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Nobody can predict the future. A year and a half ago, I had never stepped foot in Portugal, let alone predict that I would be living here. But here we are. Life has a funny way of finding our inner desires and helping us to manifest them.

My first obsession with time travel came from the movie, The Time Machine, which I saw a half dozen times as a pre-teen with a crush on Yvette Mimieux. She will always be Weena to me. My next experience with time travel was in 1969. I had enrolled in the University of Colorado and decided to major in philosophy because of the great job opportunities available in that wide-open field. It reminds me of a great scene between Mel Brooks and Beatrice Arthur in History of the world, Part I.

Bea Arthur worked in the unemployment office in ancient Rome. Mel Brooks walks up to her window.

Bea: “Occupation?”
Mel: “Stand up philosopher”
Bea: “What?”
Mel: “Stand up philosopher. I coalesce the vapor of human experience into a viable and logical comprehension.”
Bea: “Oh, a bullshit artist.”

That pretty much sums up a career in philosophy. Predicting the future is a lot like philosophical theory. There is a whole lot of speculation in both.

Back in the sixties, I thought we would all be flying around in cars by now. Although, my vision of that was not altogether formulated, it probably looked something like this:

Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah, after my infatuation with Weena, my next encounter with time travel was in 1969 at CU. One of the classes being offered in the philosophy department was about time travel. Like philosophy, this is another field that has wide applications, although you might want to avoid listing it on your job applications.

The only thing I clearly remember was an older woman coming up to me after class and offering me sunflower seeds. She was all of 23 and my first college romance. She taught me how to make a plaster mold of a butt. That has actually become a big thing now (plaster molds, that is) and I kind of wish I had pursued that particular expertise.

To insure that my college experience would be well-rounded (try to get butts out of your mind now), I also added a class on Bob Dylan to my class schedule. Unfortunately, my college career in Boulder was cut short due to numerous anti-war strikes and demonstrations. My grades were suffering badly. You would think that Time Travel and Bob Dylan would be easy A’s.

In an attempt to get the students to quit the strike and go back to class, the administration negotiated with the student body representatives. Negotiations were tough and the only outcome from it that I can remember is instituting pass/fail instead of grades for that year. We might not have ended the war as soon as we wanted but we avoided a lot of D’s on our permanent records.

During the strikes, Crosby, Stills, Nash (and maybe Young) supported us by playing a free concert. Jefferson Airplane (pre-Starship) showed up at another strike event. I remember Grace Slick and Paul Kantner had their own little war going on onstage, maybe just a lover’s spat, about who would be singing lead during one of the songs.

By the way, Grace is 80 now. She really needs that time machine now and I hope she has room for me on it. She once said, “All rock-and-rollers over the age of 50 look stupid and should retire.” Her rationale was, “You can do jazz, classical, blues, opera, country until you’re 150, but rap and rock and roll are really a way for young people to get that anger out … It’s silly to perform a song that has no relevance to the present or expresses feelings you no longer have.” Yeah, I can relate to that. Maybe that’s why I listen to Tony Bennett now.

Back to Present Day – Music in Portugal

As I mentioned in my last blog, American music was banned in Portugal until the dictatorship was overthrown in 1974. And the internet hadn’t been invented yet, so Portugal lagged behind when the British music invasion hit the USA and the airwaves. I’m not sure if it has ever really caught up.

I don’t go out in the evenings and listen to bands like I used to, so I’m not the best authority on what is being played in the evenings here now. There is a lot of American music on the radio and piped into store speaker systems. I also recognize popular tunes on people’s ringtones.

There is still much traditional Fado music. It is considered Portuguese soul music. Nothing like MoTown soul, though. It sounds a bit like a combination of opera and folk music. Seeing as I am not a big fan of opera or folk music, I can’t really relate to it all that much. But in all fairness, I haven’t given it enough of a chance.

Fado is described as saudade, which means longing or a feeling of loss. I am told that with Lisbon Fado, the loss is of a more permanent nature whereas Coimbra Fado suggests hope. Seeing as it is part of the Portuguese culture, I will definitely give it a try.

Random Acts of Kindness in Portugal

Portugal does not hold a monopoly on acts of kindness. However, stories are common here of Portuguese people going the extra mile. That is one of the things which makes Portugal expat life quite pleasant. Here are a few recent examples:

An American expat couple, after having a glass of wine at a local establishment, asked a restaurant owner if he could please call them a cab . Not because they had too much wine but because they had been walking up and down hills all day and were tired. The owner ended up comping their wine and then he actually had his daughter drive them home.

Another expat tells his experience of having been sick for a few days and needing some meds in a hurry from the local pharmacia. He gets there as the pharmacist is walking out because the pharmacia was closing. The pharmacist says to come with him and he drives him to an all-night pharmacy where he got the meds he needed. He also gave him his personal number, said to call him if he ever needed anything and showed him where he and his family live.

