Ten days and counting...

We have less than 2 weeks left of our trip, and I have to say, the time has flown! With our few remaining days, Jared and I plan to make the most of this beautiful place. Dinner, drinks and good byes with our friends Doug and Amanda, Freddy, Pastor Milton, Allen, Jose and Maria, Isilda, and Madalena will be filling a lot of the last days. Jared is cruising through as much as he can at the archives and is completely satisfied with the work he has done in the last 9 months. We closed our account at Eco Bank on Friday, and the bank manager and tellers were surprised and a little sad to see us go. It was pretty touching to have everyone waving and wishing us luck in life.

We are taking our fill of the sun and the food too before we go. We are eating as much marlin, sail fish and swordfish as we can at B24 (a hole in the wall in the park) because it is so delicious and cheap! We pay about 3 Euros for a huge steak of fish, fried bananas and rice – and in the US, these types of fish are $10 per pound usually! We are also eating our fill of buzio del mar (sea snails) at Papa Figo and enjoying the grilled chicken and rice at Sabor da Ilha. This is the only meat on the island that we trust and eat, and it is so good! The restaurant is owned by a Portuguese man, and it has wonderful food! The rice here is fried in oil and then boiled, so it remains a bit crunchy, but has a ton of flavor! We can’t get enough of it! We also are visiting Jasmin quite a bit because this spot has the best dessert on the island. Jared favors a cake made of wafer cookies and I love the chocolate mouse! And of course, we are spending as much time as possible at our favorite spot, the Pesante café next to Mirimar hotel. This café is right on the ocean and the view is stunning! Blue and white waves crash on black volcanic rock, there is always a breeze, so no matter how hot the sun is, sitting there is refreshing, and there is usually some sort of ship out in the bay to watch. Jared and I waste so much time here on the weekends! I order a café (European espresso) and Jared orders a galao (café with milk) and we chat and stare, completely at ease and relaxed like we have never been before. I am so going to miss this!

We are also working on our tans at the pool! Neither of us have ever really been the type to tan easily, and so even though we are totally tan for us, I am sure we will not be as tan as our friends back home. Oh well, I think the sun has done us some good. It has relaxed us, I think!

Along with food, sun and friends, we are plotting the rest of our souvenirs to buy. There really aren’t a lot of options on this front. São Tomé does not have much tourism yet and the tourism that does exist is resort, 5 star, very elite and expensive tourism. So, the few items that are available are totally expensive, way out of our price range, and really not at all “São Tomean”. – Like a painting will be of elephants, but there aren’t any elephants here, and it will cost 250 Euros. So, there really isn’t much for us to choose from. However, the island is known for its coffee and chocolate, so these items are what we are going to arm ourselves with.

10 days and counting….

It's Election Time in Sao Tome

For the last month, 15 different political parties were having parties all day and night trying to sway São Tomeans to vote for them. Luckily for us, most of these parties were held across from our apartment in the soccer stadium in the local park. These parties did not consist of speeches and promises for a better tomorrow, no, they were straight up parties - loud music, local musicians, food and drinks. Some of these political rallies went late into the night and some were held during the day specifically for children. During the days, trucks and cars drove around town with flags waving, people yelling out the windows, and some with speaker systems in the bed of the trucks blasting loud music. The different parties had colors, so if the cars and trucks were driving by super fast (which was usually the case) then you could still see what party it was for. There were about 4 major parties with the most money to spend for votes that we saw most frequently in the city. Oddly, around the same time as the elections were drawing near, new clothes and accessories started to appear on people, new cars and trucks appeared on the roads, and tons of new scooters and motorcycles appeared. Our friend who is the Cape Verde Ambassador told us that during election season (which happens every 5 years) money suddenly appears. Money that is not around any other time for roads, education, or health care. Another friend of ours told us that the owner of the Toyota shop in town was bragging that during election season, he sells 5000 motorcycles and scooters! Enough to get him through till the next election time. A guy we know worked for one of the parties, and his job was to go into communities with a truck full of clothes, beer, and soccer balls and to just give it all away in the name of the party. The local park, like I said earlier, held quite a few of the rallies, and because of this, light bulbs that had been out for months were replaced for the late night parties! Its so nice to walk through the park and see where we are going now. I know that in our country votes are bought and bribed for. I am not so dumb as to not think it happens. But to see it so openly and blatant, especially in the face of such need and negligence – it was really hard to witness. There is not a local paper that regularly is printed here, and the news on the TV and radio did not talk about specific parties, so Jared and I have no idea the platform of these various parties, and I think – given the multiple rallies we witnessed – that a lot of São Tomeans did not either. Several people we talked to (Pastors, artists, and the guard on our street) all said that they do not vote because the whole government is corrupt and it doesn’t matter, that the parties are not about issues, just money. How sad. To be a democracy, to be able to vote and to feel that your vote does not matter – its just like the USA in that respect, I guess.

Anyway, another very popular bribe is power. The electric company is owned by the government, and as the elections drew closer, our power got better and better. In fact, the elections were supposed to be in March, but were pushed back twice and finally were in late July. As we discussed power issues with people the whole time here, a common lament was “Oh, the power is good now because of the elections. Just wait until they are over. You haven’t seen anything yet!” On any given day, Jared and I have about 14-20 hours of power. The outages are usually 1-3 hours long and happen all throughout the day. There is no schedule for the power here, unlike other countries and even the island of Principe. The longest we went with out power was 14 hours – we had two of those back to back with 2 hours of power in between. But, as the elections drew near, we were having 20 -22 hours of power everyday! It was great! But, we were also worried about the days following the elections. Luckily, it hasn’t been too bad. The last two weeks we have been having about 16 hours of power or so a day and usually the longest outages are late at night when we are sleeping.

A new party ended up being elected, but not by a huge majority, which means the old party and the new one will have to work together. This, we think, will be good for São Tomé. Learning to compromise and work together is good for anyone!

Thank God we are in a country that is stable, safe, and non-violent. The last attempted coup was 5 years ago, after the last elections. A group of rebels stole the nation’s only tank and planned to storm the Presidential Palace. However, the tank needed gas and the São Tomeans in line at the central gas station in town refused to let the tank cut. So, while the tank was waiting in line at the gas station, the military retook the tank and the “coup” was over.

July, 2010

It has been a month since our last blog post. Sorry about that. Really, there has not been too much to report on. In the last month, we rented a car again and our friend Beth joined us on our trip. Beth is from Washington D.C. and works with Waveplace, a non-profit that picks up with programming where One Laptop Per Child has left off. She came to Sao Tome last year for 2 months to start a program in a school here and came back for a month this summer to check on the progress. Her arrival brought about Polly's departure, which was really sad, but Beth was fun to hang out with, so that was cool. And, she introduced us to some people on the island, which has proven to be useful.

