Peepers in Portugal
We are in Portugal, and the tree peepers are celebrating the
arrival of spring! It’s still cloudy,
and rained a fair bit today as we drove from Seville, Spain, to Albufeira, but
the frogs know that there is no turning back toward winter now.
After two and a half weeks in Spain, we are trying to pick
up the nuances of yet another country without benefit of speaking the
language. We have taken a very different
approach to Portugal, following back roads between small towns as we traveled
across the southern coast. In Spain, we consulted our camper’s GPS navigator
between destinations, and she consistently recommended the quickest route,
generally involving a four-lane highway with tolls and quick pull-off rest
areas. The countryside sped by in a
blur, orange trees and olives and the people working them visible, but not
experienced.
Our two days in Seville were a little different. We parked in a campervan lot right beside the
river, just a bridge away from the busy central city. We walked through various neighborhoods,
stopped in at cafés, and met the city’s dogs as they stopped to chat with
Jacob. Spain is full of adorable dogs! Almost every dog is about 15-20 pounds,
terrier-ish and cute, full of personality, and every third person seems to have
one. Even the profile of the dog on the “no dogs allowed” signs looks like
Jacob! He helped us pass as locals as he
pranced along, fashionably dressed in his harness like all the other dogs. He definitely got more human “olas” than we
did, too.
That said, I found it difficult to feel like we were
anything other than observers in Spain. The observations were wonderful and
interesting, but after the intense involvement in daily life in
Charlottesville, it has been strange to just watch others live their lives,
with little interaction. At first, it
was almost a relief to be anonymous and removed from the fray, but I can tell
we will have to find ways to connect as we continue this adventure.
Portugal will have the same challenges, I am sure, but in
our first 12 hours here, it has a slightly different feel, more of an
enthusiastic welcome of the stranger. I
am hopeful. The weather should help,
too. After several days of intense cold,
we have had almost two weeks of intense wind, with periodic gale-force
horizontal rain, interrupted occasionally by a few hours at a time of beautiful,
sunny weather. We’ve actually enjoyed
nature’s show, and got plenty of reading done, but we are looking forward to a
true spring.
We have had a few nice, brief interactions with fellow
nomads in the campgrounds – a British man who is celebrating his early
retirement traveling through Europe, birdwatching and painting, a German man
who helped us figure out how to refill German gas canisters in Spain, a British
couple who are in their second year of caravanning together, and had lots of
helpful tips, and the Swedes who are here exploring where to buy a winter home,
but have almost decided to scrub the idea because they miss their grandchildren
in Sweden so much.
One consistent relationship we have developed is with our
GPS system, Diane. I call her that
because she sounds like a British Diane Rehm, and although she reminds us when
we are exceeding the speed limit, she treats us like responsible adults who can
do what we want with that information, like her namesake. Her predecessor, Pam, also British, was a scold,
and sounded increasingly annoyed every time she chided, “slow down!”
We are learning to slow down, but it doesn’t help to be nagged about it.
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A few pictures from the last few days:
Our trusty Poessl parked in Seville
Portuguese-Spanish border fortifications
In a small Portuguese town (taken from the van)
A stork nest on the grocery store
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And a couple of links about the recent violent weather and the unexpected find it led to in Cádiz (thanks, Matthew Carter):
I so admire your adventuresome and courageous spirit, Kristin. Take it all in. Charlottesville and friends will be here when you're done. Thanks for sharing with us. Enid
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