Episode 12: Vacationers in Our Town, Driving in Portugal

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to another episode of As the Dinosons Turn. And today, well, what do we want to talk about today?

SPEAKER_01 0:07

I think that things have changed so much because it's summertime here, all of a sudden town is full. Like ridiculously full.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Month of August is big vacation month in Portugal, and we're certainly seeing that.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Well, we've also learned that in addition to the vacationers that are kind of coming into town, that about maybe a third of the town sits empty a lot of the year. And so we're at full capacity plus. So it's crazy right now.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Because when you talk to people, it's like, well, they live there for one month or two months out of the year, and then it's just it just sits there. It's not even Airbnb'd or anything, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah, I'm we're learning all kinds of really interesting things from people, but we are seeing people from all over the world, but there are a lot of people from France and a lot of people from Switzerland. So if you wonder where they vacation, it's apparently here.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Apparently. This and I think some of them also are family members who come back and visit, like the old folks live here, and the kids have gone to to France or Switzerland, and then they come back here in August to visit family too. So it's a mix, I guess, of vacationers and family that's on vacation but visiting visiting relatives, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Right. So I mean it's packed full, and if you go through any parking lot or any parking spaces, about I'd say at least a third to half are France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, here and there. Yeah, I mean it's it's interesting.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

And I mean Pavoa is like 10 to 12,000 people, and it's really not built. I don't feel like it's built for this many people to be here.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

It's not. And and one of the things that we're seeing, you know, I mean, everybody comes out to the river beaches, which is fantastic, that we have one right down the road, which is great. I mean, it's not one of the ultra posh ones that people go to all of the time, but it's it's a good locale that if you grew up in the area or you came and visited grandma and grandpa, they would take you here, kind of thing. Um, because it's manageable, and so you can you can hang out, and so if you leave, we leave our house a certain time of day, we come back, and there's nowhere to put the car. So, like, like literally, we're you know, parking up the mountain aways because there's just nowhere to put it.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

But at the same time, um town has really got a lot of festivals and things going on at night, so there's dancing and concerts and plays and night walks and all kinds of things, which sound entertaining and fantastic and wonderful, except you can't actually physically get to them, right? So we went out to dinner last night. We were going to go to a movie, but there was an accident on the highway. That's the other thing. So there's a lot more car accidents because there's more cars on the road, and Portuguese are not the best drivers or the most patient drivers in the world. Some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet, but you put them behind a wheel. What is it that they said in the article?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

We treated the psychopaths behind the wheel of a car.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

They really do like the whole idea is bumper to bumper, that kind of thing. Lines, not very good at lines on a road, particularly around curves, and when you're going up a mountain, um, that can be a little bit of an issue. So we got out to the highway and we couldn't go anywhere, and everybody was just kind of stuck. And so we just like okay, we'll just turn around. Everybody was just turning around to come back because there was no traffic going either way because of the wreck. So we came back to town and we ate at our pizza kebab place on the square, and they were setting up for a dance and concert, and we ate at like what 6:30, 7 o'clock, so really early for Portuguese people. It was like it was it was us. Um, but they were setting up for a concert, and things don't start until 9. And what I love is like there's all kinds of entertainment and additional things for the kids because it is the kind of place where you bring your kids with you everywhere. It is not a oh let's get a sitter kind of place. It's like, no, you just bring your kids. They'll play, they'll do their thing, they could they shut off all access. There may be no cars near that square, they can just go and play and have a good time. And so while it's packed, you know, and crazy, at least there's still some elements that are interesting. However, you can tell immediately if somebody does a cultural faux pas, you know exactly where they're from. And 95% of the time, if they're in their own world, if they park in a parking spot that's meant for somebody who is elderly, pregnant with small children, or is a handicapped space just because there is no other spaces and they decide they're going to do it. If you can't get down an aisle and everybody is waiting their turn to kind of get down an aisle, inevitably, who is it that's blocking your way?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Uh it's usually seems like it's people from France, is what our anecdotal evidence would show.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Absolutely. And um there's also this kind of like um animosity you can see between the Portuguese and the French. And so, like if you're from Switzerland, their family goes there, that's fine. But if you're if you're not if you're not apparently looking like you're coming back to visit and and you act this way, immediately they believe you're French and they are not happy with you. So um it's interesting to see because their sides of town and sides of people that I've never seen this whole time we've been here. It's been lovely. They've been wonderful, they're open and caring, and all these other things, and then it's like I think they've reached their limit, and we've got two to three more weeks left. So we'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Yeah. So I was gonna say something now, I can't remember what it was I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