So, the rent-a-car trip...Jared needed to get pictures of various monuments, statues, and the like in several places on the north and west of the island, so this was the direction we set out. We hit Guadelupe, the 5th largest city on the island (not that big of a deal seeing as how there are only like 7 cities total). Then we went to Augustino Neto Roca, the largest one on the island. THis one was quite impressive, as it had a beautiful, maintained garden to visit as well as a hospital (no longer in use) and a church that happened to be decorated for a wedding the next day. Most of the items in the National Museum are from this roca and it is a big tourist attraction, if you want to go so far as to say there are tourist attractions here. After this, we drove to Neves, the 3rd largest city where the Rosema brewery is, and then on to the landing cite of the Portuguese nearly 400 years earlier. We are lunch at the lighthouse above Lagua Azul and I have to say, it was one of the nicest moments of our time here. The dry season had taken its toll on the long grasses around the inlets and everything was golden like hay and the waters around were dark blue, the sky was bright crystal blue and in the distance, you could see huge Baoba trees with their empty short and twisted limbs framed in the blue above. It was so peaceful! Also, along our way, we had picked up sugar cane and cocoa to try, so after lunch, we munched on some fresh sugar cane - so hard to rip apart with your teeth, but super good - and then we cracked open a cocoa pod and sucked on the beans inside. It was awesome!

After that break, we went to Fernad Dias, a north point on the island that where the horrible Batepa Massacre ended. A deep water port is in the slow, African process of being built, and so the monument that once stood there in memory of the massacre has been destroyed. Not moved, but demolished!!

*Interesting side note here - the port right now is in the city, very near our apartment. This has been the port since the city was born. However, the water in the bay is very shallow (and as a result, cluttered with lots of decaying and rusting boats and ships) which causes container ships and all other vessels to anchor out in the ocean. Then, little tug boats with small barges go out, load or unload, 3-4 containers at a time and then chug its way back to the port. The whole process is very slow and ships will be out in the sea for a week waiting to unload and reload. The new deep water port would be twice as fast if not more! Its amazing it hasn't been done yet!

So that was our rent-a-car day number 2 and our last trip around the island before we go home Now we have done and seen everything outside of the city that was on our list!

And now, Polly and Beth have been added to the list of people who have gone. Our friend pool now consists of Doug and Amanda, Baptist missionaries from the states, and their two girls - we have dinner with them about once a week or so. They lived here for 4 years, left for a year to raise funds and are now back for 4 more years. Their youngest girl was born in Sao Tome and has dual citizenship. We also met a guy from Sweden, Freddy, who is here building a hotel. He has traveled everywhere, speaks English, and is bored just like everyone else here. So, we get together with him once a week to have a drink and talk about the few things that actually happened that week. Then, there are Allen, Nilton, and Reggie. All Sao Tomeans and all really nice guys. We were introduced to them through Beth and now that she is gone, we see them every once and awhile, which is really nice. There are also Pastor Milton and Pastor Marquez, who Jared taught English too, and of course, the people we see everyday on our walks that we stop and say hi to, discuss the weather, and chat about whatever is happening that day. These people are the kids in the park who wash the cars during lunchtime, the guards of all the important buildings, and the workers of the cafes and such that we visit regularly.

July 4th – Independence and Inappropriateness

On July 4^th Michelle and I spent a sunny and warm morning at the pool. During gravanna the weather tends to be overcast and windy making it just a bit chilly at the pool, but that day was wonderful. Later that afternoon we met up with our new friend Beth to go búzio and beer hopping. You see, there isn’t much to do here so the only real way to celebrate the 4^th was with sea snails and local beer. Beth has joined our circle now that Polly left. She is here for her 2^nd time working with STeP Up. She actually works for a company that helps train teachers and students who receive computers from 1 Laptop Per Child – which apparently is good at distributing laptops but not teaching people how to use them. Anyway, nobody was particularly in the mood for búzio and beer so we only had it at one place before switching venues for coffee. We sat by the sea after dark (it gets dark at 6 pm so it wasn’t actually that late) and listened to the waves crash against the beach wall and talked for a couple of hours. It was a really nice day, although Michelle discovered later that night at home that she had eaten something that made her sick and she would have to go to the clinic on both Monday and Tuesday with stomach issues.

By Friday Michelle’s stomach was finally feeling well enough for her to venture out of the house which was good because on Friday the 9^th is when the American embassy from Gabon came to São Tomé (they are a joint consulate) to celebrate the 4^th. We got our invitations from our friend Isilda who works at Voice of America and is the contact for Americans on the island. The invitation was very fancy and said ‘formal’ attire but we figured that was a mistake because we’ve never heard of a formal 4^th party. The tradition is spitting watermelon seeds, grilling hot dogs, and lighting sparklers, right? Well we showed up to the affair, which was in fact VERY formal. Of course Michelle and I, keeping up a long tradition of being just a little inappropriate, were not formal at all. I was in khakis and an untucked green plaid cowboy shirt and Michelle was in brown shorts and a flowy top. Even Beth knew to bring a dress to ST after having someone comment to her last time that she always dressed “like a tourist on vacation.” So it was Michelle and I dressed for the mall mingling with the Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Head of Health Services and American ambassador all dressed in the nicest suits I’ve ever seen. When we arrived everyone was just standing around so an American woman in a navy uniform approached Michelle and I, after deducing that we were there to party and not network, and told us to go get a drink so everyone else would know they could too. Fortunately the drinks and food were free. It was really nice to drink wine and eat fried foods after so long on a diet of mostly fish, rice, and bananas. Michelle figured that people who were at an American party had to know English so she worked the room, because she’s been really frustrated that she can’t speak Portuguese. The highlight of that was when she introduced herself to the Portuguese ambassador and said, “Hey I see you around a lot watching the world cup at that restaurant Sabor da Ilha.” To which he replied, that in fact he had watched all the games at home. So Michelle informed him that he must have a twin on the island. Jared topped off the night by trying Scotch for the first time. All in all our two 4^th of July festivities will not soon be forgotten, no matter how hard we try.

