A house in the Azores

   We have found a house on the island of Terceria, in the village of Porto Judeu, which we have decided to buy. It sits by itself below the high road, half way between the main city of Angra de Heroisimo to the west and Praia Da Victoria to the east, at the dead end of Canada Do Morte (translates to road of death).  While standing at the front southerly corner a view of approximately 280 degrees, uninterrupted by phone or electric wires, can be had of pastures, the sea and off lying islands. It has been in the family we are buying it from for over 80 years and is over 100 years old. Built of lava rock, the main walls are over 2 feet thick. Three small pastures are included and were used to grow potatoes and grape vines whose grapes were used to produce wine for the family. Because of the incredable views, we shall call it: O Ninho de Corvo (Portugues for The Crow's Nest), for the non mariner the crow's nest is where a watch was posted just below the top of a tall ships mast.

 In the top center of this picture, just below the coast line is the house. It is blue with an orange terracotta tile roof. It sits by itself with a long stone wall to the right in the picture. You will probably have to zoom in to see it as this picture was taken from about 3 kilometers away.

Here is a pic taken from the next road to the east

This is the front with the shutters open, standing at the end of the street 

Another view from the north side looking toward the sea

A panoramic view standing in the front doorway

 A panoramic view from the end of the terrace looking south

 View of Goat Islands from the end of the terrace. The for ground is a slab which we will someday tile after removing all the weeds. The pasture just below it is also ours and we plan to let a local farmer cultivate it

 Another view south with the afore mentioned pasture, one of the 3 pastures which are included. Another one is just below that stone wall.

 The driveway. The property includes everything up to that black stone wall ahead of our car. The white building was once the winery and with a new roof would make a nice little guest house.  That's our little 1.1 L (66 roaring horsepower) car is the drive.

The house is in good condition with new windows, shutters and roof.  Some paint and landscaping is all that is really needed.  It is in completely livable condition.  Granny just moved out two months ago.  It has three bedrooms, kitchen, laundry and bathroom with a bidet, and, most importantly, a pig sty out back.

We are excited about the house and living here six months a year.  The Terceirean people are beyond nice.  We have been invited to numerous dinners and festivals.  Many speak english but our portuguese is getting better by the day.  The weather has been spectacular with great sailing days.  

We'll be heading home in October.  Stay tuned for the before and after photos.

Dec. 8th, 9th &10th

After leaving Death Valley we headed to the Grand Canyon for our mule ride down to the Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the canyon on the Colorado River. The pictures don’t really show it but the trail down was as narrow as 2 feet in places and the drop offs shear for hundreds of feet in places. Fortunately, the mules were very sure footed and we made it down safely after a 6 hour ride.

 These 1st 2 are a view from the rim

At the start of the descent, brrrrrr!

 Snow from the night before

Looking up from Indian Village, half way down 

 The Colorado River

 Taking a break

 The Muleskinners

 Half way rest stop

Half way

the preceding 2 are our Wrangler guiding us down

 Looking down the Colorado River

 Wrangler taking us across

Finally down and crossing with a sore ass

 Another view about 2/3 of the way up

That is where the Ford Truck was set for a NFL Superbowl commercial

   On Thursday around 3:00 pm the 5^th of Nov. Nancy asked if I wanted to go to the Azores on Sat. morning for a week. I pondered it for a few minutes and said “why not”. We started throwing stuff in our travel bags as we needed to leave in 13 hours to make the 13+ hr drive to Baltimore where we would stay at the Ramada Inn near BWI airport for a 5:00am show time Sat. morning. We arrived at the hotel exhausted around 9:00pm, checked in, asked for a wakeup call at 3:00am and fell into bed.

   We made it to the airport next morning for the 0500 roll call for the MAC flight (now AMC for Air Mobility Command) to the Azores. We were two of 15 passengers aboard the 757 which was setup to carry cargo in the front 2/3 and 42 passengers in the aft section. Off the ground by 0900 with a 41/2 hour flight ahead of us we tried to get some more sleep. It was a great flight with a great flight crew which served us meals, snacks and drinks. We touched down in Lajes on the Island of Terceira at 5:30 pm Azores time and were through customs by 6:00.

   Fatima, our Air B&B host met us at the airport and gave us a whirl wind tour on the way back to Angra and informed us that the apartment had developed a leak in the kitchen so she was going to put us up in her son’s vacant rental house while the apartment was being repaired. She also apologized for the fact that she had to fly off to Lisbon the next morning for medical reasons and was lending us her car while she was away... horrors!

   We pretty much drove all over the island of Terceira during our stay. I have always loved the Azores, having been stationed there for short periods during my Navy tour and sailing over with Chris Morejohn aboard his 38ft sharpie in 2004. Nancy has now fallen in love with them as well and we are entertaining the idea of sailing over this spring and spending the summer. Most of the foods on the islands are locally produced and the prices are very reasonable. A beer costs less than a dollar and a glass of local wine can be had for a euro ($1.06 at the time). Our meals typically cost less than 15 dollars including wine, desert and coffee.

Click on the pictures below to enlarge

 A park up on the mountain

 Difficult to see but our apartment is the 4th from the left not counting the partial one

 Entering the park in Angra the following pictures were taken in the park

 Coffee break in park cafe

 Last picture of park

 Down town Angra

 Marina in Angra, Chris and I stayed here in 2004

 Stairway down to marina

 From the other side

 View from the house where we stayed for the first 5 days

 Most of the walls overlooking the water have these neat little seats

 Coffee break at the baths

 Musicians playing in the afternoons down town Praia de Vitoria

 Interior shots of the house we stayed in for the first 5 days

 Praia de Vitoria, this is where we will sail into, base is to the right

 Walls are the result of clearing the land for farming

 This little pony was in no hurry to get out of our way

 Trying to figure out the parking fees

 This was on one whole side of a building

 The beach at Angra

 The fishing village of Sao Mateus

 Park walkway, Sao Mateus

 Swimming area

 Bird of Paradise