back... to the Azores

Mariza - Rosa branca (Terra)

talls de pastís

Aquest vespre he anat a un bar restaurant que m'ha encantat. Es diu Chapitô i es troba molt a prop del Castell de Sao Jorge, a Lisboa.

Es tracta d'una obra social d'inserció de joves amb dificultats, a través d'activitats vinculades amb el circ, i a més hi ha un restaurant i un bar amb una decoració fantástica i amb vistes a la ciutat de Lisboa i el riu Tajo.

Al bar, que no obria fins les 22h, hi han fet Fado, i malgrat no podia entendre la lletra gaire bé, la música era molt bona.

visites a Porto presencien accident

La Cris, el Jordi, el Kevin, el Xavi i la Noe van arribar a Porto dimecres a la tarda.

Després de deixar les bosses i fer l'inventari dels mobles de l'habitació (!) vaig començar a fer de guia local a la meva habitació, on vam fer un got de Licor Serrano, un licor tradicional de la Serra da Estrela semblant al licor de crema catalana però més espès i un gust una mica més fresc. Vam concloure que era un berenar molt saborós.

Tot passejant vam anar cap al centre, no sense parar a un forn-cafeteria on els recent arribats van tastar diversos tipus de productes casolans de pica-pica, tipus pasta de full o brisa farcida de carn, pasta de gambes, etc. La Cris va treure una llibreteta i per escriure-hi els noms dels productes consumits, en portugès, per tenir-la com a referència per la resta del viatge. A més, va continuar la llista de comptes en què ja havia anotat el preu del bitllet de metro que li havia permès arribar a la residència.

Vam caminar tranquil·lament per diversos barris fins arribar a Ribeira, a la vora del riu. Pel camí vam aturar-nos a la praça da Batalha i a la estació de tren de S. Bento, que destaca pels mosaics de les parets, que representen diverses etapes de la història de Portugal. Un cop a Ribeira vam quedar-nos en un restaurant familiar en un carrer més aviat estret, que vam saber el dia següent que sortia recomanat a la guia de turisme del Kevin. Tots vam menjar segons plats de peix, servits amb patates i verdura, i alguns vam menjar sopa per començar. En acabat vam caminar turó amunt en direcció a la praça dos Leoes, on jo m'havia de trobar amb una sèrie de gent que només coneixia virtualment.

Quan enfilàvem carrer amunt abans d'arribar a la Torre dos Clérigos vam presenciar una cosa no gaire habitual. Vam veure un cotxe fent marxa enrere que, a força velocitat, va topar amb una vorera, després va esquivar, tot fent un gir sobtat, un cotxe vermell aparcat a mà dreta del carrer pel qual anàvem, però el gir va ser tan tancat que en comptes d'adreçar-se per baixar recte avall (semblava que això era el que volia), va anar directe a la paret de l'esquerra, contra la qual va topar violentament i, gràcies al xoc, es va aturar.

Jo em pensava que el conductor estava begut, però aviat vaig veure que no hi havia ningú a dins i que segurament el vehicle s'havia desfrenat sol. Una parella també ho havia presenciat, des de dalt del carrer, i ja feien el gest de trucar a la policia. La dona estava esvereda, igual que alguns dels meus amics - jo no vaig veure pq ens havíem d'exaltar... no és el primer cop que un cotxe es desfrena, i ningú havia pres mal, així que no calia fer-ne un gra massa.

Llavors la Cris va veure que els intermitents s'havien engegat i apagat, i vaig pensar que l'amo del cotxe era a prop i havia desactivat l'alarma; vaig mirar allà on el meu camp visual m'ho permetia i vaig veure dos homes que feien cara de sorpresa i un d'ells es treia el mòbil de la butxaca, el que vaig interpretar com a un gest de trucada imminent a la policia per declarar la pèrdua del vehicle.

Vaig dirigir-me a ells i els vaig preguntar si buscaven un cotxe. "Sí". Dic "és allà baix, ha anat tirant sol, d'esquena, i ha xocat contra la paret. És allà, el veus?" i res, vaig començar a caminar per anar-me'n perquè allà no hi fèiem res més.

Piolho és un bar molt popular, amb molt d'espai a dins i taules a la terrassa de la plaça. Hi havia un munt de gent dreta a fora, també. Al costat, un parell o tres de bars més tenien el mateix tipus de clientela, alguns dels quals acabaven de menjar alguna cosa, però la majoria estaven allà per fer petar la xerrada i fer un got (opcional). Jo vaig passar una estona a dins amb els catalans i una estona a fora amb els portuguesos i les portugueses de Couchsurfing.com

Two days ago, on our way to the bars, we saw an accident: a parked car's breaks released and it went down the hill, hit a sidewalk, avoided crashing with another parked car and finally hit and stopped against the wall on the other side of the street.