Losing my Phone

I walked into our apartment one night and felt my pockets for my phone and couldn’t find it. Now that my phone holds my entire life on it, I was a bit stressed. Knowing that phones can easily be resold for a week’s wages added to my anxiety. (In my third blog entry, From Lisbon to Ericeira and Beyond, I wrote about a Gypsy woman who tried to walk off with my phone in Cascais).

I went back outside and looked all around my car in the dark, trying to find it, but no success. I was about to drive back to the store we had shopped in to see if they had found it. Then I remembered that I had tried to park in a different spot before giving up because the space was too narrow. I went back and asked an old man if he had seen a phone. Actually, I held my fingers to my ear because he didn’t speak English and I don’t speak Portuguese (yet). He pointed to the café. The waitress, who also didn’t speak English, went into the kitchen and came out with my phone. It had fallen out of my pocket when I stepped out of the car to gauge how much space I had in which to maneuver.

You will sometimes see an umbrella stand at the entrance to a shop so that you can take an umbrella when it is raining out and bring it back next time you come back. There is also free gift wrapping at shops during the holidays. When we ask directions on the street, people often walk out of their way to lead us to our destination rather than just point in a general direction.

The Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker

Some acts of kindness are not random but are instituted by Portuguese lawmakers. For example, you cannot go to a big box store and expect to find everything under the sun. My wife believes that is because you need licenses to sell certain items. She chalks it up as a win for the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. Capitalists might call it over-regulation by a Socialist state.

The butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker approach basically insures that a company like WalMart will not put everybody else out of business. This practical doctrine also makes it so that each town’s hub has an interesting assortment of mom and pop shops. It also helps keep entrepreneurship alive and well. We are not entirely sure, though, whether this is an actual policy or an unspoken cooperation between local businesses.

In the meantime, here are some unrelated photos and topics around Portugal..

Recycling in Portugal

Fortunately, I don’t need to speak Portuguese when it comes to recycling. Everything is color-coded so that the recycle bags in the kitchen match the bins that you see placed every few blocks. The trucks come by in the morning and empty the bins with a lift device. You can do this whenever you want and you don’t need to remember that every other Tuesday is recycling day.

Kid in a Basket

I saw this kid in the shopping cart at IKEA. She seemed rather content, not knowing how close she came to getting buried under miscellaneous household items.

Drinking Juice and Eating Fish

It is so cheap to make juicing a daily habit, as you can see from the prices marked on the bags. Much cheaper than buying vitamins and much healthier, I think. I usually include beets, carrots, ginger root, celery and apples.

And there is so much fresh fish to be had. I ordered Pescadinhas Fritas de Rabo na Boca, which I was told was some kind of fried fish. When it arrived it kinda looked like Piranha eating its tail. Scary looking but it was quite delicious. By the way, I had wine with the fish. The juice is just for the morning.

At the Carwash

Decided to wash the car and took it into a carwashing booth. Of course it is in Portuguese, but I thought how hard could it be to figure out? Turns out it was difficult because when I put the nozzle back into the holster I didn’t shut it off properly. It went flying all over the place, getting me soaked and almost damaging the car. I really need to learn Portuguese!

Lizandro Beach Cleanup

We decided to do our civic duty and participate in a beach cleanup at Praia Foz do Lizandro (I call it Lizard Beach but there are no lizards). An 19-year-old environmentalist college student organizes one every two weeks. There was a nice turnout, as you can see from all the yellow vests. We might have been the oldest ones there, though, and bending down to pick up little pieces of plastic and whatnot started to take a toll after about an hour. But we managed to fill a large bag with man-made trash.

Cat on a Hot Tin Fence

Well, it wasn’t exactly on the fence but close enough. We took a short trip to Colares and enjoyed a beautiful sunny Sunday walking around. This is one of the cool things we like about Portugal. It is easy to hop in the car or a bus and experience a number of old fishing villages with ancient walls, buildings and relics. You will also find quaint shops, small cafes and restaurants. As I have mentioned before, you don’t see many fast-food joints around here. I find that refreshing. Just be forewarned, getting a check after you eat isn’t automatic. You often need to track down your server and ask for it. They are generally too polite to rush you in any way.

Travel Back in Time – Move into the Future

If you are always in a hurry, Portugal might not be the place for you. But you can travel back in time here and enjoy a life that moves slowly and prioritizes quality of life. You would be mistaken, however, to think that Portugal is all about the past.

Portugal has a progressive youth movement and innovative new technologies. Wind power is a major source of energy here and solar power is growing. Portugal even has an International Nanotechnology Institute.

So Portugal may just be a perfect blend of past and future. And you don’t even need a time machine to experience both.