Before we left on this adventure, we were focused more on Spain than Portugal. And so we bought Pimsleur Language CDs and the Rosetta Stone software, all Spanish. We actually got fairly comfortable with some basic Spanish, and I was beginning to have actual Spanish  conversations with people when I worked at Quiet Waters Ice Rink.

But then our focus shifted to Portugal,  for a couple of reasons. One, the Azores were the first stop, and one of the main reasons for the entire plan. And two, Lisbon is the shortest distance to landfall from the Azores, and the cheapest airfare for crew logistics.

We did get the Portuguese Pimsleur CDs and several books. But this is a very hard language!!!!  Fortunately, a lot of Portuguese people speak English, and good English. Especially at marinas.   Our crew Alan has had a house in the Azores for 4 years and has yet to learn Portuguese! He gets along fine with English. He’s even made many fiends and is very social on the island of Terciera. 

But We are making an effort to learn at least a little Portuguese.   It sounds more Eastern European than Spanish. A little like Russian. The alphabet is different than English. They have no “K” “Y”or “W”. and basically all words end in either “oosh” , “oush”  “oooh” or “oushtoo”.   Well, I may be making this part up, but it sure seems this way.  

We are getting some basic words down solid. “Thank you” is “Obrigado” and  “Good Morning” is “Bom Dia”, and these come naturally now. “ Where”, (onde) and “How Much” (quanto) come in handy as well. 

But when all else fails, people can quite often understand each other with eye contact and body language.  I went to the beach in Cascais, and Alan talked me into getting in the water. Which, that day was very cold. I was  in up to my thighs and just started laughing.  These two ladies were watching me. They spoke no English, but it was pretty obvious to them that  I was too chicken to go in any deeper.  They were in up their necks and enjoying the water. They both smiled at me, made the motions of patting water on arms and shoulders, shook their heads no, and then made the motion of diving in, nodding their heads yes.  So dive in I did and we all had a good freezing cold laugh!!

So until we get more efficient at this new language, we will be carrying our little pocket guide book, listening to Pimsleur CDs, nodding our heads a lot and smiling, and making words up as we go along. Like this wonderful cheesh comes from cowsh, and we are safely at anchoroosh, and I am writing  this blogoosh. 

Seriously though, I do hope that there will be a day that I can get through one whole sentence and have a local understand me!

And when I do, I will let you knowoosh!!