Dear Reader,
So, how’s your summer going?
Has it been hot?
It’s … not … that hot … here.
Well, not hot like it was in Montana in July.
By July in Montana, I was doing my religious summer routine.
Wake up. Close the windows. Close the blinds. Keep the house cool.
After struggling to keep two thoughts together in the afternoon, I’d sit on our shaded patio and wait for the temperature to drop so that I could go back inside and open up all the windows, turn the fans on and think about frozen margaritas and Montana windchill in February.
Then, repeat.
Here, on the Silver Coast of Portugal, I think I’ve only mumbled something like, “It’s pretty humid today, isn’t it?”
It helps that we’re near the ocean.
We get a cool breeze coming in from the Atlantic almost every day. The mornings start cool and overcast, and the afternoons are sunny and sometimes windy.
So far our highs have gotten into the mid-70s, and lows in the 60s (Fahrenheit of course).
I went to Lisbon to shop on Thursday (gasp!) with a new friend, and I would say it was “sticky” in the dressing rooms and I gulped water, but I wasn’t miserably hot.
People with experience here tell me that it’s an unusually cold summer.
I don’t know, but it’s very temperate and I feel like I’ve slid from January into July with mild surprise, the way you might feel when the bathwater reaches the point where it’s too cool to stay in it.
But, there are other things to talk about besides the weather.
My days here are sometimes surreal.
On Friday morning there was a fine mist of rain in the air.
I got on my bike and dropped down to sea level to go to Obidos.
Took the paved road down to the lagoon path.
A blue heron flew over my head to the ocean. A snake whistled past on the trail.
Flamingos stretched their necks to groom their feathers in the blue water.
Two men walking with sticks across their shoulders balanced 4 giant jugs of water each as they made their way to the lagoon to fish.
Fishing boats sat still in the water, anchored to find their next catch.
My bike flew out to the highway to get to the back side of the Obidos Castle, which loomed large over valleys of pear and apple orchards.
The castle was festooned in purple tapestries to celebrate the Medieval Festival that started there this week.
I wasn’t going there to festa (the Portuguese word for party), but to get my European Union health number at the social security office so that I can travel to other European countries with health coverage.
Can you believe that sentence? I really can’t.
It feels crazy to me to go to a government office inside a Medieval walled city let alone to have health coverage in Europe!
I mean, what?!? How did I get here?
Meanwhile, in Portuguese culture news, I took a taxi in Lisbon to get to the bus. Arriving with just one minute to spare before my bus took off the driver asked me if I knew the 3 Fs of Portugal.
“What are they?” I asked, nervous about the time and scanning for my bus.
“Fátima. Football. Fado,” he said.
Fátima, if you’re not familiar (and I wasn’t before I moved here), refers to the miracle of the Virgin Mary appearing to three young girls not far from where I live and sharing with them visions of the future while they guarded their sheep.
When I visited Fátima, it was at the end of a long day of visiting monasteries and the idea of going into another church with a lot of steps (this was before I started getting fit) felt like too much, so we lit a candle in the barbecue of candles area and listened to some of the outside mass. I will go back.
Football, if you’re not familiar, is soccer in the United States. “American football” is the NFL. Let’s just get that clear. Portugal nearly beat France in the European Cup this year to advance and we were all rooting for them, but it didn’t quite work out. Lots of Spain jerseys were seen on the streets here when they won.
Fado, if you’re not familiar, is a type of sorrowful music with guitars and vocalists specific to Portugal that will make you cry if you know the words. You’ll find different types of Fado in every region here. I’ve only heard one performance so far, Coimbra Fado, and thoroughly enjoyed it. People cried in the row behind me.
What else can I tell you about this week? Here are a few bullet points:
* At Happy Hour, I met a man from Holland who spent all of Covid in his yacht with his girlfriend in French Polynesia. Didn’t we all? He told me that he is a traveler and we discussed the difference between traveling vs. tourism. More on that in a future essay.
* The Obidos pool is absolutely gorgeous. Clean. Well-lit. Perfect temperature. Not overcrowded. I’m excited to start swimming on the masters swim team in September at the start of their next season.
* I’m blonde. Seriously blonde. It was a bit shocking actually. I went to the salon in Caldas da Rainha and asked for highlights and three hours later ended up as blonde as Madonna on the Bedtime Stories album cover. I’m trying to adjust. It’s not easy. Good motivation to learn more Portuguese!
That’s all for now.
Love,JanelleP.S. As a perk for paid subscribers, I’m hosting a monthly Portuguese language class on Thursday at 12 p.m. Pacific/ 3 p.m. Eastern/ 8 p.m. Lisbon time via Zoom. Our tutor, Marta Cancela, lives in Lisbon and will be leading the class! We’ll be practicing scenarios and pronunciation. If you’d like to join us, click on the button below to upgrade for $5 and you’ll get all of the details.
From Montana to Portugal: Journey with Us is a reader-supported publication.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit janelleholden.substack.com/subscribe