Botanical Gardens, Rocas, and Beaches

Jared and I are totally enjoying our last few months here. The weather has cooled down this month about 5 degrees, but the humidity is down about 30%, so it feels so much better now! When we first got here, I about went crazy with the heat alone! I was dripping with sweat all day and night. The night here is only about 2 degrees cooler than the daytime, so when it was the hot season, it was nasty 24 hours a day. There was no escape from the heat! But like I said, now its much nicer. There is always a breeze now, too. Gravanna is the name of the season in West Africa that we are in right now. It is technically the dry season, so there is no rain, but we get the big, heavy winds from North Africa so it is really pleasant. In other parts of West Africa, Gravanna is terrible because there is no rain, its hot, and the winds are dangerous because of wild fires. But ST is a luscious rain forest, so even without rain, the jungle has precipitation and there is still food grown.

We rented a car last weekend and drove around the island a bit. There are still Rocas here that you can visit. They are the old colonial plantations. Most of them are really remote and run down, but a few of them are still operating and produce coffee or cocoa. They are really interesting to visit though, because they are little communities all their own. Most of the families that live on the rocas have been there since the plantation was built and have never been off the land! Can you imagine generations and generations living in one small area and that is it?! Each roca has a school and a hospital, if you can actually call them that. There are old run down colonial buildings that would be considered dilapidated in the US, but people are living in them here. Most everyone speaks Portuguese or some form of it, but a lot of the rocas speak a mixture of Portuguese and Forro (a local language) or a language all their own. It is so strange seeing these places. Its like walking into another world!

We also went to the Botanical Garden here which was awesome! There were samples of all kinds of tropical flowers that I have never seen before! Huge, waxy flowers that ca handle all kinds of weather and heat! There were also a lot of fruit trees, like pink and green guava, jack fruit, bread fruit, banana, papaya, and mango.

We went to a beach too, that is about 45 minutes away from the city. It is the only beach on the island that has sand dollars on it, but they are not like sand dollars you find in the US. Instead of being a circle, they look more like an octopus. The top is circular, but the bottom is cut out so that it looks like legs. They are totally weird. I think we picked up 4 or so of them. Hopefully they do not break on our way home!

Jack Fruit

There are a lot of fruits that grow in São Tome on a regular basis that I rarely have in the US. You can find these topical fruits, but you have to go to Whole Foods and pay a ton of money for them. Fruits like Passion Fruit, Papaya, Star Fruit, and Safu are available on every street corner and at every stand in the Market for, what amounts to, $0.30 in USD. Pineapples, 4 or 5 different types of bananas, plantains, oranges that are not orange but green, avocados, and mangos, are also everywhere. Breadfruit is also here and usually you do not have to buy it because most streets are lined with huge, beautiful, 2 toned green leaved, breadfruit trees that anyone can pull and eat off of.

Jack Fruit, however, is a fruit that I have never seen before or even heard of before. It is the ugliest fruit I have ever seen! It grows off of the trunk of trees, like a tumor, and is greenish-yellow, bumpy and sappy! A Jack Fruit is about the size of a bowling ball, but it is not round. They are oblong and bumpy with bulges at times.

To cut open a Jack Fruit, you must first dip your knife in oil so that it does not get sticky with the sap of the fruit. The women who sell it prepared (and people who prepare it in their homes) cover their hands in oil as well to prevent them from getting sappy. Once the fruit is cut in half, the first priority is to section off the fruit and cut out the white center. Jack Fruit has tons of pods in it with a seed inside each. Between each pod are fibers that need to be pulled away. (The pod is the edible part of the fruit.) Once the center is cut away, you can bend the section out so that the pods pull away from one another and the fibers break off. Then comes the tedious task of pulling out the pods, stripping away the fibers and trying desperately to create a bowl full of pods for everyone to enjoy, instead of eating the pod as soon as it is cleaned!

Jack Fruit is sticky, sweet, and so so yummy! It has the sweetness similar to a pineapple, but not the same taste. The texture is unlike any fruit I have ever had, and it seems odd to call it a fruit because it is so dense and fiber-y.

The Jack Fruit season just started and we are starting to see it in the baskets of the street vendors. So far, it runs $50,000 dobras (2 Euros) for a bag of prepared pods, which is pretty big and holds a lot of pods, and $30,000 dobras for half a fruit, unprepared.

Click here for pictures of Jack Fruit.

The Paradoxes of Africa

I never ceased to be amazed by the paradoxes of this fascinating place. As you may know the World Cup is starting today (and I am totally stoked to be seeing it in Africa!!). I've started asking around to see who most Santomeans are supporting in the tournament. When you ask who they are cheering for in the Cup they say, "Portugal!!" When asked about what they think of Portuguese people they say, "They are bad. They put us in slavery and killed us."

STRIKE!

On Friday morning, Jared and I woke up without any power. Now this was not a big deal, as most mornings our power does not turn on until 8:00 or so. What was odd though, was that our water pressure was gone. I usually clean and do a few loads of laundry on Fridays, and luckily I finished cleaning before the water ran out, but by 10:00, the power was not on and I had not been able to do laundry yet. The power outages are not scheduled and it’s not like we can depend on power, but this was the first Friday morning that I had not been able to do laundry. With that and the water issue, I figured something was up, but Jared and I went about our usual chores of walking into the city for some groceries and stopping for to make a withdraw from the bank. As we turned the corner to the bank, Kristi called me and asked if we had heard the news. (Which, no, we had not.) The local electric and water company was on strike indefinitely. The workers were demanding a 60% salary increase and would not turn on the water supply or the power until their demands were met!

Clearly, I freaked out. How would we shower? How would we flush our toilet? How would we clean our clothes? Now, in Ghana, we had very bad water pressure and our upstairs apartment did not have running water most of the time. We had to manually fill the toilet to flush it, we had to bathe out of buckets, and we had to hand wash our clothes. The only difference between Ghana and here though, was that we got our buckets filled downstairs. If the water was out all over the island, then were would we go? To the river, I guess, right?! Its not completely undo-able, but I was a bit nervous about how our daily life would change if the strike lasted long. After our stop at the bank, we went to the store and bought candles, 2 cases of 12, 1.5 liter bottles of water and 2, 3 packs of 5 liter jugs. We took a taxi home (b/c let’s be honest, we can’t carry that amount of water for a 20 minute walk) and unloaded it all into the apartment. While we did this, the ladies in the apartment below us were filling up buckets, bowls, bins, pots and anything else that can hold water, out of a faucet in the wall. I immediately went up to them and asked how they had water and we did not, and I asked if the rumor of the strike was true. They told us that yes, the strike was on and it would last for 5 days, that the water coming out was the end of the city’s well, and of course we could have some too. So, Jared and I filled 4 big bowls, 2 pressure cookers, 1 cooler, and 2 pots full and set them all over the house. This water was the same as the water we usually have, which means its fine for washing dishes, clothes, and our bodies, but not fine for cooking or drinking, so all the bottled water was still useful. However, there was the issue of filling the toilet. Clearly we decided to use the “If its yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” method, but in order to flush Portuguese style toilets, you need a lot of water. I mean, like a whole bucket full. I personally thought the water from the tap was too precious for this, so we went across the street to the park and filled 2 buckets with the nasty, mossy, dirty pond water, hauled it home, but lids on the buckets, and told ourselves that the pond water was for the toilet ONLY!

