We stopped at the local bakery on the way to the house for breakfast items. Thankfully Tricia speaks Portugese and quickly loaded us up on the local bread and bakery items.
Portugese is definitely a language I wish we would have spent more time learning! The locals here all speak Portugese and based on one day of touring the island, I would guess 90% of the people here are local. Not everyone lives here permanently – many spend the year in Canada or America and travel to the Azores for summer vacations to visit their friends and family still living on the island. Many people do speak English, but it would be a lot easier to communicate with a more basic knowledge of Portugese. We’ll have to see how quickly we can learn some key words. So far today I have learned 2 important ones – Mojito. Obrigada.
Our wonderful friends have stocked our house with necessities – cheese/crackers (we have already discovered the cheese is AMAZING here), milk (out of a box!), juice (apple juice that actually tastes like an apple) and other items. As we unpacked, Ashley quickly disappeared into her room for a short 7 hour nap! I followed the 3 boys outside for a walk along the water. The shoreline is stunning with the black lava rock contrasted against the blue water!
With four kids in tow, it’s never long before someone needs first aid treatment. And Luke was our first casualty. We have these great double hung windows in this house (no screens). And if you keep them open you can hear the ocean waves crashing against the shore. The downside to this… Luke had the misfortune to be looking out the window, unknowingly pushed it out of its locked position and it smashed down on his hands. OUCH! For a short moment we thought we were going to be making a trip to the local hospital (which on this island is limited to just an urgent care facility), but thankfully nothing appears broken. After a lot of tears and ice, he’s just bruised and cut up pretty well!
Dinner hour began at 7pm at the local Festa which is only a short walk from our house (although we chose to catch a ride with our friends this evening). The music was loud… the folk dancers were on the stage. We had a quick dinner at one of the restaurant tents – chicken, albacore, meat with French fries, salad and rice. Sangria is the drink of choice (although the mojitos I discovered later are definitely my preference!).
Andrew has been in his element the entire day. Not a shy bone in this kid's body since we landed (much to our surprise). He has quickly bonded with Guerin and Teah and they have spent the evening running around, eating, drinking and having a wonderful time!
Tyler definitely started to fade a bit after dinner, having run around with Jim all day while the rest of us were napping. He was also kid casualty #2 – the uneven cobble stone streets have tripped us all up and this time it led to a nice big stubbed toe. OUCH! Although that was momentarily forgotten when Ashley realized she left her purse (with phone and camera) at the park. Thankfully 2 hours later we returned to find it sitting right where she left it! Tricia tells us there’s not much crime on the island. What a treat!
After a long night of Festa… we are finally back in our house. 12:45am! I can still hear the music from Festa thumping down the street. We’ve been told this can go on until 5am! So, I am finally off to bed so we can rest up for another busy day at Festa tomorrow!
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