I I just I don't even know. It's interesting. Like everybody's like, even the boys are like pointing things out like that. Um, ironic, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

There's just so many people.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

There's just just too many people, and I think that's exactly exactly it. Like things are not built for this many people, so there's nowhere in town to park, even in overflow parking or like when you people park in the parks, um, because there's no parking, right? Um, and so I think that it's just a lot of people. So it's busy like it's fair day every single day of the week, but fair day then is just impossible to get out of town, even to get into town or out of town is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 6:50

We went to the laundromat on I guess it was fair day.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

And parking down in the like the gravel parking lot. There were we did park there, but there were hardly any spots. And we were seeing people, and this seems like it's a Portuguese thing. They're like driving across this berm and like brush to get into this side field. I don't even know if people were supposed to park there.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

I don't even I I seriously doubt it. It's not meant for overflow parking, but they've created their own path, like they've lived here long enough to be like F it, I'm gonna do it. Because the other thing that's going on is because you go into this is an overflow gravel parking lot, right? So you I mean you can always find parking there, it's no problem. But what's going on now is people instead of parking face to face, like doing one and two cars, somebody did a third. They were starting a third row. So if you were in that middle, you were screwed because you can't get your car out. And it's not like they're putting it in neutral, and every single one of the cars that did that, French. It was crazy. I was like, okay, because they've got a France license plate on it. France, France, France. I was like, wow, like I don't know what is going on. I don't know, like, yeah. And it's not like you can leave your car in neutral because there are parts that are hilly enough that if you left your car neutral, that thing's gonna go slamming across into somebody else's, so that you have to have your parking brake on, so they're not gonna be able to push your car out of the way. I'm just glad we didn't witness that. Something else. At the same time, you know, we've met several, I've met several people at the launder mat that are here that are Brits or, you know, um, you know, need to know how to use the laundry machines or those things. I'm a pro now. Oh my god. Let me just tell you the amount of money we spend doing laundry, I think, is one of our biggest expenses. But it is, yeah. Um, especially when you figure you should wash your sheets every now and again. But um, I found that unless you have a dog or a child with you, you just kind of disappear, right? No matter who you are. Like if you've got a little kid with you, like I'd say until about five, people are like, Oh my god, look at you, you're so wonderful and perfect. And if you have any dog with you, any kind of dog, it could be the most ferocious thing in the world, and everybody's like, No, you're gonna love me. It's wonderful, you love me, I want you. It's crazy. But that is also one of the things I've loved is that people travel with their pets. You know, you don't just like leave them at home. And so if you're looking for a pet hotel, good luck with that. You have to bring your pets with you, which also means that there are hotels and Airbnbs and things that are specifically like, yeah, you can have your pets.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Well, when we went on vacation, we found pet-friendly Airbnbs to bring our dogs, even in Lisbon, and so I think that's one of the great things, too.

SPEAKER_01 9:51

So there's spots for them to kind of run around and all of that, and and they had a pretty good time. They liked the the the beach apartment, I think, the most.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

So which is they just like being in the car.

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Oh god. I think that they would enjoy that. We've got one laying down here now, and so what's funny is they loved we um we got them like the car seats that you buckle in and they're nice and soft, and they're buckled into it, and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, things they probably didn't need, but yeah, I was like, Well, it's gonna be six hours in a car ride at some point. They they might need this, and now Watson is like, that's my bed, like he wants that thing, he sleeps on that thing, or or Stan will sleep in it like all the time. That's funny. We have a little one for Stanley because he goes on the armrest, and because otherwise he's trying to like climb you and trying to help you drive, so he's gotta be right there. But they have a great time with it, and so I think that that's the other thing. Like, you so you see more people, and there's lots more people, and there's a lot more activity. Um, but it's it's a very different philosophy, and and where we live, people are coming because they want to relax and float on a river beach for a while and drink, right? Enjoy the sunshine, go for a walk, um, you know, go up a mountain, go kayaking, you know, but also have the ability to have you know drinks in a square or that type of thing too. It's like the best of both worlds. I love where we live. Like, I love it. I don't think we could get any better.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

We well, we made a good choice, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Completely lucked out. But I'm telling you, this time of year, I think we've decided that in the future we might be renting out our place. You guys can enjoy it. Yeah, there you go. We'll Airbnb it to you. You can come and see what it's like and enjoy all the parties and everything like that while we go and stay someplace else for a little while.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Well, we did that in the United States when ragbry would come through our town.