By this time, I felt much better about our situation and was pretty sure we could wade through 5 days of no power and water. Of course, there was the annoying and worrisome thought at the back of my mind saying, “what if the strike goes longer than 5 days?” But I chose to ignore it. Jared and I went about the rest of our day fairly normally at this point. I went to the hotel to charge the computer battery because the hotel has a generator system, their Internet was working so I checked my email, and then that night, we were having our friend, Polly, over for dinner. In the evening, Jared and I read on our veranda in the last of the sunlight that day and at about 5:30 I got up to go start dinner in the kitchen. When I walked into the living room, I noticed the clock on the DVD player – it was lit up. “Um, Jared,” I said, “we have power.” And within an hour, the water was running again too. Polly came over and was as astonished as we were at our good luck, because nowhere else had power on her drive to our house and Kristi did not either at the ADRA compound. We turned on the TV, watched the news and heard that the strike had been suspended for 2 days and that the government had to come up with a contract in that time, or the strike would resume Monday morning.

We decided to keep the all the water (except the pond water – we replaced it with tap water) in the house for the weekend incase the strike resumed, but I was really excited and hopeful that it would not happen again. On Sunday, we heard through a friend of a friend (so maybe not too reliable) that the strike had been resolved and raises had been agreed upon, but it was not mentioned on the news so we were unsure. Also, we heard from another friend, that the strike was postponed for 12 days and that the government is to use this time to come up with a new contract. So, who knows what to believe.

Well, its Monday morning now, the power and water are still on, and we still have water sitting all over the house in buckets and pots just waiting for the official word that the strike is indeed over. I’ll keep you posted…

Recent Events

Jared and I have been having a great time these last few weeks. I was very fortunate to meet Maria, the wife of the Cape Verde Consulate (soon to be the Ambassador) here in STP. She is one of the nicest people I have ever met! Maria and her husband Jose, had us over to their house not too long ago, and we had a pizza party with Michael Jackson videos playing all night! The Kis family (ADRA's director) were there too, and together, we all discussed our time here on Sao Tome and certain situations. It was very nice to hear all the different angles on topics. Jose spoke of the government, Adam on the people in communities outside of the city, and Jared from a historical perspective. It was a really interesting evening! I am not sure if any of you are familiar with Cape Verdean music, but the island has a fabulous music culture! I definitely suggest researching or You Tubing some of it! Anyway, Jose is an amazing guitar player and he played for us a bit, Maria sang a bit, and we all danced a bit! It was a wonderful night and one that I will never forget!

Last week, a group from the Gabon Embassy (the closest American Embassy for us - it serves as STP's US Embassy) came to STP for a visit and there was a town hall meeting at the Pestana Hotel for all Americans on this island. (Right now, there are about 11 of us, and 3 of them are leaving on Friday.) The meeting was to discuss safety issues and concerns, but STP is totally safe, so we all just chatted instead! Ambassador Eunice Reddick was there too, which was shocking because the email that invited us to the meeting said she would not be coming, but it was awesome meeting her! She ended up sitting right beside me and asked me how Jared got interested in Sao Tome in the first place. So, I told her the story that started it all...

When Jared was at Indiana University (IPFW) for his undergrad, a professor in his African History Pre-colonialism course told a story about a tiny country in Africa called Sao Tome. Apparently, in 1997, this island country decided to get a Navy. So, it ordered a 4-man fishing boat from Michigan, put 4 guys in it with 1 gun and they rode around the island making sure it was safe. Well, Nigeria did not like having another Naval force in the Gulf of Guinea, so one night, Nigeria's Navy stole Sao Tome's fleet (its one boat). Sao Tome is a very poor country, so instead of getting another boat, it choose to just not have a Navy anymore. Jared thought this story was hilarious and could not believe that in this day and age, a story like that could be true, so he started to learn about Sao Tome and eventually choose to go to graduate school for African History, and now we are in Sao Tome.

This is the what I told Ambassador Reddick. She just smiled and said, yes, that is a good story. Then she pointed to a lady across the table from us and told me that she was on the other end of it. The woman across the table (an American visiting from the Gabon Embassy too) was stationed in Nigeria at the time of the incident. Sao Tome filed a complaint, which Nigeria denied, and it was this woman's job to find the stolen boat. (I don't think she ever did, though.) So, not only is the story true, but Jared got to meet someone on the other end of the story and now he has come full circle! Pretty cool, right?!

Besides hanging out with ambassadors and such, we are also hanging out with other friends. Last Saturday, Jared and I went our separate ways and he hiked to Blu Blu waterfall in Madre Deus with Camden, our friend who interns with ARDA. His pictures are beautiful and the two of them had a wonderful time! I, on the other hand, went to the beach at Club Santana with Polly, our friend from Boston, and a group of people from Portugal. My day was totally relaxing and I had a wonderful time! It was nice to get to know some of the Portuguese community on the island, we see them everywhere (because it is so small here!) and it was a nice change of pace to get out of the city for a day!

We'll write more later!

M

Really Good Things

There are good things here, really good things that I will miss when we are gone. Like the stars...they twinkle here. They actually twinkle different colors like blue, red, green and yellow. It is so beautiful!

Also, we are completely relaxed here. Our schedule is our own and we can go to a beach or a pool anytime we want! I mean, when else are we going to be members of a 4 or 5 star hotel and visit it on a regular basis? (Um, never.)

