Portugal pt4 – Out of the ashes

Logger Dave!

Yes, I’m still here. :)

Another eventful week or so since my last entry. I do believe, it started Friday afternoon, when I decided to escape my hermitage and seek civilization for a while. Heading for some fresh fish for a late lunch I arrived at an empty Arte Cafe to find no fresh fish. Unperturbed I stayed anyway, chatted to Pedro and ate an alternative, while listening to the moans and groans of political scandals and fixed football games. He relaxed after a while and ate chicken soup while we nattered about all sorts of things, from his age, his kids to many other stories and dreams. He was a welcoming proprietor, all service and smiles. After finding out his age and his actual age, it turns out he’s a 2 Earth star in 9 star ki – Mother, nurturing, socially oriented characters. Do a lot of 2′s enter into a life of servitude of some sort or another? The passion for his small cafe, restaurant was obvious.

In all honesty, I can see a bit of potential in the place, given some work. I tried taking a look at his wireless system and the open sided PC he uses for music occasionally, wouldn’t connect. Made all the more difficult as the operating system was in Portuguese. He talked about the open space at the back, a courtyard of sorts. Wanting to rid the long wall of its old mural not in keeping anymore and possibly commission an artist who tags around town with huge black stencils of people and other characters.

I have some very organised glasses on at the moment. I think it comes from having no real fixed agenda, and with that perspective, I’m becoming very objective.  That and the fact I’m immersed in sorting the villa grounds out. It flexes ones logistical muscles. I digress. Mostly because I want to ;P – Onwards with Friday, and vowing to return that evening on Pedro’s assurance that it gets busy Friday nights, I headed next to the supermarket for a food shop before heading home again.

Driving on the right hand side along the N125 out of Lagos, excited to have a night out and wondering what would unfold, I almost forgot to stop at the garden centre. Pulling in and with my camera in hand, I walked through the gate, to a loud buzz. The place stretched further back than I thought, with rows and rows of plants, covered tunnels and trees along the back edge. I followed the walkway and spotted a cat curled up neatly in the top of a big black planted pot, sunbathing in the late afternoon sun. I paused and lifted the lens only to see it climb to its feet and writhe past some plants and over to me. Keen it was, and after a few minutes of attention it followed me along the path some way before making a u-turn.  Up this row and down that, snapping plants I liked the look of when I eventually came to a small covered poly-tunnel. Inside were yukkas, rubber plants and a table full of succulents; very reasonably priced too. I will be back!

Anyhoo… back to my ‘night out’ – and upon entering the Arte Cafe again, I notice a distinct lack of people. Still. Some usual suspects, the chef, and me. Feeling like a game of pool I challenged the chef, a Marley fan, obvious with exodus playing on the stereo, and we shot three games with some fun interaction and banter. Time ticked by and no sooner sat at the bar again to fill my glass, I turned round to find the place half full, a group of English lads playing pool almost filling the place with just their antics. One had a straw hat and a wooden sword by his side. Obvious tourists, I watched a while and it wasn’t long before I got heckled into taking the four of them on, apparently ALL brothers by the name of King to a game. Me vs them!

It was odd as I felt more like a local than a tourist, but after many merry handshakes, lots of cheeky remarks, sarcasm, and energy, the game seemed to take forever, one yellow and one red left. My turn and I get mine down, onto the black. Watched on by the four of them, I sidled up to the table again, taking the pressure. I hit the white ball, not too hard, gently enough to get the black in, plop, into the middle pocket it went, YES! chuffed! Only to stare in disbelief as the white ball veered onwards and over into the end pocket. Noooooooooooooooooo. I fell to my knees – ok, I’d had a glass of wine. The funny thing is all the lads came over and gave me one hell of a man-group hug! – shocking. I felt the love though – or was it just a huge amount of relief and feigned sympathy.

Well, from that game on. I was a brother of their mother, a kin and bonded so far that I was next invited to have food at a Mexican place recommended by a girl they found in another bar. Along I went, what the hell. It was filled with intelligent conversation and meant well jests and I got myself a nickname, Walter. More beer flowed at the dining table and slammers slammed  when I soon started to tire of the faces and remembered I’d left without even paying for my previous wine at Pedro’s place. Back I walked across the town centre up the back alley and into the door. Full of people, some wining and others dining, I sat at the bar and ordered one more glass of red. Pedro was in full volume mode, with music filling the air, respectable music, not totally electronic and young, but a more eclectic mix. From David Bowie to random tracks off a Buena Vista Social Club soundtrack. He had a laptop with uTube all keyed up to play a tracklist he’d compiled, but shouted me over to help. No sound. He couldn’t get anything regardless of it all looking like it was where it should be. I checked the laptop settings best I could again, in Portuguese but alas. Earlier I had lent him my dongle to get the other PC on the internet but he had brought his laptop by the time he’d got it.

