Relative Something

I have been mulling over the challenge of finding the words to tell the story of our Portugal adventure in a way that conveys the magical splendor of what we experienced, while also providing something of a chronological depiction, but avoiding becoming a monotone travelogue. I dream of describing our adventure in such a way that readers are drawn into the tale in the same way we were drawn into the activities that appeared for us each and every day in Portugal. Activities like picking bunches of grapes for making juice and wine. We found ourselves doing that on the very first day we arrived.

There are many aspects of this story that are worth telling, several of which could stand alone as interesting subjects. Yesterday, I found myself explaining to an acquaintance, where it was that I had been for the last two weeks. It seemed like each detail I provided, led to additional questions that brought comments of amazement over my description. It helped me to realize that my familiarity with all the things that make this story noteworthy could contribute to my overlooking some features that deserve to be included.

One dramatic detail about our whole adventure in Portugal, which I’ve already written about and posted here in Relative Something back on 9/13/10, is how I “met” our host and his family online in a virtual community social discussion forum. If you don’t already know that part of the story, I encourage you to go back and read about it.

I found Ian Rowcliffe in Brainstorms, the virtual community where, over many years, we became familiar with each other through the stories we wrote and posted about our lives and interests. He is originally from Bristol, England, so my lack of ability speaking Portuguese wasn’t a concern. Ian’s wife, Victoria, is Portuguese, and thankfully, her ability with English was strong enough that I was completely comfortable communicating. Cyndie has strong language skills and her ability with speaking Spanish proved to be very beneficial to how well she was able to interpret the Portuguese she was hearing. As the days of our trip drew close, the thought that was occurring to me about communicating with our hosts was that I had never heard Ian speak and didn’t know what his voice sounded like. Little nuggets such as that can easily be overlooked when sharing the bigger story.

We were going to travel across the Atlantic ocean to a foreign country with a plan of staying with someone I had never met in person, and who I had never even heard speak. Some might suggest that such an idea was a bit zany. I think Ian shared my sense that it wasn’t. In the end, our intuition proved to be right on. With each progressing day, it felt as if our coming together was entirely natural, even divinely inspired. It is a significant aspect of our adventure in Portugal, but it is only a part of the many stories that unfolded, magically for us, in the two-week visit to Ian and Victoria’s “Forest Garden Estate.”