Alentajano style.

After watching our fair share of rugby we felt it was time to do some physical activities of our own. Me, sebi, and some of sebi´s relatives went out to take a tour of the farm. We started out on a quad, piled high with us five, to go chase some pigs. We entered into the large pig area and were confronted by a group of some of the biggest pigs I have ever seen. Some of us jumped of the quad to start hearding the pigs while the others drove the quad around the other side honking the horn to give the pigs a scare. After a good bit of fun we went to look at the other parts of the farm, we saw the barns, the dog kennel (which was home to about 7 dogs all bread for hunting), the giant house, the chapel, the peacocks and other birds, the chickens, the sheep, the vineyards, and the pool. The pool was located in the middle of everything cast under the shadow of a giant water tower. It was nice and sunny but no one wanted to swim with me. We ate a little snack of cake and sweets and then headed out to play soccer. We played all afternoon until no one could take it anymore, luckily before I reached the point of collapsing the dinner bell rang and we all went to take another lap at the monumental soup bowl. After dinner came desert and lounging. We set up our beds soon after and went to hit the hay. The next morning we were up early to pack and get things ready to head out. We went downstairs and met sebis mom, dad, brothers and sister to go to a nearby village for breakfast. The drive out there was lovely, we passed more farms and, before I realized, entered the town. We went straight to the city center where we stopped at a small café to eat some traditional Alentejano pastries. After the meal we went up to the highest point around for miles to where an ancient castle was perched. This castle didn´t have any sort of people running it, we simply drove our car under the old, majestic, crumbling gate and parked next to the main tower within the castle walls. We walked around a little bit taking many pictures. After gazing out on the rolling hills for quite some time we headed back into the city center to see the downtown area. Sebi and I walked around the main square for a little while and met back up with sebi´s dad to go see some very traditional Alentejano rug shops. The rugs they make here are very well known in portugal and are very beautiful.
On the way back to the farm we took a little detour to see more of the vineyards and sorrounding area, we even stopped at an old abandoned school and church that was used when the migrant workers would harvest the crops back in the olden days. When we got back to the farm we packed the car and since we had a little time on our hands we asked sebi´s grandfather to give us a tour of the wine making buildings. We entered into the distillery witch was full of big tanks to distill the wine, they were´nt making any wine at the time but it was still really cool to see. We got the full tour from sebi´s grandpa, it seems that he knows everything there is to know about wine making, temperatures, humidity of the buildings, etc. etc. etc. We saw all the bottling machines, the big barrels to finish the wine (made of the finest imported french wood), all the giant racks of full wine bottles waiting to be sold that reached the ceiling and filed the warehouse. It was a really cool thing, seeing, smelling and tasting all that wine and the process it went through, from grape to bottle. After we saw the farm at the shop that was part wine making museum, part shop and part tourist attraction. We were even given free polos with the farm logo embroidered on them! After the tour we went to have some lunch. We gave our third and final dive into the giant soup bowl before playing another quick game of soccer and saying good bye to everyone and setting off from the farm once more, now our destination, LISBON!

Continuation.

Got on the bus. The bus ride was fine down to lisbon. It´s about a four hour haul, no stops through the heart of portugal. It is a trip I have done a fair share of times but one that I never get tired of. Being on that bus, alone, accompanied only by my Ipod on my way to another great adventure just evokes some kind of feeling in me. A feeling of satisfacton, comfort and freedom. Sounds tacky but doing that on my own makes me feel free, out in the world, going to rondezvous with my friends in a big city. I settle in, listening to the music that fits the mood which seems to change almost as rapidly as the scenery outside the bus window. We go from mountains to plains, over rivers and past lakes until finally the industrial city scape of lisbon breaks over the horizon, rising up, growing ever bigger and more fascinating as our bus nears the metropolis. Of course we get stuck in some minor traffic. After many minutes of anxious ``Are we there yet?´´s the bus pulls a hard right and heads down a beaver slide into the busy bus-port. The scene is that from a star wars film, space ships buzzing around like bees docking and un-docking, loading and unloading of cargo and different species from far off worlds. I climb off the bus in a slight daze, awakening from the calmness that was my ipod and bus seat, and see sebi waiting for me with his cell phone at his ear making some last minute arrangements for the night ahead of us. He says something into the phone and quickly hangs up. With a broad smile on his face and his arms spread even wider he charges. I duck into a football tacklers position and take him around the middle. After that little scene in the crowded bus station, we exchange some quick words of hello, how´s it going and then sebi brings it to my attention that the bus arrived twenty minutes behind schedule and that we needed to put on the afterburners to get everything ready for tonight. After that is was a mad dash. We raced out of the station to the nearest metro, hastily bought tickets and boarded nipping our tails in the closing door. This was our real first chance to have a conversation. We embraced once more and then broke out in laughter, this is it, we are doing it, living the life! We hopped stops, tranfering trains, surfacing to catch the famous lisbon electricals, and finally jumping off at a breakneck pace and sprinting the last 100 yards to sebis front door. Only sebis maid and little brother were home when we arrived. We said quick formal hellos and then went to prepare in sebis room. Sebi insisted that I use his bed so i set my bag down, pulled out some fresh clothes, threw them on, and we were off once more. We left the house and stopped at a nearby bank to take out some money, went back to sebi´s house to drop off his credit card (dangerous to carry it around) and went back to the train station. we got our tickets and arrived on the platform in the nick of time to catch the train. We took the train into the heart of the lisbon night life scene passing pulse-pounding clubs that could be heard inside the train on our way by. Lines of people stood outside in the warm, clear night air waiting to get in some of these clubs. The mood was set. We passed under the big famous bridge in lisbon just before our stop. We got off, standing out a little as we both looked utterly exhausted and hungry as we had just ran this crazy marathon of transport, and were easily spotted by our group of friends that we were planning on meetimg. With shouts and yells of welcome ringing throughout my ears, and those of anyone else on the platform, I was grabbed and hugged by all my exchange student buddies. I was really happy to see them all. We waited around for some more straggling friends and, when the whole gang was assembled, we set of to find our restaraunt. The place was a little farther off than anyone had expected and after a long walk we were all very excited to see the big bright orange, that was the sign and name of the place, shining out in the dark street. We entered and were greeted by warm smiles and bright orange walls. We were seated and given a sheet of paper and a pen. Now, how this place works is really cool, it is basically just designed for teens. They have about 4 basic dishes, you tally how many of each dish you want and thats that. The main draw of this place is the drinks. You pay a small fee, get a basic meal, and all the free drinks you can handle. Soon the restaruant was packed, each long table packed with roudy teenagers. The drinks come before anything else and before you know it everyone is laughing and having a good time, tottally oblivious to the fact that the meal hasn´t even started. Sooner or later the waitress comes bearing our ready-made plates and we laugh and eat some more. After many pictures, spills and stories told, we feel it´s time to let the night lead on. A night to remember. It came to a nice end with me and sebi making our way home to rest and prepare for the day to come.

