fri 30 dec 2011 11:24:19 — hotel pestana porto
man in fuzzy boots
last night i went to the restaurant filipa recommended, it's called 'ode' and i thought it was nice food and nice people there. it's on a square called largo de terreiro, which is a short walk down the rua da fonte taurina (next to pestana). cristovem (sp?) is the name of the host, who welcomed me and gave me a tour of the place. they've been in business only eight months. i told him i had to eat more vegetables, so he gave me their veg soup — sopa de legumes frescos and for a main course i had a beef filet, medalhao de novilho. cristovem was almost fanatically attentive. he said it's not really a restaurant, just a wine house that also serves food. (they have their own brand of 'ode' port wine.) i told him i would eat there again this evening at seven.
every morning i notice a teenage boy wearing fuzzy brown boots waiting in the square below my window. he wears a coat with a light pink hoody underneath, and has black unwashed hair. he's wandering slowly around, just moving to keep from freezing. i wonder for what or whom is he waiting. what if he has an appointment to meet his sister here someday, but he doesn't know which day? what if she never returns?
then again i think, he could be just waiting around for *something* to happen. just getting into the moving wedge of sunshine and hoping something happens. there are people who don't have much to do. and apparently the people who do have jobs are feeling unsure of them too.
i tried to get filippa to explain to me the source of the portuguese economic sorrow, but she didn't really know the answers.