Backpacks and Flipflops: November 2018

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Pico Island poetry....the islanders' lament...
- by Almeida Firmino
(found on the wall of the Snack Bar-Bowling Alley)

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"Squeezing blood from a stone....easy!

Try makin wine out of lava rock...now that's tough". ...SK

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PROLOGUE

Pico Mountain dominates the island of the same name.....it's there when you look up.....it's in the way when one needs to go from one end to the other.....and it's best viewed from Faial and Sao Jorge islands...unless.....

...of course, one wants to spend 7-8 hrs climbing it...

.......it has all the markings of the once massive volcano it was....though, now...all is quiet....what is left are the lava stones....and lava bombs.....

.and the faja (the areas of molten lava that simply steamed their way into the Atlantic)....

...but like a shy lover.....Pico mountain stays hidden in the clouds for most of the time...ah...well...here's to mystery and a new romance.......

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Azores Journey ... Part 2

PICO ISLAND

The youngest sibling of this fiery island family...while most of the Azores are all hot-headed and prone to explosive outbursts at some point....Pico also...has the distinct honour of being highest mountain in all of Portugal...

...this ancient volcano..... now home to a unique wine scene.....

Pico even has snow on its upper reaches during our stay....although.....we haven't seen any...cause the mountain has kept itself hidden in the clouds.

We fly into Pico on an extremely windy day.....so much so...the Azores plane needed to leave Terceira Island early, as our plane crew was worried about the gale forces blowing our little 100 passenger twin prop around like a kite....

....Was it bumpy?....I'll let Yvonne answer...

"Extremely!!!! Thank goodness we had seatbelts on or I'm sure we would have hit the ceiling!!!"

While it has several volcanoes....Pico Island also has a long association with whaling....some say a dubious history of whaling...others argue an economic necessity...... Most whalers had multiple jobs in their communities to sustain them and their families.

Pico Island was one of the last spots in Europe

to hunt the Sperm Whale or 'cetacean'....it ended in 1985....

...now...all that's left...besides...a few bleached whale bones....are the memories....and the whaling factories now turned into museum pieces ...... (funded in large part with EU monies).....

Former whaling boat

The former whaling factory, SIBIL

(And, no....that's not blood stains from the whaling era, although we did see it on former harpoons)

As old film, still photos and recollections reflect.....life was extremely hard on Pico (as elsewhere in the Azores)....subsistence living...odd jobs...long hours of working the nearly impossibly bullet proof, unyielding lava that covered most of the land...

The locals call it a hostile environment!

Pico's surface...produced little sustainable crops....

.... now, the nearly 45 degree slopes of the ancient volcanoes are terraced...

...cows seemingly need one set of legs to be shorter than the other to remain level on the slopes...

Pico's wine industry (viniculture), was nearly killed off by a devastating blight in the 19th C.

Today....the wine is fine...brought back by hardier vines/grapes that can endure the near constant storm force winds....salt-saturated air and scant soil...

Using the lava rocks (basalt) as barriers known as 'currais'

provides vines with protection from winds and sea....

This painstaking building process provided warmth ...

...as rocks reflect heat...along with moisture....as the rocks hold/gather rain....

The vines simply rest on the rocks rather than being propped up like in most other wine growing areas. We were told that farmers are not allowed to artificially water their grapes per the regulations established here. Rain has to provide what is needed to sustain life.

...this ingenious use of the local raw material (basalt), has been recognized as a UNESCO Heritage site. Not only are the grapes grown this way, but now also bananas and ground crops.

We rent a car here... (a Renault Clio this time) as the local buses run very infrequently...

and for the most part manage the quiet island roads...

A few times we go off road and drive along narrow, rutted dirt roads in the mist and fog, but oh so green...

Climbing high into the hills we barely see any other cars, a few ranchers checking on their livestock, some forestry trucks doing their jobs, but that is it. No one lives up here as it is too cold, too windy, too damp and it's simply too far away from their other needs.

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FAIAL (Fayal) ISLAND

....just a short, 30 minute ferry from Pico...

PROLOGUE

....it must have been quite the surprise in 1957 for the solitary whale watcher perched high in his hut on the hillside... overlooking the Capelo Lighthouse......

....when at first glance ..... through the lens of his telescope .....

.....what looked to be a sperm whale surfacing and venting......

.....proved otherwise....

....as he watched....the steaming grew larger..along with bubbling and spewing.......rather than a sperm whale to be hunted ..... the whale spotter had a front row seat to the birth of a volcano....

.......over the next 13 months......this newborn volcano remained a cranky baby...and...a bubbling mass of activity....throwing ash....and lava into the air....along with filling in the ocean waters around it....

Metres of ash covered the landscape....burying the lighthouse and choking the life of neighbouring villages...

.....2000 of the islanders were forced to flee, 300 homes were buried ....a 3rd of Faial's population left...most never returned....

In the end....the volcanic devastation was just another cycle in Faial's and the Azorean's relationship with living on the tectonic plates....

However....in an odd, positive way...this destructive event provided many in the Azores their own chance for renewal...and a chance to escape the harsh lifestyle the islands presented.

...the US of A opened its borders to islanders throughout the Azores and allowed many to escape the ongoing struggles...and the devastation caused by the ongoing volcanic activity....

...of those that left...few returned....such is the immigrant desire...to have a better life...

...some villages were completely emptied and abandoned...

...now some have been reborn under that newest volcanic event .... mass tourism..

Today..........over 60 years later....at the light house........at Faial's land's end....

...there is a beautiful, desolate landscape....

The Capelo lighthouse half buried in ash...

...here and there...life struggles to reclaim the whole.....

in a truly outwardly environment ....

looking more like a Martian landscape...than here on Earth

....walking through the crater's floor.....

...one feels like an astronaut exploring a new planet...

'Volcanic bombs' are still visible throughout... mostly roundish in shape.....

...these are masses of molten rocks spit out during a volcanic eruption...

Wind and ash blow over us leaving grit cached on our eyelids...in our hair....

.....not a human sound to be heard...

....a few seagulls circle above reminding us that this is perhaps their territory...

"The Capelinhos Volcano Interpretation Centre was constructed underground, in the volcanic debris, and then covered over, so as to leave the landscape in its post-volcanic natural state."

The 'circle' is where the centre is located beneath the now mostly covered former lighthouse.

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Faial Island is a short 7 km ferry/30 minute ride from Pico, Madalena town to Horta.

Was it rough......well.....let's just say....

...we watched our ferry ...literally surf into the Pico Island harbour...

...(hadn't seen that before)...

while being pushed along by one massive roller after another

....forget Stand Up Paddle boarding...who knew piloting a ferry could be that much fun...

Faial, like the other Azores islands, has multiple volcanic calderas and lakes... the question is whether or not you can see them in the constantly moving mist and clouds... here one minute, gone the next...