And we are starting to get to know some people here. It is all about connections and networking. If we try to start a friendship on our own, people are non-responsive, but if we meet someone through someone else, then they are very kind, helpful and super nice. So it is just a different way here. We actually know a lot of people on the island and b/c it is so "small town" here, several people know who we are, that we are Americans, where we are working, and so on. Another difference is that people do not go out to bars or restaurants. What they do is buy drinks at a store, take them to a spot and sit and hang out, talk, and such. So to try and hang out with someone is hard b/c they do not make plans or have a schedule, they just do whatever comes up at the moment. (they call it leve-leve)

And, there is no violence here. STP is totally safe and harmless. People may jeer at us, blow kisses, heckle and such, but we are totally safe. No one would hurt us here, and they will not hurt each other, either. That is very comforting! It gets dark here really early and we regularly take a 15-20 minute walk to either Cafe e Compania or Miramar Hotel to check our email. We walk in the dark with our laptop and are totally safe. You could not do that is parts of the US, you know? And even if people are jeering at us, if we stop to talk to them or ask directions, they are very helpful and nice, so its just an act, or more likely they are bored.

In the mornings, we walk to the church where I am picked up with the other ADRA employees and driven to the ADRA compound. The morning walk is one of my favorite parts of the day. Its not too hot yet, people are out and about going to work, school, or just enjoying the day before it gets too hot, and the air is not dusty yet. The way we walk is through the park, where we say hello to the old men who have just finished their morning soccer game (one guy is our neighbor), past the casa de cinema (which does not show movies...), down the Presidential Palace road, which is shaded, has a very decent sidewalk, and has guards that we say Bom Dia! to, then past the Cathedral where people are always washing something in the mossy fountain, we cross Agua Grande, which is a river that flows through the center of town - there are always people hanging out by it, then down Kwarme Nkruma Avenida to the church. This last part is the most crowed with taxis and motorcycles and tiny kids trying to cross the road to get to school. The kids are so cute! They are all in uniforms and they hold hands all the time! It is so cute how affectionate the children are here with each other. You will see 7 or 8 year old boys walking down the street hold hands - but it is totally fine b/c men do it with each other here at times too! People show friendship in a different way and it is so sweet! The church is very close to the market and it is on a busy road that heads out of town and goes to several communities just outside the city proper. So while I stand there and wait for the ADRA van to come, I am passed by so many vehicles - taxi buses that should hold 9 people, squeezed with 14 or 15 instead, and lots of baskets filled with all kinds of food to sell that day - motorcycles with families on them, regular taxis filled with people going to the market to set up shop for the day, fabric, fruit, veggies, and all sorts of other things are in baskets and buckets, crates and bowls. Then, there are tons of people walking on the side walks. Some are carrying things to sell, some have book bags, others have babies tied to their backs...its a dizzying time and I love it!

Safu

Safu is a common food here in Sao Tome. It grows on trees and is sold in the market or by women in the street. Safu is purple on the outside and green on the inside, with a dark brown pit in the center. They are oblong and about an inch to an inch and a half long. To cook safu, you first need to scrape off some of the outer purple skin so that there are stripes on the outside. Then, you put the safu into boiling water, turn off the heat, and let them sit for about 3-5 minutes. They get fat from the water and the green flesh turns mushy. Then, you bite/suck off everything until just the pit is left. The consistency of prepared safu is much like an avocado and it is greasy like one too. People who have their gull-blatter out can only handle a few safu at a time because of this. The taste is hard to describe, but they are a bit bitter and the taste is located on the sides of your tongue. Pictures of safu are at the end of this photo album.

Michelle is 30!

For my 30th birthday weekend, Jared and I decided to leave Sao Tome island and go to a 5 star resort on an island just south of ST. Pestana Equator is the name of the resort on Rolas Island and it is amazing!

On Saturday morning at 7 am, we walked to the Hotel Mirimar close to our house (which is also owned by Pestana Group) and caught the bus to the Rolas dock. The ride to the dock took 2 1/2 hours and was the same route we took to Praia Pescina just the week before. It was a completely different ride in the bus! (Clearly since the first ride took 4 hours and the bus took 2 1/2!!) Anyway, when we got to the dock, we boarded a boat and rode for about 20 minutes to the island, Rolas. It was about 10:45 when we got there and HOT! When we stepped off the boat, there were staff members waiting for us with ice-cold towels to wipe off our faces with! (Ahh!) And they had cocnuts with straws in them for us! Nothing is as refreshing as coconut water! It was such a nice welcoming and it totally set the tone for the whole weekend! We checked it and were escorted to our bungalow, number 501! Yes, I said Bungalow!! How awesome is that?! So neither Jared or I have ever been to a resort before so we had no idea how it worked, but you do not need to carry anything with you. Your room key is all you need and if you buy something extra, you just sign for it! It was so awesome! The first thing we did was go to the pool, which was a HUGE saltwater pool with one area that was an infinity part looking into the sea with Sao Tome and all its mountains in the distance. There were several beached on the island that you could use as well if you preferred the Ocean to the pool.

Lunch was served in the dinning hall on the far northeastern tip of the island - about a 10 minute walk from our bungalow. The meals were buffet style with several options. Fish, chicken and a beef dish were available with rice and fried bananas and then there were several types of salads - my favorite being the cold corn and shrimp one! There were lots of choices of fresh fruit too, cheeses, and rolls too. Oh, and soup. It was all delicious! After lunch, Jared and I hiked to the Equator marker, which marks the exact spot the equator passes through. On our walk, it started to spit a bit of rain, but I thought it was fitting seeing as we were in the "rain forest"! The view from the Equator was amazing! You could see the whole resort as well as Sao Tome and the 7 rocks that the Angolaries supposedly crashed on. On our way back to the resort, we passed a village and bought some cloth and a necklace from an artist. Pretty sure we payed way too much for it, but oh well - I looked at it as a birthday present! When our hike was done, I was totally nasty and went to the pool again! I couldn't get enough of it! After this pool dip, Jared and I went back to the room, freshened up and then went to one of the 3 bars for a drink. There were a few other people at the resort with us - some Americans who were in ST to help with the tax system, some Portuguese people on vacation, 3 couples who looked like they were on honeymoons and a few other families with kids. Overall it was pretty sparse and we loved it! For dinner, we ordered a bottle of wine and hung out for a while there just enjoying ourselves, and then we went for a night swim under the stars! It was a really great day!

The second day (our last), after breakfast, we went our separate ways. Jared went for a hike to try and find a blow hole and I (you guessed it!) went to the beach! I found a few shells and got sand every where and then floated in the pool for a bout an hour while the pool bar played a Michael Jackson CD! It was pretty much the best birthday morning ever! So yes, I just said pool bar. There was a bar in the pool. You could walk to it and sit, or swim to it and sit in the water on stools in the pool. Totally cool, I have to say! Oh, and I got a bunch of tropical flowers from the staff too! How cool is that?!

