Greetings family and friends,
January brought us rain, rain, and more rain. In fact, as I'm writing this, on February 6, we've had almost non-stop rain since the start of the year, along with high winds that woke us on a number of nights. In our 3.5 years living here in Porto we have never seen so much rain. Three storms in a row ... Ingrid, Kristin and Leonardo battered the country, causing massive damage. The city of Coimbra, about 1.5 hours south of Porto, experienced record breaking winds clocked at 129.7 mph on January 28th. Porto has been lucky (so far anyway) because we haven't had the severe flooding and hurricane winds/damage like other parts of the country (though I would argue that the winds that kept us awake sure sounded like hurricane winds ). That said, this morning the Douro River overflowed its banks on both sides of the Ribeira, (the historic section of downtown) on the Porto side and the Gaia side. For those of you who have visited Porto, you should be able to picture it. The Tejo River in the south as well as the Douro River here in the north are both at warning level red today, as both rivers are overflowing from all the rain, and the disaster situation in the country has been extended until February 15. Warnings have been issued for everyone to stay away from both riverfronts. There are currently 2000 soldiers deployed to assist. As of now there are 13 reported deaths in Portugal, but that number could rise as yet another storm, Marta, is due to arrive Saturday. Areas along the Silver Coast, including Nazaré, were walloped, with trees snapped in half or literally ripped out of the ground. People in Nazaré had to dig out their cars from the deep sand that blew in along the waterfront and into the lower levels of town. Businesses along the waterfront there were demolished. Lots of buildings and a stadium were heavily damaged along the coast. In the south, particularly in Oeiras, where our friend Gloria resides, there has been massive flooding resulting in damage to homes. Thankfully, she is safe. The Algarve was particularly battered by Storm Leonardo. Storm Marta will be entering the country from the south tomorrow, so people in that area are on high alert.
Round one of the election for President of Portugal was held on Sunday, January 18th, with 11 candidates on the ballot. The mini wannabe trump candidate, André Ventura, head of the Chega party, came in second with 24% of the vote while candidate António José Seguro of the PS Socialist party came in first with 30.6% of the vote. On Sunday, February 8, the second round of voting will take place. Unfortunately, with all the weather related catastrophes right now, it's still not clear if voting might be pushed back a week. Perhaps we'll know more tomorrow. Given what's happening in the U.S. right now, some people are starting to wake up to the cruelty of far-right groups leading the country. Hopefully enough people come out to vote and prevent the slide into another dictatorship here.
January was a difficult month for me, as I spent almost the entire month sick, first with an ungodly allergy attack followed by the worst sinus infection I've ever experienced. I'm finally feeling normal again, thankfully.
On January 9th, exactly one year since our resident cards expired, our doorbell rang and our postman greeted us with a huge smile and shouted "AIMA!"; however, we quickly realized he was only delivering one card, Nick's. I was visibly upset that he had nothing for me, but he tried to reassure me that maybe next week it will come. Four days later he rang the doorbell again and shouted "AIMA!". I insisted that he let me take his picture delivering mine.
Our new cards are good for another three years. Finally, we can travel and yet .... these storms are affecting all of Europe right now. There has been widespread flooding in parts of France and Italy, along with snow in the Netherlands, Paris and elsewhere. We've had friends stranded in Paris who were actually just on a layover flying back from the states and got stuck in Paris without proper clothes for a snowstorm. Another friend had to spend two extra days in the Netherlands because flights were grounded due to the snow there. We don't feel like trading the bad weather here only to experience bad weather elsewhere so we're hanging on for a bit before traveling elsewhere. But, the good new is that we finally have our new cards.
Though I would like to make my feelings clear about the appalling events of January in the U.S., I'm too angry and disgusted with his supporters to comment further right now.
Stay safe, stay healthy. Adeus, abraços e beijos, MaryLou