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The Luis Carlos Alves market is one of our favorite places to shop. Groceries there are always fresh and inexpensive. It is about a ten minute drive north of the center of Ericeira and is surrounded by a beautiful country setting. We arrived there the other day at 1:15 only to discover that they were closed for lunch from 1:00 to 2:00. As I mentioned in my last blog, places close for lunch whenever we happen to show up. If we had arrived at 2:15, I am pretty certain lunch would have been from 2:00 to 3:00.

Arriving during lunch often turns out to be a good thing for us, though. We are not usually in a hurry these days and it allows us the opportunity to wander around to explore the surroundings. This time we walked a beautiful country road while we waited for the market to open.I would love to know the history behind some of the ancient rock formations. Some of the old structures are currently inhabited. There was also some new construction that obviously belongs to folks with money. I should have taken some pictures of those also, so that you could see the contrast.

Here are a few pictures taken during our walk:

Luis Carlos Alves Grocery List

This is what we bought at the market the other day. I have converted all the prices from euros to dollars and cents for our friends back home. The words “back home” sound funny now. The longer we are here the more this is home.

I didn’t convert the weights for you but a kilo is 2.2 pounds and there are 454 grams to a pound. The Metric system is far superior to the Imperial system and should have been adopted in America long ago. You can blame Thomas Jefferson for that but I will spare you the history lesson for now.

Here is our grocery haul (converted from euros to dollars and cents):  

A large bag of potatoes $1.60
Over a kilo of carrots 60¢
Three onions 40¢
Two bunches of celery $2.25. We have found that a lot of stores here don’t have celery.
Eight bananas $1.90. I was typing in the Portuguese words from our receipt into Google Translate for this blog. I typed in bananas before realizing it was bananas! Same word in Portuguese as in English.
Three bulbs of Garlic 72¢
Three large Bell Peppers $1.80
Half a head of purple cabbage 50¢
Head of Lettuce 64¢
A dozen apples $2.20 (delicious here!)
Four semi-sweet breads (tasty!) $1.10
Half a kilo figs $2.55
Large cornbread 72¢
One delicious Persimmon 37¢. We’ll get more next time. It was sweet and juicy!
Big loaf of Mafra bread (Portugal has the most amazing bread!) 95¢
Large bag of peanuts in shell $2.20
Half a kilo dried apricots $4.10
One third kilo pistachios $5.50 This was the most expensive item we bought. Oh, the Portuguese word for pistachios is pistachios.
Half kilo of raisins $1.75
Qtr kilo blanched almonds $3.25
Coconut $2.20 for a bag of coconut meat in small cubes. Great in granola, which we buy at Aldi. Yes, we have that store here! If you are not familiar with Aldi, it is a little bit like Trader Joe’s.

All of this came to about $38.

Our partial shopping list at Aldi (also converted):

A liter (a little more than a quart) of fresh orange juice is $3.25. You stick one of their bottles under the juicing machine and press the button.

Turkey slices 150 grams $2.10
Three medium size frozen pizzas $3.10
Liter of milk 90¢
Muesli $2.15
Yogurt 1kg $2.40
Olive oil (real olive oil) 500ml $4.15
Package of sliced good cheese $2.00
Honey 500gr $3.15
Lemons $1.30 a kilo. That comes to about 25¢ per good sized, juicy lemon. I used to pay from 50¢ at Grocery Outlet to $1.00 at Safeway.

Every morning I have one lemon juiced in warm water with a little honey. Too early to add whiskey. Although, if you have a cold that will fix you right up. Since coming to Portugal I have kicked the vitamin habit completely. I’m not convinced they ever did anything for me, anyway, other than cost me a ton of money. Vitamins do not seem to be as big a thing here as they are in America.

Insurance Requirements for Residency in Portugal

While eating fresh fruits and veggies is good for your health, nobody is invincible. Bad stuff happens. One of the requirements to be allowed official residency in Portugal is to have comprehensive health coverage. We purchased a very good policy for just under $100 each, per month. Pre-existing conditions did not factor into the equation.

Portuguese residents pay a minimal amount for their coverage, often nothing at all.  Our price is calculated higher than the norm for expats because we fall into the 66+ category. I know, it’s hard to believe we got so old.

New in 2020 is a discount card for dental work. It should be noted that dental work here is already cheaper than what our dentist costs were in the U.S. after the deductibles and allowances. So a discount on top of that makes it cheap.

Pharmaceuticals are so inexpensive, even without insurance, that when they ring me up at the register I think they must have made some kind of mistake. Nobody goes broke here because they get sick.

You cannot afford to get sick in America. The deductibles and co-pays alone will bury you. And insurance companies will shovel more dirt on your grave, contesting almost every item on your bill.

Among the Portuguese

The Portuguese people seem to be pretty healthy. I don’t know the health statistics but they tend to eat well and most of them look slender and in good shape. The one caveat is the concept of smoking being bad for your health hasn’t seemed to catch on quite yet. I think that can be said of Europe as a whole. It is definitely getting better but it appears to be one of the few areas that is behind the times in comparison to the U.S. I would say about a decade behind.

