Olive oil, pizza, and communists

Today was a grey, drizzly Sunday, not exactly perfect weather for exploring our neighborhood, but we did. Joe's phone shows he walked 5.3 miles, slow and steady, but he did it!

An important part of my Portuguese ritual is to buy olive oil for the Berkeley crew. There are three grocery stores within 1.5 km of here, all in different directions. Joe went with me to two of them and rewarded himself with a chocolate bar. The olive oil crisis here and in Spain is extreme. "Quien tenga un olivo, tiene una mina" was something we heard on the news. Prices have really skyrocketed, but not enough to break my habit. I read that Spaniards are coming to Portugal to buy olive oil, since the prices are 28% higher in Spain, but that seems like a bit of false economy to me. Anyway, today's shopping resulted in about 12 L of oil and one chocolate bar.

The only thing nearby open for dinner was a pizzaria, and it was fine. Sunday is still a day of rest for most restaurants.

On the way back to the hotel we passed a multi-story building with an elaborate tile and painted mural extending across the front. The sign in front told us that we were standing in front of the national headquarters of the Portuguese Communist Party. That's quite a building they have! Right across the street from our temple of capitalism, the Sana Metropolitan Hotel.

The news is so awful it's hard to digest. Every day seems to bring new horrors. But on we must go.

Vacation is over, tomorrow I start to teach. We are busy setting up visits with our close friends here, which seems a bit more urgent this year as our possible last time, and we will stay in town this weekend to see as many as possible! Hoping to see our former Champaign buddy Peggy in Ericeira, then there’s Luis, Eugenia, Nuno, and of course my Camino buddies!!!Read more