I’ve been traveling around Portugal for quite a few months now. Without speaking the local language, my social life here is mostly the one with other estrangeiros (this is how the Portuguese call foreigners here). Last week I tried something new, letting a local join me in the van for a week.
Some of you know my experiences with the local garages here. I even worked on my own van in one of them for 3.5 months. Communicating with the owner was easy and in English. With the mechanic it was different and difficult...in every way. I am happy I already know quite a few Portuguese, that speak good English. Because of them I learned something about the culture and lifestyle here, all in a more superficial way. Now I am ready for the next level.
During my work period in the garage, I bumped into a Portuguese woman. A bit younger, a totally different generation to be honest. We stayed in touch and last week she asked my if she could join living in the van for a week. Well, as some of you might know...living in a small van on your own can already be a challenge. Some van lifers don’t even want to travel with someone else in their van. But why not, let’s do it! I learn someone else more about living in a van and I learn more about the local culture from a local.
The weather looked pretty bad for this week. A lot of rain and cold (sometimes freezing) temperatures. I don’t have a heater in my van, so I actually bought more blankets and better pillows for extra comfort. I was a bit nervous, becuase I really didn’t know this person that well. And I know I haven’t been in my van constantly for more than 5 days so far. What does she expect? I already warned here for: no comfort, no shower, no heater, no normal toilet and she agreed and was actually enthusiastic.
I picked her up at the bus station, she showed up with just 1 waterproof bag, 1 pair of Barefoot-shoes, 1 pair of pants, 1 jacket, 1 towel and a shirt. All for one week of traveling. First stop LIDL, easy shopping and something I didn’t think about....she’s a vegan and I am not. Shopping went easy. We spend the rest of the day and night at the beaches and cliffs, in the rain and mud. Clothes soaking wet. We swam in the ocean in our underwear, no wetsuit needed although it was cooooooold. We knew that this was going to be our daily shower now, no matter what.
The days that followed, we spent hiking for days in the Estrala mountain region. We didn’t think about the bad weather forecasts, we didn’t care about the lack of space, we didn’t care about the freezing cold nights, we didn’t care about cuddling at night to stay warm, we didn’t care about our differences in food...we just enjoyed. The hikes went from boring easy forest trails, to slippery rock climbing icy trails. We didn’t get wet from the rain, we just found our way between the clouds and attracted the sun. Stunning views, cold refreshing waterfalls, goat cheese, port & blond beer, singing birds, green pine trees, burned tree logs, little Portuguese farms, an old tipsy goat shepherd with dry bread and everywhere this relaxing silence. No barking dogs and only 2 times we met a hiking couple in all those days. The signs of some trails were a bit hard to find sometimes, but we were a good team together. And during our trip to the top of the Serra de Estrela, we were surprised by a proper amount of snow there. I haven’t seen so many people up here and there were only locals…enjoying the snowball fights. My new friend surprised me as also, a vegan that buys me a huge piece of prosciutto as a gift…WTF?!
On another hike (PR2 ROTA DO JAVALI) there was a big contrast, created earlier this year. One moment we walked in a beautiful green valley, and not short after that we walked in total destruction. Our earlier hike (PR1 ROTA DO POÇO DO INFERNO) was named the “Pit of Hell”, although this place felt more like hell. Burned trees, black rocks…everything totally destroyed after the bushfires from this summer. I must admit, I do like to see these places as well. I don’t know why, but they like to link beautiful places to 'hell' here. Another trail we hiked (PR10 SEI ROTA DA CANIÇA), there was such a magical natural pool with several little waterfalls and they call this place the “Devil’s Horns”. Although the rock next to it, looks like a devil’s face (from another direction it looked like a rhino to me).
We took my van Vin Diesel to several old mountain roads, surrounded by fluffy cows that chilled out on the road sometimes. One of them was the M315, a less maintained narrow road. It was fun, some curved were that sharp and steep…that was more like a roller coaster in the clouds. After the freezing cold days, I wanted to show my new friend a thermal pool in a river. It was an extra 2 hour drive, but ‘hell yeah’…we deserved it. Well, we didn’t ☹️ After a little search through the bushes, we found the place by looking at pictures from others. This place (PRAIA FLUVIAL DE CALDAS DE SANGAMIL) seems the perfect hot spot in summer, but not after all the rain from last few weeks. The river is a lot higher and wilder now. The pipe with smelly hot thermal water is still there, but the amount of water coming out is not enough. And all the little pools are at the bottom of the river now. We had just discussed that we didn’t experience anything disappointing so far…and now we got what we discussed 😂.
The end of the week we spend driving around a part of the Silver Coast, enjoying a lot healthy food (Yes, at some point I joined the vegetarian dishes and I loved it) and also my new favorite unhealthy food: Chocolami (LIDL). We spend all day walking around along empty beaches and through sandy dunes, not wearing a lot of clothes. It was amazing, feeling so much freedom. After a week with a local stranger, it felt so connected and it was sad so say goodbye again.
If I think about it, why did this happen? A lot of things seem all connected. And the garage saga still seems to continue. I’ve learned a lot of a trip with a 25year old. I fully accepted van life after this week and I know it’s possible to travel around in a very tiny home with someone else. Although my new friend wasn’t the most talkative one, we seem to have a lot of similarities in life and thoughts. Besides my stories, I shared my home and also my clothes…1 set of clothes and 1 pair of shoes was not the best idea with this weather 🤣
For the moment I share my bed with my bike again. Cold as steel and I don’t know the intentions of my bike … it took some rubber to bed. Ok, I have to end this post….it reminds me of a hilarious story about someone getting horny on bikes in the Netherlands many years ago. Just to be clear…I definitely don’t get horny from my bike!
The only thing I expected to happen, this little trip together? It didn't happen. I didn't learn any Portuguese 🙈