of the islands so you can see the various islands and their relationship to each other. Thank you wikimedia.org!!
No comments:
Post a Comment