Monday, March 20 there’s no plans for today so far.
I was thinking about what to do today; we could sit around and paint. There’s no feeling that if you just hang around at home you’re doing nothing. Life is relaxed and laid back.
The guide books mentioned that at about 11 o’clock there’s a fish auction during the week at the harbour. I know that all the local restaurants have really fresh fish and they go to the different fishing villages to get it in the morning, just like going to the bakery. You have to be there by eight in the morning to get the fresh bread because it goes really quickly and, every restaurant you go in to puts out when you sit down -bread, olives, and butters. Of course, when you get the bread and butter you pay for it, it’s an additional cost to dinner. you must immediately ask that it is removed or it is added to your bill. Remember the days when we stuffed up on bread before dinner and dinner arrives and you can hardly eat it? I’ve learned a lesson. However, I must say the bread here is pretty damn good.
We took a spin up to the mentioned fish market just north of where we’re staying. All the boats were in and nothing seem to be happening. There was just one boat going out.
So instead, I thought it must be down at the fishing harbour at Azenha Do Mar, a 20 minute drive. We hopped back in the car and zoomed down there and yes, that’s where the auction was.
It’s not your usual auction that you’d think about, you know, the horse auction or art auction. The fisherman come in with their boats individually; there’s usually two in a boat and one fella hops out where the water meets the ramp. That’s a slippery area. Carol had had a nasty slip on our first day of looking at These harbours. The tide had been out and she was on the downhill ramp slippery with green slime. She landed awkwardly and her thumb got a beating. She says it is still sore!
As the fishermen get to the loading ramp from the boat, he goes up and gets the cable which is attached to a winch, hauls it back down with some effort- not easy task,to do. It attaches it to a clip below the prow of the boat. Then you hear a motor and the boat is slowly hauled up the ramp and pulled into what I would call a parking spot. The boats are parked close together. Then the fishermen unload boxes, somewhat like milk crates, but much larger, full of fish. All of a sudden you have a line of small white vans coming down the steep ramp towards the boat. This is the auction.
Are these trucks the intermediaries between the fisherman and the restaurants? We didn’t know the answer; you feel like you’re intruding on a private experience. It’s also almost like hanging your head over a chef as he’s getting dinner prepared; in other words, we are intruding, especially with our camera lenses pointed at them. they were no giving us the warm and fuzzy feeling as we photographed them!
After that it was close to 12 noon, so it was time to go up to restaurant Rita and sit down with the sun, beaming down and have a beer. I bet you could’ve predicted that activity!
After that we came home. Carol went out and painted outside by the wheelbarrow. I think Charlie went out for a walk and I did some computer things and then made a soup of leftovers, onions, cabbage, carrot whatever I could find there, and cream added. It was damn good.