We were talking to an interesting Portuguese man who was reminiscing about the old days growing up in Portugal. Some stories seemed to be older than he looked so I asked him how old he was. Fifty, he said. He looked closer to forty so I told him he looked younger. He said it was because he didn’t have any bad habits, didn’t drink or do drugs. He shrugged his shoulders as he added that he only smoked. I already knew that by the cigarette in his hand.

Death Becomes Me

While we are on the subject of getting buried by medical costs, whether it is due to bad choices or just bad luck, it is hard to ignore the elephant in the room. Death. I am not a big fan of death. Before college, I never thought of it. In my twenties I was immortal and couldn’t much relate to it. But now, while I wouldn’t call it an obsession, it lingers in the shadows of my mind like the cloaked man holding a sickle.

Often, death of a loved one will start you thinking about the inevitable. It would be nice to know what comes next, if anything. But unfortunately, that is impossible to know. I am pretty sure it is not 72 virgins, though.

The deaths that affected me most were those of my mom, dad, and grandmother. I am going to share those with you now because they were rather interesting as far as deaths go. Although I suppose every death has its own interesting stories to those who are affected.

Grandma’s Hundredth Birthday!

I wasn’t going to be able to make it to my grandma’s hundredth birthday party, although I did visit her on her 99^th. When I couldn’t make it to her 100^th I promised her that I would see her on her 101^st.  My dad went to pick her up at the assisted living home to bring her to the house. They were driving to the party when she complained about not feeling well. He checked her into the hospital, then drove alone to the house filled with awaiting guests.

When dad arrived at the house without her, my two brothers asked where grandma was. Dad told them that he had dropped her off at the hospital. They were incredulous that he hadn’t stayed there with her so they took off to the hospital to be by her side. They both got there in time to hold her hands and lead her gently into the next world.

When my brothers got back to the house they told everyone of grandma’s passing. My dad said, “I didn’t know she was that sick.” One of my brothers responded, “Dad, she was 100 years old.”

In the meantime, I called the house to wish my grandma a happy birthday. My brother answered the phone and when I asked to speak to her, he told me, “Grandma died.” I said, “You’re kidding me!” He said, “I wouldn’t kid you about something like that.” Well, he would, but he wasn’t this time.

She was sharp until the end, though. Other than accusing my sister-in-law of stealing her lingerie, I never saw any sign of mental decline.

Dad Gets the Last Word

My younger brother and his wife were both nurses and had moved to Miami, just a few blocks from my parents’ house, in order to help out. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer even though he had quit smoking over 40 years earlier. But he was smoking three packs a day before he quit.

I visited him when he was sick. He asked me if I could do him a favor and shave him. I figured I couldn’t do a worse job than he used to do to himself. I remember him often coming downstairs with little pieces of tissue paper stuck to his face from where he had nicked himself. Anyway, that was the most intimate moment we had ever shared. We were not a family of huggers.

He did not go gently into that good night, though. He fought it with every fiber of his being, always wanting us to go see one quack doctor or another. Of course, the conventional doctors were not much better. They kept him on chemo for two years, which was just cruel. And selling him questionable pills at $1,000 each. No, that is not a misprint.

One evening he was having trouble breathing. My brother came over to help him and was encouraging him to relax and take slow, deep breaths. Bro tried to be reassuring by telling dad that he was doing great and that all was just fine. My dad responded in his typical fashion by saying, “Bullshit”. Turns out, that was his last word.

Mom’s Forgetfulness

My mom had Alzheimer’s. Her disease progressed parallel to the pace of my dad’s. I think it was her way of coping. Or not coping. She passed away two months after my dad.

There were signs along the way. Mom stopped reading, after being an avid reader as long as I could remember. Cooking stopped after she almost burned the house down. Her culinary expertise was not her best quality, anyway. Julia Childs she was not. My memories of Thanksgiving were that it tended to be a somewhat stressful event. Other than getting together with favorite relatives (and some not-so-favorites), it didn’t become one of my favorite holidays until after I left the nest.

There is one Thanksgiving memory that stands out most for me. Remember, this was the era before menfolk were allowed in the kitchen. Or so we thought at the time. Anyway, mom always seemed to have a knack for calling us to the Thanksgiving meal about five minutes before the end of the traditional Thanksgiving football game on TV. No waiting allowed. Over three hours invested in a game without closure. But that was the law. And this was before DVRs or the ability to check scores before the evening sports slot came on after the weather report!

But I digress. One memory always leads to another and another and another. I can’t imagine a life without memories. I suppose that is what Alzheimer’s is like.

Well, That Went Downhill Fast!

It did, didn’t it? I don’t know how that happened! These blogs take on a mind of their own. Next time should be cheerier. We have been invited to a couple of Christmas events that are bound to be more upbeat. One is a chorus of about 300 children singing Christmas songs. The other is an evening with our local realtor friend who has invited us to join his very large family for a Christmas dinner. That was a touching gesture. There will be the traditional codfish and grilled octopus. And I am sure there will be lots and lots of wine.

If you don’t hear from me until next year, I wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a very happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!