Weekend.

This weekend was good. Today I went to the hotel Montebelo buffet for lunch and ate sooo much great food. I just want to comment on the food here in detail. I´ll go by meal. Breakfast is usually bread, fresh bread from the bakers, there are bakers everywhere and cafés aswell. This is a huge part of the portuguese culture, but I´ll get to that later. Anyways, breakfast is bread, sometimes with jam, marmelade(real marmelade made from quince) meat and cheese. We also have cornflakes. Chocolate milk is a staple for breakfast as well. Fruit is common too. Then lunch. Lunch is a lot like dinner in the states. There will usually be a meat, Steak, chicken or something. Sometimes breaded or prepared otherwise. Rice, french fries and a salad. The salads here only come one way, no dressing but with oil and vinegar I think. If served with an egg this combination is called bitoque (pronounced bitok). Also really common lunches include jardineira, a sort of beef stew with patatoes and veggies, Spaghetti, other noodles, pizza, mCdonalds, and not much else. Then there is tea, called Lunche from the verb lunchar. This meal is between lunch and dinner and is a very important part of the portuguese culture. At this time most people head to the nearest café or bakery (Seriously located on every corner)where they sit, mostly outside, and smoke cigarettes, talk/gossip, read the paper, drink portuguese coffee and eat portuguese pasteries. Now one thing that any self-respecting portuguese will tell you is that non-portuguese coffee is really brown colored water or coffee flavored tea. When you order coffee in portugal it comes in a cup no bigger than a thimble, steaming and, for lack of a better word, writhing in it´s place. It looks like tar and smells just as strong. It is usually mixed with a little bit of sugar and enjoyed as is. I have actually yet to try one, not that I lack bravery or anything... Ok. Well the portuguese pasteries are a different story entirely. There are soooo many various types I can´t tell you about them all. I´ll just say I like them a lot and it´s something to experience. Well to bring a touch of the west to portugal I made pancakes this morning. On saturday I woke up and had tennis lessons from nine until noon. After that I went for a run and worked up an appettite. When I arrived back at home there was really good pizza waiting for me. After lunch I went to the mall and saw Mamma Mia. I actually really liked it. After that I helped Kika give Lisa a bath. That was really entertaining, and we got some pictures. After lisas bath we went out for dinner at Piazza Roma, a really good Italian joint with prime calzones. Well, that´s all for know, Até Já.

Amazing Day.

Today was so sick! I woke up around nine and went to watch an Urban Downhill Mountain Bike Race with my host father Louis. We watched practice runs for a while until we learned that the competition didn´t start until after two. This worked out perfectly as we had to attend a luncheon with my Grandma around one. We headed home to get ready and pick up the rest of the family and headed literally across the street to a five-star hotel-spa-restaurant. There they had the best buffet I have ever seen and we indulged ourselves until we could hardly walk. After that it was back to the racecourse for me and Louis. We watched the race until it ended at around six. This Urban Downhill business is some of the craziest, gnarliest riding I have ever seen. And some of the most poetic. The riders started in a church courtyard older than the United States, dropped down massive stairsets and wove through closely-nit granite buildings and skidded over rough cobble stone pathways. I didn´t have my camera and am very bummed I couldn´t document it. Louis had his phone and we got some videos and pictures. I´m sure if you wanted you could google it and find some info/pictures. Just type in Viseu Urban Downhill or something. Oh, and the hotel we had lunch at is called Hotel Monebelo and it is litterally across the street from our house.