Folklore in Viana do Castelo (Norte de Portugal)

(I just submitted this essay as part of the culture grade for the summer study-travel program I'm taking part in)

Seeing the grupo folclórico perform in the praça da República in Viana do Castelo and getting a chance to dance ourselves was a great experience, at least as much as the parallel activity in Ponta Delgada was.

My original interest in folk dance sprang in the mid 90s from what I saw as an incredibly fun activity that merged several elements that are important to me: music, dance as physical activity and artistic expression, and social interaction. I became interested in traditional dance when I first had the opportunity to dance to the sound of some international folk music, in 1996, soon after I joining a folkloric group of a different character typical from my own people, castells or human towers.

Besides the aspects mentioned above, I understand folk dance as part of the cultural expression of a people, which I think need not remain within the people, unless that is the will of the members. My (limited) experience dancing to traditional music from such diverse places as Israel, Macedonia, Russia, Alsace, Occitania, Japan or USA among others, has shown me how similar can be the spirit of dances from such distant places, for example in bringing people from different genders together, which wasn't easy back in the day. Interaction in those dances happens in different ways, for instance in single lines where everybody stays where they are, parallel line dances where couples stay the same or circle dances where the partners rotate, to mention a few. Folk dance creates a space for a kind of interpersonal interaction that differs from any other social interaction, and, I think, can help people develop certain aspects of ourselves such as the fear to interact with people we don't know, the sense of rhythm and motor coordination, while enjoying great music, exchanging smiles and laughing at our own mistakes. Opening the possibility of outside community members to take part in folkloric events is a good way to get to know and, again, interact with people from other cultures, to have fun and learn with each other and from each other.

After the performance and the explanation about the costumes from Viana do Castelo and surrounding areas, I informally interviewed a woman who used to dance in a grupo folclórico to inquire about the local danças (dances) and fatos (costumes).

From what I saw and gathered, traditional cultural activities such as dance and music are very much alive in Viana do Castelo and surroundings. In this area, folkloric groups perform almost every weekend in the summer time and occasionally in the winter as well. Furthermore, not only organized musicians and dancers perform, but also the average person takes part in the dances, joining the organized amadores. This popular participation (dancing) is, as I see it, a sign that the traditional cultural activity is alive, which might not be the case when just a reduced number of the community members act in performances or exhibitions without any involvement on the people's end.

Along with music and dance, carrying out such performances serves to keep alive the knowledge and (to a certain degree) experiences of the ancestors of those who are doing it now. On Saturday in Viana do Castelo we saw and learned about some of the different costumes used in the past, including regular everyday or work clothes and Sunday or festa clothes.

Traditional clothing

The dancers whom we saw perform were wearing everyday or work traditional clothes in different colors and embroided patterns (see picture #1), while the women we saw later were wearing festa clothes. The men's clothes for work and festa are not quite as distinguishable as the women's. According to my informant, the elements that constitute a fato da erva, the female costume to work in the fields, are a saia (skirt), a avental (apron, pronounced [vental] by the lady), a blusa de pano (pano blouse), a lenço (head scarf), meia nao enteira (leggings, as opposed to stockings) and socas (clogs). Picture#2 shows a fato de virar feira, which would be used on fair or market days and is slightly different from the fato da erva. The only difference my informant pointed out was the kind of fabric used to make the blouse, which is made of linho or linen in the fato de virar feira, instead of pano. Dressed with the clothes just described, women working in the fair would carry a basket with the products for sale.

On the other hand, a fato de festa is constituted by a red or blue saia, a matching red or blue avental (apron) aos quadros ou rosas bordadas (embroidered patterns such as squares or roses), a albigeira (a little hanging pocket), a coleta, which looks like a sturdy vest of short length, a lenço or scarf around the neck, a lenço on the head, full meia rendada (the stockings shown in the picture -crocheted?) and xinelos, the type of shoes shown in the picture. Picture#3 presents four different outfits including two fatos de festa: from left to right, a festa costume in red, a men's costume, a festa costume in blue, and part of a work outfit (skirt and shoes).

Tradition across the community

When I asked my informant about the age range of people dancing folk music she reported that people of all ages take part in it, maybe with the exception of teens, which I specifically asked about, since teenagers do not tend to do things that are not considered cool. Teenagers might not dance, but they (at least a good number of them) take part in other folkloric activities, such as the marchas (marches) we saw on Friday night, performed almost exclusively by youth, because, the lady said, they are organized at school (a few groups of adults are cultural groups created in the community).