SPEAKER_01 11:53

We did, or like when they would have the hark and steak fry or any of those things, and it was like, no, no, no, we gotta get out of here. Too many people. So we're not crowds, people. Like you probably have gathered that. Um, but so and there are a lot of things that I will do, like if the kids really wanted to go and do all of these things, like we would figure it out. They are just as crowd, anti-crowd and even more introverted than I think we are, which is ironic.

SPEAKER_00 12:21

I think it's interesting in the nearby town Pavor del Enoso, even in slow times, like after we first moved here, it's like you st you couldn't find parking easily.

SPEAKER_01 12:32

Oh god, no.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

I discovered right away that it's like, well, you wanna go here, you'll never find a parking spot where you're going, you have to drive like five blocks away. Which is fine. It's no big deal. And it's like that only worse now. Oh, it's worse. And it's like bumper to bumper traffic a lot of the way through town. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 12:56

Yeah, and I have to say, like, I mean, there is the definite, like, you're right on top of each other, and then there's this this action where people are throwing their hands trying to speed you up, and you're like, I got nowhere to go, babe. I don't know what you're worried about, but it's like, and then they'll stick their hand out the window and try and push your car forward. But if they need to back up or anything, they also stick their hand out the window and put up a big stop sign, like they're gonna be able to put a force field around their car, you know. Um, I am always the one who's like, Yeah, I'll let you in, and then people behind me are mad, they're so mad. I'm like, Well, they're kind of backing up, and I'm not gonna get hit. So there you go.

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Well, accidents, of course, happen on the roads here just like they happen anywhere. But I my observation is that people are crazy when they drive here. It's just completely insane for a country the size of Indiana with a population of 10 million, it's just un We live in a little farming town. The sign says population 489. But if you start driving down one of these rural roads, there will be someone instantaneously appearing behind you and driving right up on your bumper, even out in the middle of nowhere like this. It's just unbelievable.

SPEAKER_01 14:16

And it's because some of these roads don't have speed limits. Well, they don't have speed limits because you have to go as fast as you can, or as is literally go as fast as you can according to the weather, right? Or to the number of people. But even when they have speed limits, those are not even suggestions. I swear no one pays attention. So even driving through downtown Braga, a speed limit is 50 kilometers. I don't know what that is in miles per hour. I've done none of these conversions. I just know I'm supposed to go 50. And then there are spots that are 70, and there are spots that are 90. Um, but everybody drives as if it's 120, even if it's in a 50. And so it's one of those things where you're like, I just don't even know what to think.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

I'm looking it up on my phone.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

One kilometer per hour equals 0.62137 miles per hour. Of course, he's gonna do the math.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

I would have gone to an online converter. 30 about 30 miles an hour. That's that's because you're downtown, it's cobblestones, right? You're crossing pedestrian malls and all of these things, and it's like, okay, we can do this, and yeah, no, it's a suggestion.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

So 100 kilometers an hour would be just over 60 miles per hour.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Right. So everybody wants to go 90, and I'm not kidding. Like when I say like somebody will go past you, like we're on the highway and we were doing our six-hour track and it's freeway all the way, it's really easy to look down and be like, I'm going 120 kilometers an hour, I'm hitting 140, and you're like, wow, and then you slow down to 100, and people are passing you like you're standing still. So it's really interesting. What I do know, and I've learned this now, the reason why people feel like they can drive like they want to anywhere, is because they also post in the newspaper and post publicly where the speed traps are going to be for every month. This month, this week, this is where the speed traps are gonna be. I was like, what? Here's your speed trap, like, and they they announce it at the beginning of the month, and so you know where it's all gonna be, and that's for the whole country.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

I was like, wow. Interesting, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:29