The rest of our day was spent eating, drinking and swimming until 4:30 when the boat left for Sao Tome. It was really hard to leave. We totally wanted to stay more and do some more hiking, but we are planning a day trip in August to do that. There are pictures posted on facebook and you can see them by clicking here.

Love,

Michelle and Jared

Pria Piscina

On Sunday, Laura, Polly, Jared and I all went to the most southern tip of the island to visit a beach that is said to be THE best beach on the island. One way took us 4 hours. (4 hours for a 65 kilometer drive – if that lets you understand how horrible the road is!) The road simply disappeared at times and we were driving over rock pits, or the road was there, but there were huge chunks and holes missing out of it. After the way there and back, we all were so sore! Beast, our car, is a champ – but with no power steering, and no shocks, the trip was painful. Good thing the scenery was beautiful! The road to the south travels along the coast of the island, so there is ocean on one side and tropical jungle on the other. We went through lots of districts of the island that are way different than the city and we got to see how life for most São Tomeans really is. Most of the houses are on stilts and there are several ideas of why this originated. The top three are the heat – its cooler with air-flow under the floors, mosquitos – I guess they don’t fly that high, and rats. What the real reason is no one really knows, it has just always been done like this.

About 3 hours into our trip to the beach, we started questioning whether a beach could really be worth the bumpy way. I mean, we were passing tons of beaches that looked fine to me, so I was wondering what was so great about Pria Piscina. Well, it was worth it! The water was blue and green and completely clear! The sand was perfectly white! And, it was secluded for the first half of the time we were there. (Later, a group from the church we go to showed up.) The beach is bookended by black volcanic rocks, which just make the sand look even whiter, and there are shallow rocks pools along the left side, which break a lot of the dangerous waves. The only thing that could be bad about this beach is the sea urchins – and of course, with our luck, Jared stepped on one and got a spine stuck in his foot. Luckily, it was a small urchin and not a big one, so he did not get much venom and is not sick at all. The large sea urchins can cause a fever and the spines need to be removed by a doctor. The only way to stop the pain is to inactivate the venom by heat – so soaking your foot in very hot (but not boiling) water for about 30 minutes. With us being 4 hours from home, we were very lucky that it was a small urchin and that he is fine!

We took a ton of pictures! This was one of the most amazing places we have been and it was totally worth the 8 hour round trip drive! Click here to see our photo album.

Saturday with Polly and Laura

Today, Saturday, Jared and I had the opportunity to get out of the city and into the interior of the island a bit. Click here to see all the photos from our day.

The bat researchers from Cambridge that we met had a friend, Laura, fly in on Friday morning to give them more equipment and then they left that afternoon for Equatorial Guinea. Anyway, Laura is stuck here for a week because the TAP flight to Lisbon only leaves once a week. So, we all decided to explore the island together. (She has a rented car and can drive a stick-shift!) We also invited Polly, another American who is here in ST until July working with the NGP Step-Up to start a micro-finance program. Did you get all that?!

Anyway, the four of us went to the center of the island to the second largest city, Trindade (which is actually quite small!). Trindade is really important to the history of ST because it was the place of refuge when pirates raided the main city, and because two of the biggest revolutions/revolts started in Trindade and came down the mountain to the main city. The ride to Trindade was beautiful and much cooler temperature-wise that down the mountain in the main city. The tropical forests were amazing! Anyway, after Trindade, we went to Cascata São Nicolau, a waterfall further up the mountain. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! We took a ton of pictures! We all had our bathing suits, but it was so cold there that only Jared dared to wade into the pool at the bottom. The road to the waterfall was horrible! Rocky and bumpy – and the car we were in is the worst car in the world! Nothing works on it, except the engine! We named it Beast, because it is one! Poor Laura! – It had no power steering, so she had to crank Beast around every turn!

After the waterfall, we stopped into the Rossa, Monte Café. A Rossa is an old plantation. The island had several of them and now they are little villages all of their own. The people who live on the Rossa’s were born there and their families have always lived there. This Rossa was really busy with lots of people. All the old colonial building are still there along with several newer ones. Every Rossa has a school and a hospital, and this one had a soccer fields, homes, and restaurants/café-type places. Everyone was very nice to us and let us take all the pictures we wanted. A really nice man gave us a guided tour – which I do not think is normal, but Laura bought some São Tomean coffee from him, so this might be why we got the special treatment. The Rossa was amazing! It was like stepping into another world! Some of the Rossa date back 150 years or so, but I am not sure how old this one was.

It was such a wonderful day! The interior of the island is all jungle and volcanic mountains, and I had never seen anything like it! I can’t wait to get back out of the city some more! Tomorrow (Sunday), the four of us are going to a beach at the most southern tip of the island! (A 3 hour drive over horrible, bumpy roads – inside Beast to boot!) Should be a blast!

One Million Dollars for Cooking Fuel!

So, I don’t know if you have heard, but we had a visitor for a while in our kitchen at night. Not a welcome visitor, if you know what I mean. Anyway, this little guy decided it would be fun to chew our gas hose one night, which made our gas tank leak out most of the gas in it. (Grrrr) So not only did we need to replace the hose, but we need to buy a new tank of gas. Fuel tanks run about 650,000 dobras. A tank lasts for about 6 weeks, but we use so little gas, that one tank will last us about 2 months. Anyway, just when we needed more gas, people in Gabon (in West Africa – were the island gets its gas from) went on strike. So, gas was scarce. One night, Jared and I hauled our empty tank out to the street to find a taxi and go get some gas at Ubaga – Tela, a store near ADRA that had gas earlier in the day for 750,000 dobars. (100,000 more than usual - supply and demand, my friend) Anyway, for some reason, no taxi came by, but a motorcycle did. Umm, we really didn’t want to ride on a motorcycle with a big tank of gas, so we said no thanks and a few minutes later, the guy drove up with a friend in a car and said, “Get in!” So, we paid the guy 150,000 dobras to take us not very far at all (a lot of money for a ride!) and low and behold, the store was out of gas. So the guy took us somewhere else and they were out of gas too! The island was having a shortage just when we needed some! Anyway, we were brought home with the same empty can and decided to try again the next day. So the next morning, we were out walking, buying groceries, going to the bank and the bakery – bla bla bla – and ran into our friend Kristi. She could not find gas either. Later in the day, Kristi called and she had found gas but it was far from our place and since we do not have a car, Adam, Kristi’s husband, picked Jared up and took him to get some gas. Since Jared is white and since the island is low on stove fuel, Jared had to pay 850,000 dorbas for the can! So all in all, with the ride and the over priced tank, we paid 1,000,000 dobras for our cooking fuel. Sounds crazy right?! Paying a million dollars for cooking gas! But 1,000,000 dobras is equal to about 57 US dollars. So I guess its not too bad.