To conclude, I'd like to reiterate my appreciation for having seen traditional dances northern of Portugal, and particularly for having gotten a chance to dance them as well, since this is something that regular people do in Viana do Castelo and the area. The connection presented to us between dance and costumes in the current folkloric activities allowed me to discuss both subjects in this essay, which also seemed natural to my informant, who, despite being a dancer herself, seemed more comfortable and excited answering questions about clothing than about dancing (maybe as a consequence of the nature of my set of questions about local folk dance).

References:
Picture #1: Fatos tradicionais e danças - grupo folclórico - Viana do Castelo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poma/2686825654/sizes/l/
Picture #2: Fato de virar feira:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poma/2686816872/sizes/l/
Picture #3: fatos tradicionais - Viana do Castelo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/poma/2686000339/sizes/l/in/set-72157606277838600/

Reflections on judging people

Today's entry is the second part of a reaction paper I submitted a few days ago to my professor, the intro being an old blog entry entitled "Un dia complet", to which I added the present reflection on how we humans can often judge people on the basis of a small interaction with someone, and from that single experience we might generalize to a whole community (I have to admit I have done it myself in other occasions).

This reflection was prompted by a situation experienced by some of the people in my study travel program, to which I referred further down, in that other post, which I just updated because I modified it in my reaction-paper.

The Portuguese people

The episode I was just talking about got me thinking about the danger of generalizations, especially when the judgment of a whole people is at play. For example, in my previous (and only) trip to Portugal I wound up with the idea that the Portuguese were rather closed people, a conclusion that I draw with not enough basis or arguments.

Two factors might have affected that old impression I had of the Portuguese not being too open: on the one hand, when I first came to Portugal in 2004, I mostly had superficial interactions with people working in cafés in Lisbon. It is true world-wide that people in larger urban areas tend to be less open than people of the same culture or ethnic group living in rural areas, so I might have just run into “real” urban people who live in a fast-paced society where to take special care of unknown people is not the norm. In opposition, the few interactions I had with Portuguese people other than us being on two different sides of a counter were very good, but since those were way outnumbered by the plain interactions in cafés or store, my impression and final conclusion was that the Portuguese (at least in Lisbon's metropolitan area) were closed. On the other hand, the fact that I went to Lisbon straight from Brazil, were I had just spent a couple of months interacting with Brazilian people in general (whom are known to be extremely friendly) and open international backpackers, might have contributed to my unfair judgement of the Portuguese people. I currently do not believe that the Portuguese are cold or closed, rather the opposite, and I am positive that my current idea is more informed than my previous one.

After the incident with the rude waitress, I got the impression that at least some of the victims were generalizing from the individual behavior of that one unfriedly person to the “people here”, that is, the Portuguese. It is true that such generalization is not uncommon after such experience (probably we all do uninformed generalizations more often than we should), however we need to be careful when we judge a whole people on the basis of a small number of negative experiences such as one or two unpleasant interactions with waiters and waitresses.

Although I don't have relatives here and do not feel otherwise attached to the Portuguese land or people, I felt the need to defend the locals from a negative generalization. I explained to the people on the bus that my own experience with Azorian and Portuguese people on the trip so far had been very positive and that I was actually a bit surprized about it because my idea of the Portuguese people before this trip was rather opposite, as mentioned above (not negative, but not extremely positive either). I truly believe that the Portuguese are nice and friendly to people who approaches them in a friendly manner, particularly when trying to speak their language. I am aware that speaking some Portuguese puts me in a different position compared to other non-native speakers, but the only thing I've changed from 2004 to this date in that respect is the way I interact with people I don't know --my level of Portuguese hasn't otherwise improved because I did not speak it in the 4 years between the two trips--, which is now more open and willing to learn from them and share whatever they want to hear from me.

Since it is easy to get dragged by negative experiences, I belief that, when traveling and more generally in life, it is important to remember the good experiences over any negative ones, or at least to try and balance them, making sure not to make the negative ones heavier in our memories.

PS Since I started writing this posting a few days ago I've had more opportunities to interact with people in a variety of situations (including the waitress-customer kind mentioned above) and I've only continued to grow more and more convinced that the Portuguese are open, easy-going and helpful.

calurositat

Des d'ahir ens ha fet una calor d'aquella que deixa una mica aplatanat... però veient com es queixen els estudiants de Berkeley, que no hi estan acostumats, jo callo i la disfruto, ja que durant força temps he trobat a faltar les temperatures d'un estiu de debò...

Ara és mitjanit passada i fins fa ben poc no ha començat a refrescar. Ahir ja vaig dormir amb la finestra oberta i el llençol per fer bonic, perquè de falta no en feia.