And then the rain came

Today, I woke up thinking K is having a shower, dozed off and woke up an hour later to find she was still having a shower, but in actual fact, this was the torrential rain pouring down the scaffolding outside. Our view had changed from fairly calm ocean sparkling in the sunshine to grey rough seas pounding against the shore and ominous dark clouds everywhere. Needless to say, we took this as a sign that more sleep and chill-out was called for (not that we had been lacking any, as thus far we had not made it out of the flat before midday) and K then decided to further my crime drama education with a non-stop marathon of all the CSIs. Though a check of the weather forecast revealed that the rain might be a fixture for the remainder of our stay, sending us regressing back to our childhoods with memories of damp and cold days at the beach (our choice of reading material (The Tent, the Bucket and Me) now did nto seem to augur so well...)

No-one, surprisingly, at the outdoor tables today

By mid-afternoon, even I was fully rested and more than a little crimed out and K was getting twitchy - not even her beloved Netbook was staving off the imminent meltdown (she has become worringly addicted of late - don't know what we're going to do if the next place does not have Tinternet...) and so, we decided to brave the weather and go for a walk up the hill rather than along the beach in search of a shop, as foodstocks were running a little low. K put on her trusty kagool and I risked it with no more than an umbrella, praying that it was not too windy and off we set. We trudged and sqeulched past dripping gardens with brightly coloured flowers and on past a campsite, (which increased our concern, as this day was more than a little reminsicent of both of our childhood holidays already without adding in the C-word) and finally saw a green cross indicating a pharmacy up ahead, which when we got there was unhelpfully closed (should be against the law to raise people's hopes like that) but there was a cafe up ahead, which was mercifully open and so, as the rain was getting heavier (definitely proper tidy rain this) we decided some Ice Tea would not go amiss.

I love an excuse to post a picture of the lovely Gil Grissom

After watching the cafe owner ferret under the cakes for the hidden supply of Ice Tea and sucombing to the Portuguese afternoon pick me up of sugar in the form of a fruit tart (mainly because it actually had more than one variety of real fruit on it), we sat there trying to dry out and warm up a little and observed the locals (my dad will be so proud of what my observations/nosiness achieved). There was granny been taken out for her weekly coffee and cake, two guys came in for a serious chat with a beer, which consisted of low level sounds and nods and then, the upandcoming young business man (selling air conditioning) came in to meet his girlfriend for a 'healthy' snack. Various other people popped in to buy bread and cakes and then, one guy also requested something which required the cafe owner to duck under the counter and produce a foil wrapped item- which looked to my veggie eyes like it could be ham and then uncover a meat slicing machine (it worryingly seemed to come out of nowhere but had been sitting on the counter the whole time). This made me think that our quest for food may be over, as where there is sliced meat, there normally is cheese, though you will receive a blank disbelieving look if you request one without the other. Of course, now all we had to do was manage to buy it, which is more difficult than it sounds as it was not within pointing distance....

Purchases successfully made (and quest for yoghurt abandoned), we trudged back down the hill and a minor miracle occurred in that near the bottom, the rain let up for our daily pilgrimage along the beach. K decided to take wave photos (though from my safe vantage point, it looked like she was going to come back completely submerged in the water if she made it back at all-more on the dangers of paddling tomorrow) and I visited the silent diggers - Portuguese builders do not work in the rain though the sand is surprisingly firmer.

Only took about 100 wave photos to get this one

For dinner, we decided to go back to our favourite restaurant of the night before (the one where we obtained salad) which had the additional advantage weatherwise of being just across the road. This time, after rejecting such delicacies as 'Tamborine or Frogfish rice' (maybe they have muscial frogs here) and 'Gifts of Ox', we duly decided on the local speciality of salted cod fish. We managed to find probably the only one out of infinite varieties that did not come with chips (roasted potatoes are not chips) -baked in breadcrumbs - and that also came with veggies: garlic spinach, vinegary crunchy carrots (don't knock them until you have been vegless for a few days) and something we did not recognise but happily ate anyway (in contrast to the Portuguese who seem only to eat the protein and the rice and chips naturally but leave the veg untouched, as if offended it has even graced the plate). We also reacquainted ourselves with vino verde (the waiter brought a small bottle this time without being asked as we are such lightweights) and decided that as we had managed a relatively healthy meal, we would have our first dessert (sugar pick me ups throughout the day obviously do not count). K went for the recommended choc cake but I went for the 'Biscuit' cake, which we have seen garnished with whole rich tea like biscuits round the sides (was a bit like a firm tiramisu minus the creamy topping). After such delights, all that remained was to push our way through the people huddled in the doorway smoking and hop across the street and into bed (after first completing our daily diary here naturally).

See the digestive biccies at the back?