wed 28 dec 2011 00:38:04 — hotel pestana porto
bacalhao
first thing i noticed when i woke up this morning was that two men were working at hosing down the whole square and the quai with a big high powered hose. one was shooting the other was hose-tending. like trying to keep the hose from getting tangled up in the café tables. this took a while cuz they washed down a major part of the area. maybe that's a tuesday morning thing, cuz i don't think they did it monday.
it was colder today than yesterday, i noticed. but in the afternoon when the sun was shining here it was still mild enough that people sat out and those annoying musicians were playing again.
late morning i had some coffee left over so i did a lot of transcribing from my scans of notes from the 'gabo s' project started in 1982. i got up to page 50 of 98. it would be cool if i got it all transcribed by the time i return home.
then took a nap till around 16.00. had promised myself i'd go back to the same kitchen for a meal, so i set my clock cuz i know she closes at 19.00.
so boa tarde, i climbed back up the hill to see that lady, at the place called 'barrete encarnado' and she was waiting for me to come and ask for the bacalhao assado.
a girlfriend was hanging around talking to her, and the afternoon talk show was on the tv. i snapped a photo of them together.
the fish was wicked buttery, and i had to pick some bones out of my mouth with my fingers so now my fingers smell like pussy. i took some fotos and video clips on my way walking around the twilight. i notice that when you go up the hill, you smell a lot of car exhaust, much more than down here by the river. i wonder if it's because the emission regs are less stringent here, or just the cars got older. they don't look old. just more exhaust. so maybe most of the city is smoggier than down here by the ribeira.
when i came down the hill it was dark, and boa tarde didn't work anymore cuz it had become boa noite already. i drank one beer at a tourist teras across the plaza, then came back to see edoardo at the hotel bar. he explained how he invents cocktails using port wine. for example the 'caipi porte' which is a caipirinha using port instead of that other liquor cachaça. with lime. i drank two of those. he also has an invented recipe for 'portito' which is a variant of mojito using port. he's also a painter and sculptor. has wed and thu off so tomorrow there will be filipa instead.
when i went out for a smoke i ran into the one armed beggar again, fernando is his name. he remembered me from the other night, and seemed to be trying to sell me a black leather jacket this time. later on i saw him walking around without that jacket, dressed in some kind of checked sweater.
edoardo and i talked about the free dogs of the square, like the big husky that limps cuz he's old, and the little smart pointy black one. the free dogs run the square,. the cats take the little streets and alleys. a few cats were hanging out together up there on a corner by barrete encarnado. which by the way is (they insist) on rua dos mercadores, even though google maps thinks the street is called rua miragaia. when the cats got scared i saw they ran under a raggedy wooden gate into an abandoned space. but there was a dish out on the sidewalk nearby so i think maybe that lady feeds them sometimes.
tomorrow i should try dinner at a different place, it's called postigo de carvao, meaning little windows of coal (?) said edoardo. it's just around the corner from here. also, i need to eat something with vegetables in it soon. i never expected to hear myself say i'm not eating enough veg.