Queijo Curado Amanteigado,, a wonderful  cheese is  50 cents cheaper at the Spar store than at Pingo Doce, But Pingo Doce has our favorite wine that we call “Scallywag”, since I can’t pronounce its real name. But the Mini Preco has Suma Zero pineapple soda,  where the Spar and Pingo Doce don’t even carry Suma Zero. This is the knowledge of locals. And we have it.

 

We have found ourselves off the beaten tourist path throughout this adventure. Less so in the Azores, but quite often in the greater Lisbon area, and definitely in Amora.  We’ve  became locals.    Even in Bermuda, I had a twinge of feeling local when we did laundry in the laundromat and shopped in a welder’s shop as opposed to the souvenir stores.  Twice I was asked if I lived there, in Bermuda. We don’t get mistaken for Portuguese, could be the hair color, but we are seen as locals as opposed to a passing tourist, and have been asked if we are living here.

 

I was thinking of calling this adventure, “The Great Grocery Store to Grocery Store Atlantic Tour”, and still may. But when you aren’t rich, you don’t eat out. So we, not being rich, eat in. And that means going to the grocery store.  I don’t mean  stocking  up for Ocean Passage making, but for day to day living.  We’ve seen a few old fashioned markets, but not as many as I would have thought.  There was a fairly large Municipal Market in Horta that had various vendors selling vegetables and flowers, but the meat and fish stands were closed when we got there. There was an awesome market in Angra on Terciera, and I stocked up cool vegetables, fruit, and meat.   The was a decent market in Seixal, but ONLY Saturday mornings. They had the best cheese, but the worst bread. There are lots of very small groceries everywhere, and they are great for some fruit, cheese, emergency pasta or wine, and they are also usually very friendly. We really liked the one small grocery in Seixal, never got the name of the owner but we got to like her and she us. She enjoyed helping us with the language and turned us on to some weird fruit. 

 

But for larger store runs, we’ve relied on what ever is within walking distance. The chain Pingo Doce is common here. The name translates literally to “Drop Sweet”. or I figure it translates to “Small and Sweet”. The Pingo Doce in Lisbon, near our marina was the biggest one, and it was still very small by Grocery Chain standards.  The other ones are squeezed in train stations, mini malls, or small neighborhoods. It’s a full grocery store,  selling everything, including having a deli, fresh fish, mandatory dried cod fish,  meat and plenty of produce, just small.  And I learned to get used to getting bumped into and waiting my turn to go down aisles.  In Oerias, we got to know all the cashiers, the butcher and the fish ladies. We’ll miss them.

The big chains are absolutely humongous.  Like the American Giant and Target all in one, with the grocery part even bigger than the Giant.  (50 cashiers!!  50!!)  These are where we stock up and we usually get a ride. Except in Horta, it was close enough to walk to.

 

The day I felt I really arrived at becoming a local, at least as far as language goes, was sometime before Christmas. We were in Cascais  and stopped in the mini mall’s Pingo Doce before getting on the train. I filled my hand basket with stuff for dinner and got in line. I’ve gotten to realize that the Pingo Doce cashiers ask every one if they  want a plastic bag (sac) and how many. Although I couldn’t repeat what they say, or write it here (not yet anyway) I know what they want and can answer in Portuguese.  This one day, the cashier first said “Boa tarde” to which I said, “Ola, boa tarde”  and then he asked the usual saco question and I replied “Tres”, and I also noticed he had many little colorful little candles in tiny jars next to the register. He next asked if I wanted to purchase one of the candles, for some Christmas charity, I figures.  I recognized a few key words and knew what he wanted, so I asked “Quanto custa?” (how much does it cost) and he said “Um Euro” and I said “Sim, um” (yes, one) and he asked which color, again I heard the key words, qual, and cor”, and I replied “Azul” because I like blue. Then he told me my total, I paid, said ” Obrigado” and left.   I left beaming!  I don’t think he knew that I didn’t really speak Portuguese!!!   Well maybe I am now!  The grocery stores have so far been the best teachers of this dificil (deeFEESHial) language, as well as the marina staff.

And then here have been occasions of being somewhere and seeing someone we know and it’s just like home. “Hey Cindy!  What’s up?”   We found an ice rink in Estriol, a short train ride from Oerias in December. It was a temporary rink in a tent just for the holidays, and it was roughly the size of a   Land Rover, but it still was an ice rink. We talked with one of the workers and next thing we knew, we had a deal where we could skate for free ( normally $4 for 20 minutes) whenever we wanted to  if we helped out a bit with struggling skaters.   SO we did!   We saw a south African family that we met in Cascais who recognized us and we helped teach their kids.  Our new friend Jarede from the marina came with his family, and took photos and videos of us attempting to do some ice dancing!  We got to know the other rink workers, and we most definitely became locals at this miniature rink. It was just a shame it was too small to actually “skate”, but it was fun!

So, every now and then I get that song in my head that goes “I think I’m turning Japanese,  I think I’m turning Japanese, I really think so,”  Only I of course insert Portuguese instead of Japanese.  But I am not going to start taking 2 hour lunches when I get back to work!