Maracuja

Maracuja is passion fruit. There are 3 kinds here on the island. One is tiny, red and wrinkled, one is small, yellow and smooth and one is large, light yellow and a bit bumpy. You eat them all in the same way – cut them in half and scoop out the inside with a spoon. So far, we have only tried the little yellow maracujas. They are very tangy. (Jared says bitter.) They make good juice though if you have a juicer and want to add some tang to your orange/banana juice. This type of maracuja goes for 20,000 dobras for 7 fruits. So just over a US dollar; not too bad! To see photos of a yellow passion fruit, click here!

Movin on Up

Michelle and I have moved into our lovely new apartment!! It has two verandas, one on the front and one in back. The one in front is screened in and faces the city park. We like to sit in that one and listen to the sounds of people playing soccer, basketball, or local music from a grill/ice cream stand. The back veranda isn’t screened in but it does have a washing machine (which has come in handy since we couldn’t wash our clothes for the first two weeks in the other place…). Inside there are two bedrooms, but we only use the master bedroom. The other one was previously owned by a pre-teen girl and there are pictures of Zac Efron and the Jonas Brothers on the walls, haha. The bathroom is large and includes a shower that is: 1. set up like a US shower where the water sprays down over your head (as opposed to the Portuguese style of having to hold a hand unit while you shower) and 2. has hot water (as opposed to our last apartment). The living room is equipped with leather furniture and a flatscreen tv. The kitchen is a good size and has a gas stove (we will have to buy gas tanks for it) so that you can cook during a power outage. Basically, this place is really nice. We don’t have to run the air conditioner constantly because we can open windows and get airflow. See pics here. (Blogger takes a long time to upload photos and the internet connection is really slow here, so hopefully we can post pictures directly to the blog at some point!)

We are renting the apartment from a very nice woman named Placida who will be in Lisbon for about 7 months. She got her undergrad from South Carolina University and works for the Voice of America US military radio station based here in São Tomé. The street we are on is really pretty and quiet, other than the sounds from the park. Finally the name of our street is technically Rua Carlos Palmeira, but the name was changed about two years ago and everyone still calls it by the old name Rua Gago Coutinho. In fact, Placida wrote down the address for us she wrote “ex-Rua Gago Coutinho,” which reminds me of “Old 33” in Fort Wayne, and cab drivers totally know what we’re talking about when we say ex-rua Gago Coutinho. Overall moving into this place has improved our moods quite a bit as the last place was ok, but it was really tiny and the road that it was on was really dirty and noisy.

Sao Tome Update!

We move into our new place tomorrow and I am soooooo happy! We are going to move early in the morning and then run to the store, and then come back and unpack. Its Good Friday and the island is 85% Catholic so everything is going to close around noon.

So yesterday it rained really hard - it is the rainy season here, but it hasn't really rained that much. Anyway, ADRA's office is right near the bay and the storm came from the sea. It was really wild! The wind was crazy and then, a ton of rain just dumped for like 30 minutes, then it stopped! It was awesome! It happened again this morning around 4:30, but the rain lasted for a few hours and it wasn't as hard of a rain. Still, the heat has broken a little because of it, which is totally nice! But, the ground is all mud now. (There really aren't many nice sidewalks here and most of the roads are badly paved) And, now the mosquitos are out during the day! When I was outside in the afternoon yesterday playing with the kids, I got eaten up by bugs. I think I got like 6 bits in one afternoon, which is not alright with me! I had only gotten like 6 total so far, so now I know to be very careful after the rain.

Everyone says that the end of May, beginning of June until late August is the most beautiful time of the year here. It is the dry season, but the coolest weather wise. Apparently you do not need AC and there is always a wonderful breeze. I am just waiting for that!!! I am such a nasty mess here! And my hair....you have no idea! You will not see me in any photos for a long time, let me just tell you that now!

So as far as illness on the island, malaria is really not that prevalent in adults. The worst we may get is diarrea, but oh well, we have medicine for that. The thing to worry about is injury. There are not good clinics here and if something really bad happened, we would have to be transported to Guinea by a private plane (1500 Euros) and treated there. So, Jared and I bought a flash light and use it when we walk at night. There are crazy tree roots, broken side walks, sticks, holes and all other things to worry about when walking. I can just see one of us braking a leg and having to go to Guinea to be treated! That would suck, majorly! So we are being very careful and learning where the best sidewalks are and taking long ways just to be safe. As far as people, there really is no crime here. Its an island. If you do something, where are you going to go? Everyone knows everyone and is practically related, so its pretty safe. Since we are on the equator, the days are exactly 12 hours long. Sun up is 6:00 and sun down is 6:00. Its gets dark here really early, so the flash light is needed and its a good thing we feel safe walking at night. The area of town we live in is really nice too, so that's good.

Love you all!

Michelle

Mosquito Nets and Rooster Alarm Clocks - or in other words, We are in Sao Tome!

Well, we are in São Tomé and it is HOT! We arrived on Friday morning (March 19^th) and were in a hotel for the first day and night. During that day, we met up with one of our contacts here on the island, Sabina. She showed us a few apartments from the outside and then one (hers) on the inside. It is totally tiny! I have never seen anything so little, but it is cheaper than a hotel.So, for the time being, probably a week or two, we are going to be staying in an apartment complex across the street from the UN and the Nigerian Embassy. The city is small, so everything is (conceivably) within walking distance, but with the sun and heat, some walks are just too far. However, Jared’s archive and national library are very close, as so are 2 markets (not outdoor, but little grocery stores), a couple of snack shops, and the Hotel Mirimar. The Hotel Mirimar is a resort right on the sea. It’s lobby, bar and restaurant are open to the public though, and there is wireless internet in them. So, the lobby is sort of a hang-out for visitors and non-São Tomeans. You can also buy 30 day pool passes there for a reasonable price, but Jared and I are not sure if we will be staying in this apartment and are waiting until we are settled to get pool passes. You would think that since we are right on the ocean that we could just swim at a beach, but the beaches here are very rocky and the most of the areas of smooth beach have a terrible undertoe and are unsafe for swimming. We did see several people at one spot today, though, so that is cool! Here are a few pictures of the tiny place we are in now…they do not really show the scale of how tiny it really is, but maybe you can guess.

