Boa noite (good evening) from Ponta Delgada! I’m slowly but surely getting adjusted to the time difference but it’s been a little rough, not going to lie.
On Tuesday, I was really on the struggle bus in the morning and needed to sleep in. Fortunately, I was awake by the time truckloads of shouting Portuguese teams came parading down the street outside my Airbnb. There had to be at least eight trucks that went by. I had no idea what the hell was going on but I stayed outside and enjoyed the good energy and enthusiasm.
I took a break from work in the late afternoon (my time) and walked into PD for the first time. And lo and behold, the parades of teams were there throwing water bags at each other. Like one huge water balloon fight. It was wild. I found a couple who spoke English and asked what was going on. They told me that the event was part of Carnival and that the teams were from different cities. They all gathered at the town center and threw water at each other.
Huh?
I had to find the real story… and this is what I found out.
After that debacle, the streets were TRASHED with empty plastic bags. But everyone looked like they were having a blast and it was a fun local tradition to check out.
I walked around PD a bit more stumbling upon a fortress by the water that dated back to 1552 and is now a military museum. I’ll probably stop back in at some point during my stay.
Finally, I needed to grab a real “non-snack” dinner so I popped into a place and got the meal of champions, no matter where you are in the world. :) Not the most authentic “Portuguese” meal in the world but I didn't have to cook so I wasn’t being picky.
Wednesday was a really crummy day so I laid low and just went to the grocery store. The first time I went on Monday morning I was a complete zombie so that paired with, you know, everything in a different language made it tough to really do a decent job shopping (other than scoring the $1.89 bottle of wine).
Two of the oddest things I saw. Hotdogs in a jar. And unrefrigerated milk. So weird but all part of the experience, right?
Until next time…
Amor e luz (love and light),
MW