That's something I never even would have thought of. But then, you know, if you're paying attention and you're from where you're where you're from, you're like, okay, well, I know the speed trap is gonna be in this area. If you're from out of town and you don't know the area, or you're from out of the country and you're driving because you're trying to keep up with Portuguese people, um, I mean, or you're driving to fit in, you're you're gonna get a ticket, and they do all virtual tickets here because everybody has what a Via Verde Pass, which is a pass that you use for um toll roads, because there are lots of toll roads, but you also use it for parking, so everybody's car has one. So they have these things where they just ping your car and they'll just send you a ticket, they don't even have to be there. Like they have amped up the and it's it's there's no cameras, so it's not like it's getting your license plate because your license plate and all of the VIN number and everything are tied to this Villa Verde card. Like it's brilliant. That okay, when you think toll road, I used to think the tolls between Des Moines and Chicago were expensive, right? I was like, oh my god, like that, I think it was expensive. It's like between 15 and 20. No, they're brilliant, brilliant. Let me just say this because between Lisbon and the Algarve, which is the most traveled highway, and there's only one way to get there, really. Like, there's one way, and it's a toll road, they're brilliant. The toll one way was 40 euro. That's like 45 each way. It's brilliant. And what do they do? They maintain the roads with it, they do all types of public works things, and they always have speed traps along that area, too. I'm like, wow. So then they also get the tickets. I'm like, whoa, my mind is blown. Blown. Also, okay, let's talk about road work. You never know when the road work is going to be happening, by the way. It you just show up and you're like, wow, you know where the speed traps are, but you don't know where they're gonna be doing road maintenance. But I've been impressed. Like we talked about this. So, one of the main drag roads, you have to go down this road if if you want a direct route to get to the highway, right? They took out large chunks of it, like about a fourth of it at a time, and drilled it out and repaved it within 24 hours. I was shocked. Shocked. I couldn't even believe it. Well, because I'm thinking about like when they would do road maintenance on the road where we lived, like the whole summer you just knew your road was gonna be closed. And if you lived on a main drag, that was great because then you had no traffic. But it took them months to do what they literally did in 24 hours. I'm just shocked, like, wow, and I have no idea why, but it's the same process too. So they're using all the same materials and all of like the barring and all of that kind of stuff, and I was just like, they had that thing done in 24 hours. That's true.

SPEAKER_00 19:44

This is not a good place if you're someone like me who's anxious. I know how to drive a manual transmission, I just feel a little uncomfortable, like I need to get back into the groove of it, and there's literally not a single place that you could just drive in peace in Portugal. Like I say, even in our little rural town, you start driving, and within 30 seconds there's someone on your bumper, and then there's someone driving a you know, herding a goat down the middle of the road, and there's bicyclists everywhere in the middle of the road, and you get into Pavola, and it's just chaos. Even when there's not tourists overrunning the place, it's just chaos everywhere. Like you you drive around what would be the square, and that one day we were driving in, and there was someone trying to pull out of a spot, and then the next car was trying to parallel park into that spot, and there was like this long string of cars backed up.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Oh, and people started honking, and then what I love is that the person behind me, what do they do? Hop up on the sidewalk and try and go around. I was like, what the hell, people?

SPEAKER_00 20:58

And then we got through that, and a little ways later, there was just some car stopped in the middle of the street with some old guy talking to him. And this wasn't a side street, it was the main, the main street that goes up and out of town.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

You will get stuck behind cars randomly, and I I do this makes me laugh every single time. Because they'll stop. It's an older guy, right? Always. He'll stop, he'll pull over, he'll put on his flashers. You can't get pa you can't get past him unless somebody's not coming the other direction because you have to go all the way around into the other lane to get there. And he's waiting for his wife. He lets his wife out, and he's gonna sit there and she's gonna go to the ATM or she's gonna pick something up, and he just sits there.

SPEAKER_00 21:40

And people are double parked everywhere. And we've ti we've never double parked, but we have done the park up on the sidewalk.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

When we had to go to the post office that one time because I everybody else does it, and nothing seems to happen to anybody.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

So over when there's when we have our parent, um parenting. Teacher meetings, like we have like this is what I love. You don't have individual meetings with the teacher, it's the entire parents group of everybody in the class in the turn, and we all meet with the head teacher, right? Everybody's parked up on the sidewalks because you've got everybody coming in from work because it's always at six. Um, and there's you you can park, there are only so many parking places up inside the school, even when they open the gates. So, I mean, you just park on the sidewalk. That's what you do. But um, yeah, I have to say, like, it's it's definitely there's no place for us to really help him practice like the fairgrounds. Every now and again when we first got here, there would be days where there'd be enough spots where he could start and stop and start and stop and drive around the back end of the fairground parking lot, which also is one of the central bus areas, like where they stop and you know park and have their breaks and things. But it is full now, so um, all the time, it's it's very different at the moment.

