Nick arrived in the Açores yesterday and Sonia arrived today. When Nick got here I was at La Basal fishing and collecting muida. Even though he had jetlag and was tired he came climbing down there with my dad to come see my mom and I. Apparently he didn't realize how steep the hiking trail was and how dangerous it was at go down the rope. I ended up catching 9 fish and would have caught a lot more as it was still the beginning of high tide before Nick wanted to go back to eat lunch and go to sleep.
Sonia arrived today and John, Angela, and my dad went to go pick her up. She seems really excited to be here when she got to ava's house. My dad didn't have any pictures of the occasion so they are not in the slideshow. sorry...
I think we are planning on going to caldera do santo cristo again either tomorrow or monday. After that we are planning on going to Pico to climb it and check everthing out. On August 5th we plan on going to Terceira to stay there for 5 days until we leave on August 10th. Seems like time is really flying by this summer.
Click here to go to my picture photostream and go through all of my pictures.
As always here is the slideshow although there isn't as many pictures as usual:
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Caldhera de Santo Cristo
This week we did three main things: the Festa de Nosa Senhora de Lourdes in Santo Antao, a visit to Lucias family in their house, and our journey to Caldera de Santo Cristo. You will find all the pictures in the slideshow. Godwilling, my brother Nicholas arrives tomorrow and our cousin Sonia arrives on Saturday. This will be the final two weeks of our vacation and should be the part of the trip in which we explore the most. We are planning to hike to the top of Pico. We are also planning on going to Fial, and to Terceira for a few days before we depart back to the United States on August 10th.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Faja dos Bodes
Our week in the Faja do Bodes was really fun. Anabell and Pedro's house has a swimming pool so I went swimming 4 out of the 5 days we were there. I went fishing a lot as well... I finally figured out how to catch fish this week I guess because I caught a pretty good amount.
On Wednesday I had caught about 9 or 10 veige when all of the sudden I see this big school of fish swimming torward my bobber. They started trying to eat my bobber. I caught one and we were told that they were pig fish (peixe pork). We had heard that you have to fillet them out and that they were good to eat. The second my bobber would hit the line they would all charge the bait, then the weight, then my bobber. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. We figured out why they call them pig fish as they would eat anything. We started putting fava bean shells on the hook for bait and after catching 15 of them we decided we should try eating them for ourselves before catching anymore. They have really sharp teeth that could take a chunk out of your finger easily if you got your hand too close. We took them home and filleted them out fried them up and they actually tasted pretty good although I still prefer veige.
On Thursday I went fishing with Michelle and she caught I think her 3rd veige (with help to pull it up to the port). We ended up catching 13 veige. Basically, it was a really fun week filled with swimming and fishing. Plus I loved staying in Anabell and Pedros house.
On Wednesday I had caught about 9 or 10 veige when all of the sudden I see this big school of fish swimming torward my bobber. They started trying to eat my bobber. I caught one and we were told that they were pig fish (peixe pork). We had heard that you have to fillet them out and that they were good to eat. The second my bobber would hit the line they would all charge the bait, then the weight, then my bobber. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. We figured out why they call them pig fish as they would eat anything. We started putting fava bean shells on the hook for bait and after catching 15 of them we decided we should try eating them for ourselves before catching anymore. They have really sharp teeth that could take a chunk out of your finger easily if you got your hand too close. We took them home and filleted them out fried them up and they actually tasted pretty good although I still prefer veige.
On Thursday I went fishing with Michelle and she caught I think her 3rd veige (with help to pull it up to the port). We ended up catching 13 veige. Basically, it was a really fun week filled with swimming and fishing. Plus I loved staying in Anabell and Pedros house.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
So Very Tired
I am really tired this week but I figure I shouldn't keep you guys waiting for more pictures any longer. I stayed in this week a lot and tried to learn to program but my parents still went places. I went swimming for the first time this summer. We are going to be staying at Anabell's (Jose Lauriano's daughter) house in the faja do Bodes this week so we will have lots of pictures of that I am guessing.
Here is the newest slideshow of 100+ pictures....
Here is the newest slideshow of 100+ pictures....
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Bullfights, Sao Tome and Velas
The last few days have been very eventful. First we went to an arena bullfight in Velas and checked out the festa they were having there that wasn't religious. On the way there we ran into our old friend Anna from the Ribiera da Areia festa. We also stopped and took pictures of the windmills that collect power for the island. This Velas festa was like a giant party. Apparently it had been going on the whole week but I didn't know till Saturday. I guess they play a lot of different music on the stage but that night was supposed to be reggae. I didn't get to check out the music because we went to the arena bullfights instead.
When we went to Velas we visited Nelia again. She had all her children and another family staying at there house and she still invited us over to eat lunch. I didn't really get to eat her food because Michelle and I ate earlier at a cafe. The arena bullfight was much like the ones I had seen in Gustine but it was still a really good show. There is nothing like watching the suicide squad (pega unha) try to stop the bull with sheer force. I videotaped most of the bullfight but the size of the video is a little too big to upload so I will have to chop up the better parts and upload it later. My parents are really used to going to sleep early so we went home after the bullfights.
On Sunday we went the festa in Sao Tome. We didn't make it in time to see the budleite but we went to the parade, bullfight a corda, Lucia's dad's (Jose Oliviera) house, the theater show, and a little bit of the dance. This was the first time I saw a bullfight a corda and it was a pretty cool experience. It is more exciting because you are kind of part of the bullfight and not a spectator like in the arena bullfight. Lucia's dad was really nice. He fed us a really great meal. I really need to learn more Portuguese to communicate with all these really nice people. His gigantic cat was really cool. He also gave me a pen from the cheese factory to remember Sao Jorge. The theater show was really funny and I didn't even understand most of the Portuguese.
