This walk was scheduled to start from Poço Frito and, as I sat in my car at Poço Barreto waiting for the interminable red roadworks lights to turn green, I gad time to wonder at the names attached to Portuguese wells or watering places. Why Poço Barreto? At one time I had wrongly imagined "barreto" to mean "muddy" but my Portuguese etymological dictionary informs me that it is a family name derived from the word for a cap. So perhaps a well-known flat cap maker and jis family lived here and owned the well.
And then why Poço Frito? If it had been Poço Frio , that I could have understood - a cold water well makes sense. But "Frito?" How could a well ever be "deep fried?" Deep fried mars bars, yes, but wells ? Maybe our resident wordsmith, Myriam, can shed some light.
Anyway, to the walk. Early on a rather cold and gloomy morning , there were only four of us and the three ladies decided to cuddle up close for the Starter picture- I had no say in the matter.
This newly restored house came in for some criticism ( I am not too sure why) because of its choice of foliage.
The sun was still low.
Fruit picking was very much the order of the day.
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Advisable not to pick those |
The previous week a snake had crossed our path; this week, it was a very energetic trail of ants.
And just as we were watching them, Myriam´s phone sounded an alert, it was her incoming "Word of the Day" which was "Leviathan" - some contrast.
The Ladies practised their squatting exercises.
Maria´´s old friend Luisa stopped for a chat, which is not unusual
and we observed new building activity in the Caravela location
including speedy progress on the unfamiliar morada.
The Track and the Statistics
Nearly 7 kms - a bit more than we have attempted recently.
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The Breakfast
Variations of the standard F E B were introduces, some without bacon, some without beans and this one with three fried eggs instead of two - the Frito Special, I guess.
2 comments:
Legend has it that during a severe drought (no date!), a well was found. But the water was not potable. In colloquial Portuguese, water that has gone bad = água frita. Hence Poço Frito!!
I liked the music of the song. Unfortunately it tells a sad story!
I see that, way back on 17th September, Maria added a comment via WhatsApp and I quote:-
"Nice to read the blog, always something different. Yes, why so many Wells? Poço Partido, Poço Barreto, Poço Frito, Poço Dião. And if we ask Sr Google, I´m sure we w´ll find many more"
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