The kitchen is directly inside the door and the bathroom is where I am standing to get the picture of the kitchen. Yes, that is the shower in front of the toilet; and let’s just say that if I were anymore bigger, that shower would be impossible! (And yes, everything in the bathroom gets a bit wet!) The bed has a wardrobe at the foot of it with some shelves next to it and a TV on top. We do have electricity, but there are frequent power cuts and it is difficult to cook on the one electric coil at night because of them. However, the place is so small that in between the power cuts, the room doesn’t loose ALL of the AC. Jared and I only woke up once last night covered in sweat and praying the power would come back on. (which it did) The power is cut for like 10 to 20 minutes at a time and last night it happened about 4 times from 8 till 11 pm, and this morning about 3 times from 7 till 10 am. It will take some getting used to, but its not too bad yet.

On Monday we met Adam, the director of ADRA, the non-profit that I will be working for, and discussed what I will be doing as well as life here on the island. His wife, Kristie was very nice. She took us around the town, showing us where to go if we need a malaria test, what clinic is best if there is an emergency, and a good place to buy local fruit that is away from the confusion of the huge out door market. Adam was very nice as well and I hope that he, his wife and their children become our friends. There is an intern from Michigan working at ARDA as well. His name is Camden, he is 20 and seems cool too. It was nice to speak English for a while with all of them!

Besides all of this, Jared and I are getting set up here fairly quickly. With a contact of Adam’s at the Ministry of Finance, Jared and I received a tax ID number and were able to set up a bank account at EcoBank, which is in Ghana and several other African countries as well. Wiring money transfers online is a bit tricky with the very slow internet connection on the island, but it should work out fine!

Love and miss you all,

Jared and Michelle

Archives

Arquivo Historico Ultramarino

Arquivo Historico Diplomatico

Torre de Tombo National Archive

Biblioteca Nacional

So after a slew of postings describing our excellent adventures in Portugal, we thought it was time that I posted images of the archives where I did my work - just in case the Fulbright commission is checking up on us!! Anyway, I spent a lot of my time at these places often leaving Michelle at dawn just to be the first in line to get in and see the documents. Alright, not really. But, I did spend a lot of time at the Biblioteca Nacional, where the lady who runs the microfilm room was particularly nice to me, the Arquivo Historico Ultramarino, the Torre de Tombo national archive, and less time at the Arquivo Historico Diplomatico. All of the people at these places were very nice to me. I couldn't take pictures of any of these places from the inside but most of them have pictures on-line in case you want to view an archive. Basically there are tables where you sit and wait after making a request for a box (caixa) or a book (livro). Then a very nice person brings you the document and you take notes, make copies, or turn it back in. At the end of the day you hope that you've taken clear enough notes that you can actually refer to them in the papers that you plan on publishing later. This is my work. Fortunately, the archives in Lisbon are all a bit old and therefore quite charming, although also cold during the winter because they don't have heating like most buildings here!!

Trips Around Portugal - Sintra and Evora

The weather has finally changed for the better and Lisbon could not be prettier! The sun is shining, its warm enough to wear pants and t-shirts, and everything is blooming! I am so glad for the opportunity to see Lisbon in the spring, even if it is for a week! The winter here was the worst in recent history as far as rain, wind and temperature, but we survived it and love this change in weather all the more! Since it has been so beautiful, we have finally taken the trips we always meant to! So, in the last week, we went to Sintra and Evora, Portugal.

Sintra is a little northwest of Lisbon, about a 40 minute, above ground, metro ride. It is the home of one of the old vacation palaces and gardens, a castle that was built by the Moors, and the covenant of the Capuchins. Jared and I only had one day and since he had been to everything on his last trip 2 years ago, he suggested the palace and the gardens, and I am so glad he did! It was amazing! All our pictures are from the outside of the palace and the grounds because we were not allowed to take pictures inside. But inside was gorgeous! The funniest thing was that the “billiards room” or “ball room” (depending on which King was using it at the time) was right next to the King’s chambers and way on the other side of the palace from the Queen’s chambers! The kitchen was my favorite part! It was enormous! There was a room in the back that had 3 brick ovens, there were 2 huge stoves, and the whole place was decked out in all the old tins, moldings, pots, pans, knives, and bowls! I loved it! The gardens around the palace were beautiful! There were so many paths to choose from and a person could get wander around for a day and not see the same path twice! We choose the path that went by a bridge, a water wheel, a small chapel and the lakes. (Which were actually ponds with miniature castles for ducks!) All the paths were covered in moss and the trees were huge with random boulders everywhere! It was so much fun to just walk around with Jared. I loved it! The city of Sintra, down the mountain from the palace, castle, and covenant, is a cute little town! We took lots of pictures there too because the views, buildings, and streets were so adorable! Here are all our Sintra picture. This is definitely one of my favorite places that I have been too in my life! I loved it and we had a fabulous day there!

Evora is a town in the southern half of the interior of Portugal. It was an hour and a half bus ride there, but the bus was one of those fancy, comfortable buses and the ride was smooth and beautiful. We were able to see the countryside of Portugal with its rolling hills, neon green grasses, sheep, trees, and winery fields. We drove by the largest cork forest in the world on the way to Evora, so that was cool too. You may not know this, but Portugal is the largest cork supplier in the world. Anyway, the reason we wanted to go to Evora is because a group of monks that Jared studies were from there. The Loyos were the first missionaries in Congo and the leader of Congo, Alfonso, specifically chose them as the ones to be the first, but no one is sure why. Jared wanted to get a look at their church and old stomping grounds just for his own interest. But besides this, Evora is a pretty amazing town. It’s old wall is in perfect condition and surrounds the entire historic center of the city to this day, complete with guard towers! Also, Evora is home to the oldest Roman Temple on the Iberian Peninsula, the Temple of Diana. It dates back to the 2^nd century and was magnificent to see! I mean, I have never seen anything like it! I took a ton of pictures of it! They are with the Evora photos, here. Evora also is home to “The Chapel of the Bones”. Apparently there are several 13^th century chapels that were decorated in the bones of the dead, but not to the degree of this one. It was totally morbid, and at the same time, completely intriguing. The signs said that the chapel was a place of prayer and meditation on death and the transitive nature of life. I just thought of the Lord of the Rings, Return of the King when Aragon has to go to the mountain to get the dead army to fight for him. All the skulls and all the bones…anyway, there are lots of pictures of that too. Like Sintra, Evora was simply charming; every turn we took presented us with another beautiful cathedral, building, alleyway, house, or statue. I loved it there and advise everyone who goes to Portugal to take a day and visit this cute little city. (Oh, and Jared did get to see the cathedral of the Loyos, so the day was a complete success!)