July 9th

Today was another amazing day because today Abel we met Abel’s mother who lives in the rural mountainous part of Portugal. We were a bit lazy today and woke up late but after having lunch we departed for a 1 hour journey up into the mountains of Portugal. The drive was absolutely beautiful and I just tried to take in the natural beauty of Portugal. Along the way we saw an ancient bridge contructed during the Roman times but which is still used today. Along the way we saw numerous farming communities and their homes and lifestyle reminded me so much of our Goan way of life. As we finally pulled up to Abel’s mother’s home we saw the most curious site. Abel’s uncle and a group of fellow farmers had just killed a 300 hundred pound pig and were using a blow torch apparatus to “cure” it and remove its hair as well as clean it. The site of the men around the pig took me back to Goan feast times where people kill a pig for cooking. After watching them a while we then entered Abel’s property and were amazed to see his mothers personal garden/farm. Abel was quite eager to show us the numerous vegetables and fruits growing there such as tomatoes, lettuce, collard greens, peas, apples, pears, kiwis, grapes, onions, raspberries, watermelons, and others. I could go on for days. It was truly amazing to see his mothers crops and the amount of work that goes into maintaining it. I even got to taste some raspberries and nectarines straight off the tree!

After exploring for a while we then went into his mother’s home. The home is actually quite interesting because it has a traditional Portuguese exterior with a tiled roof, however with certain modern amenities. Abel's mother was so excited to have guests over to her house and was eager to show us around. She took us into her "old" kitchen and showed us her wine making compound as well as her 1000 liter wine fermenting chamber. She also took us up to the roof of her house where we were able to see the beautiful mountainside of Portugal. As we came back in it was hard not to notice the massive pieces of cured ham that were hanging in the stairway. mmmhhh! By that time were all getting hungry and so we ate a traditional Portuguese meal consisting of fish soup, rice, salad, and chorizo. For dessert we had some of Abel's mom's homemade jam with cheese. It was out of this world! The best jam I have ever eaten.