Still, it was nice to have someone know my name, call me from behind the bar and I totally felt like I had a social life at last, here in Portugal. :)

So that was last Friday and I type to you 10 days later on the Sunday. No, I’ll not go into such detail with he rest of the week, but here is a rather elongated summary to whet your eyes with.

Monday, after a relaxing weekend of pottering around and caring to less strenuous tasks. I bought from MaxMat a chainsaw after approval. Ben arrived just after 11.30 and I promptly asked if he could help with building it. We fitted it all together and after a return trip to Zona Commercial for some correct oil, I put on a hard hat and visor, ear defenders and gloves. Pulled the cord and after a few tense minutes of ‘have we done it right’ it sparked up and with the choke back in puttered into life.

I’ve used lots of power tools (ahem) but never a chainsaw. I was quite excited. Ben and I had ear-marked a few tree limbs that had to come down and some that he considered over-due for a hack back. These in addition to the mass of dead branches hanging still in the trees, discarded fallen trees covering two huge mounds of wanna be compost and the odd proper chunky tree trunk which needed chopping into fire welcoming chunks.

It didn’t take long to fell two trees one needed and another not so, clean up some stray ends and work from the front garden into the part next to the garage car park area. We both had a go and we stopped as he was concerned about the amount of waste we had already accumulated. He knew then, as my lack of experience didn’t that it takes some getting rid of.

Monday night it howled with rain and so did the following morning. Constantly aware that my mound of waste from the front garden along the wall, was getting rained on. From the veranda above I looked down onto the wet tangle of vines, branches and total carnage left from Monday in slight dismay.

Tuesday came and the clouds lightened enough to give me a window in which to make a start.

Ignoring most of the chopped trees I decided to light a bonfire, and with some instant-flame blocks got some dry twigs to light and heat up enough to build upon. So it began, a moment of change. What followed until today has been one of a complete ‘lightening’ of the whole property.

I’ve totally removed from pretty much everywhere ALL the dead wood. The means trees, chopped from before, and left to dry on piles in numerous corners of the garden and over the wall into the ‘wild’ side. I’ve been stood up a ladder with a saw, sometimes climbing the trees to get at the brown snappable branches. Fire raging, it has been for more hours than I can count, Tuesday until this very moment, bar a little of Friday (well, I was being sociable!). The trees with growth still on, I’ve sawed down to manageable chunks, gradually! – ripping with hands the rest, mostly.

The area just below the curved edged drive ending has slowly turned into a campsite. One particular tree trunk, which was a factor in giving need for the chainsaw in the first place, turned out the other day, by sheer chance, to be a most amazing seat! You can sit with your legs fitted to its curving shape and a handy branch behind you to rest your aching back. Fantastic. I marveled at how it came about. Just what you need when you need it. :)

It’s been a logistical experience for sure, how to go about dealing with it all. I’ve now got four large piles of drying twigs and leaves, one pile of large branches, and one platform I meshed together with straighter branches, in a design for drying the leaves on, so they were off the ground and in the sun. I’ve plucked stones from the top of a square low structure almost hidden in the weeds to make a fire pit surround. Constantly feeding the hungry fire, today I pulled down a huge tree, barely alive but one small leafy branch.

In taking down these trees maybe older than me, touching the landscape with care and attention, I aim to help the energy lift. I think it has. The fire has in some way started to put life back into the garden, allowing it to breathe a little easier. All the dark, dry and outgrown life down to ashes, dust to return once more to earth. Trees in which deadwood was, are now sleek and uncluttered, climbing upwards. Letting more light through to the area below, I can almost visualize more plants here now, as I watch each day the sun pass from East to west, lighting up different areas as it goes. The view down into the garden has opened up loads. You now have a vista in which you want to explore.

Each night I’ve reluctantly left the warmth of the glowing fire, not wanting to have bricks and mortar around me. I do actually think I’ve become rather fond of working outside again, connecting with the land and natures surroundings. I’ve worked my ass off this past week, but I don’t see it as work, it’s been amazing. I love the physical side of being here. It’s hugely satisfying, and being inside whether it’s work or forced by the rain, becomes less and less appealing. Otherwise, I’ve been spending all of it in my makeshift camp. Burning tons of wood!

That’s all for now..  What’s next I wonder! – Adeus – :)

Tags: portugal

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 30th, 2011 at 9:40 pm and is filed under general, Portugal Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.