Agua Da Serra De Estrela (Thursday)

We have been getting late starts, since everyone has been sleeping in. By the time the kids finish their European dinners at eight and we arrive back at the condominium it is late. Since it stays light until 9 pm the kids end up staying up late. On Thursday there is an open air market in Gouveia. We awoke to the vendors setting up for the market. After eating breakfast we walked down to the market. The vendors setup changing rooms by hanging up blankets or plastic sheets. Or you jump in the back of a van to change or try on some clothes. Of course you have to do the obligatory negotiating for the price of what ever you buy. After stopping at the first vendor to try on some jeans he started with his price at 30 Euros… The jeans had a thunderbolt on the pocket. My wife wasn’t really that crazy for them but neither was I. The man grabbed a plastic bag and was already packing them for me to buy. He was like I will give them to you for 25 Euros when he saw me hesitating. Then I told him that I hadn’t checked out the other vendors, that I would return. He then said I will give them to you for 22 Euros. Later on I ended up buying a pair for 10 Euros from another vendor and they were even nicer than the first pair I saw. We had to walk buy the original vendor we stopped at to leave the fair. I glanced over just as he glanced at me. I told him that I had found another pair that I liked. His witty response that I laughed at was, “Devem sir lindas” Meaning they must be pretty.

After the market we had lunch and headed to the Library and post office. The kids wanted to send their friends post cards from all the spots they have been so far. They also wanted to check their email. We asked several people where you could get wireless internet. Internet “Sem Fio”. They told us to go down to the bridge where there was a building with a sign that said Space.Net. When we got there the attendant said that all the terminals, there were about 8 of theme, were occupied. So we headed up to the library. I asked the libarian if they had wireless internet access. He said that they did but he wouldn’t be able to provide me the information. “It’s complicated” he said. Another person would have to help but he is extremely busy. He said why don’t you use the computers that are here? I told him I had special software that is installed on my computer to access the web and that all the machines were occupied. The kids wrote their post cards while we waited for the computer.

Finally we got our turn at the computer. The kids and the wife read their email from friends. I uploaded the first 3 days of blog postings. Afterwards we had our biqa (Expresso) and ice cream at the café near the camara. The kids are loving the Portuguese Gelado. Afterwards we packed up and headed up to the Serra da Estrela.

The streets heading up to the Serra have been substantially improved since the last time that I was here. Previously the roads were much more narrow and there was no steel guard rail. It seemed as though you were always a few feet from plunging to your death if you weren’t paying attention. I think the additional safety just encourages people to drive even faster than they already do. On the way up a crazy truck driver came speeding down the mountain. He was bouncing left and right in his seat with a big smile as his truck swayed back and forth over the bumpy road. It was hilarious because he was absolutely ignorant of how dangerous his driving style was to his life. Shortly there after we stopped at the first fountain.

This area has some of the best water in all of Portugal. We brought our 2 jugs to fill with the cold water from the Serra Da Estrela. We of course also stopped to take a picture of the “Cabeca do Homem velho.” This is similar to the old man on the mountain in New Hampshire. We finally got part of the way up to the top of the mountain were there was a lake. We got out to check out the lake. We decided to abandon our acendent to the very top of the mountain because it would be another 30km and 45 minutes. Given that we had already been driving for 45 mins and the sun was setting we didn’t want to be driving down these curvy unlit mountain roads at night. On our return entering into Gouveia, we stopped at the town pool. This was yet another nice day in Portugal.