Today and yesterday have been rainy windy days so I figure waste it creating content for the blog. :)
This is a link to a video of the first pega unha (suicide squad) at the Velas arena bullfight
Here is the newest slide show:
When we went to Velas we visited Nelia again. She had all her children and another family staying at there house and she still invited us over to eat lunch. I didn't really get to eat her food because Michelle and I ate earlier at a cafe. The arena bullfight was much like the ones I had seen in Gustine but it was still a really good show. There is nothing like watching the suicide squad (pega unha) try to stop the bull with sheer force. I videotaped most of the bullfight but the size of the video is a little too big to upload so I will have to chop up the better parts and upload it later. My parents are really used to going to sleep early so we went home after the bullfights.
On Sunday we went the festa in Sao Tome. We didn't make it in time to see the budleite but we went to the parade, bullfight a corda, Lucia's dad's (Jose Oliviera) house, the theater show, and a little bit of the dance. This was the first time I saw a bullfight a corda and it was a pretty cool experience. It is more exciting because you are kind of part of the bullfight and not a spectator like in the arena bullfight. Lucia's dad was really nice. He fed us a really great meal. I really need to learn more Portuguese to communicate with all these really nice people. His gigantic cat was really cool. He also gave me a pen from the cheese factory to remember Sao Jorge. The theater show was really funny and I didn't even understand most of the Portuguese.
Today and yesterday have been rainy windy days so I figure waste it creating content for the blog. :)
This is a link to a video of the first pega unha (suicide squad) at the Velas arena bullfight
Here is the newest slide show:
Friday, July 03, 2009
Piexe, Piexe, Piexe
The reason I haven't posted is because he haven't had a car the last week which meant I have been walking everywhere and have therefore been very tired. We got a new car today. I have been fishing a lot this week and we finally got the hang of it. The key to fishing for veige is collecting these little crabs called muida. You have to flip over rocks and grab them before they scamper off though.
Earlier in the week; Me, my Dad, and Uncle John all went to the Faja of Sao Jao and caught a lot of little crabs to use as bait for fishing that day. We ended up walking really far across the too. After we caught about 200 crabs we found a place to fish and I caught my first bigger fish of the trip. I caught 3 really nice veige although I lost one in a hole in the rocks later. While I was fishing later a big wave hit me while I wasn't paying attention so I called it quits and went to the car to change my shirt and try to dry off. The weather that day wasn't very nice. It was cloudy all day and rained on occasion plus the ocean was very choppy. Uncle John kept fishing for another 3-4 hours and caught 7 veige and 3 perch (I think). We had a really good dinner that night. Aunt Angela knows how to fry those fish to perfection.
This week has been quite a week. Lots of fishing and hunting down mueda(small crabs). My Mom climbed down to La Basal with me and we got a whole bunch of mueda for the next day. After collecting crabs for 3 hours we went tried to fish even though it was low-tide and there was really big waves. I caught a perch and then I heard my mom scream. While I had been fishing my mom was getting attacked by seagulls. It was quite a scene. She was throwing rocks at the birds and they were swooping down at her. One actually pooped on her. After everything was said and done I thought it was pretty comical.
After we collected all this muida we went fishing at the port in vila do topo. We fished for pretty much the whole day but we came home with 35 veige and a couple smaller fish. We didn't take the camera for this trip and we filleted the fish at the port so you will only see a picture of a bag of fillets. We gave some of the fish away to our friends and family in the area, ate some, and froze some.
This time I have videos and pictures.
Here is a link to a video of the muida
Here is a link to a video of Uncle John reeling in a veige
Here is a link to a video of the band at the fiesta in Santo Antao
and here is the newest slideshow
Earlier in the week; Me, my Dad, and Uncle John all went to the Faja of Sao Jao and caught a lot of little crabs to use as bait for fishing that day. We ended up walking really far across the too. After we caught about 200 crabs we found a place to fish and I caught my first bigger fish of the trip. I caught 3 really nice veige although I lost one in a hole in the rocks later. While I was fishing later a big wave hit me while I wasn't paying attention so I called it quits and went to the car to change my shirt and try to dry off. The weather that day wasn't very nice. It was cloudy all day and rained on occasion plus the ocean was very choppy. Uncle John kept fishing for another 3-4 hours and caught 7 veige and 3 perch (I think). We had a really good dinner that night. Aunt Angela knows how to fry those fish to perfection.
This week has been quite a week. Lots of fishing and hunting down mueda(small crabs). My Mom climbed down to La Basal with me and we got a whole bunch of mueda for the next day. After collecting crabs for 3 hours we went tried to fish even though it was low-tide and there was really big waves. I caught a perch and then I heard my mom scream. While I had been fishing my mom was getting attacked by seagulls. It was quite a scene. She was throwing rocks at the birds and they were swooping down at her. One actually pooped on her. After everything was said and done I thought it was pretty comical.
After we collected all this muida we went fishing at the port in vila do topo. We fished for pretty much the whole day but we came home with 35 veige and a couple smaller fish. We didn't take the camera for this trip and we filleted the fish at the port so you will only see a picture of a bag of fillets. We gave some of the fish away to our friends and family in the area, ate some, and froze some.
This time I have videos and pictures.
Here is a link to a video of the muida
Here is a link to a video of Uncle John reeling in a veige
Here is a link to a video of the band at the fiesta in Santo Antao
and here is the newest slideshow
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