SPEAKER_00 23:01

I would describe it as chaos, would be the word.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

You have to be a very skilled defensive driver. And remember, you're what I love is when you see people down the street and there's not even one hand on a wheel, and you're you know they're all driving manual transmissions.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

They're driving manual transmissions, smoking a cigarette in their left hand with you know, taking a puff and then hanging their arm and the cigarette out the window.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

And then doing this to try and get you to go forward. I'm like, there's not even a hand on the wheel. I'm like, what are you doing? They're like, move forward. I I think that that that's some of the things that I've seen. You have to be an ultra good defensive driver. There is no distracted driving, even at all. There's no way. Like, you can't change a radio station. Whatever if you don't like it, tough shit, you're just gonna have to deal with it. If you can't connect your phone, you can't, I can't accept phone calls, I can't handle the distraction. Because you never know. You also never know because there are no lights in our town, everything is controlled with a roundabout. That is true, and actually most cities. Lights are, you know, to help with buses and merging of traffic, and actually, lights are only in places with huge pedestrian malls, even in Braga. It's for the pedestrians, it has nothing to do with the traffic, right? But you come up on a roundabout and you never know if people are really gonna follow the rules or not. And so I know every time we get to a roundabout, Jason like starts to grip the sides because he's ready for us to be hit sometimes when things are crazy, you know. And I'm just like, okay, when can we do this? How do we get ourselves in there and get there safely?

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Well, I read an article that said it's really not that bad, it's only the expats who complain about traffic. And I do think if you grew up here and this is all that you know, and this is just how it's always been, I suppose it's like, well, this is just another day, as opposed to someone like me who comes into this and like this is just complete it's a complete chaotic something.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

They have their own system, it works, it's roundabouts, you just kind of do it, you put your nose in there, and everybody else is expected to just stop and pay attention, and if they don't, then you get in a wreck, then you get to stand out there and yell at each other, and then at the end you get to pat each other on the back and have a drink. I I've I've seen it, I've witnessed it. Like, but I have to say, um, you know, we're used to everything being in a grid, nothing's in a grid pattern, right? You're used to lights at every big intersection. There are there are very few lights all around about.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

So the streets in so many places aren't I don't know who designed them.

SPEAKER_01 25:41

They're they're old Roman roads and trade routes, and so it literally is like here's the cow path that now has become the road that now we use this way, and and so everything is a very different design. So Jason can go into shock sometimes. I always said I was never going to drive in Europe. We moved someplace that you absolutely have to have a car to get into town. I wanted to be closer into town, I didn't want a car, but I realized that it was have a car and be able to go all over the country or go other places as well, or spend more than twice of what we would pay in rent or in a mortgage, like it's crazy. So, and not have a garage or a parking space anyway. So I think that we really got to the point because there's not a lot of public transportation where we are. You can get from where we are to town, and then you need to spend all the in town, and then you can come back, right? So there are ways to get there, but it's not like we're in Lisbon or we're in Porto, and there are trams and buses and metros and all of those things everywhere. Even Braga has public transport, it's just not as much public transport as other places, and so that was one of the considerations when we moved. I was like, Do you have to have a car? And they're like, Yes, but it's like a five, ten-minute drive, and it is ten minutes, but it can be a crazy ten minutes.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

Never. So I suppose we probably better wrap this one up. Anything else to say? Or is that a wrap?

SPEAKER_01 27:20

I I have to say it's probably a wrap. We'll see what happens in a year. We'll have to go back and watch this and see what our opinions are and how we're adjusting and how we've adapted. But I have to say that that's the thing that has been crazy is the influx of people, the influx of cars, and just um there's definitely a culture clash going on. So even if it's people who are Portuguese who are coming back from Switzerland and France to come and visit their families, they are not abiding to some of those same cultural norms and rules. Um I've seen a couple of people be taken to task for not being Portuguese enough, which is being considerate of those around you. Um, you know, you if there's an elderly person behind you, you stop whatever you're doing and you let them go through and see if they need help. You don't stand through the middle of the aisle and block everybody's way purposefully as they try and walk around you. You just do a little dance so that they can't get past. It's been interesting. So alright, we'll see what happens in a year.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

All right. Join us again next time for another episode.