Day 19 - Arrival in Portugal

At 6am a motorbike roars up to us and revs up repeatedly, pointing its front light to our van... we lay still... and as soon as the night rider leaves, Danny throws in our camping chairs, hops into the front of the van and drives us away! Nice getaway, Dan, 30 seconds flat! We decide to follow our instincts in future...

After driving for a while, we stop for coffee in a small village, before the Portuguese border. Here we see the locals eating huge pieces of toasted local bread (tostas they call them), and we succumb to trying them - especially when we discover that TWO cafés con leche and TWO tostas add up to 2.40 € ! Alright! On leaving, a group of girls on a hen night (or rather, hen day since it's about 1pm!) are singing down the street. Cheap and cheerful, this is la España profunda!

Driving into Portugal through Rosal de la Frontera is seamless, and we are happy to drive along a beautiful country road, with no other cars in sight...

When we stop at a petrol station to fill up our almost-empty tank (we did not fill up before leaving Spain, thinking everything is cheaper in Portugal), we realise why there is no-one else on the road - they can't bloody afford to! Unleaded 95 costs 1,53 € a litre! And Spanish truck drivers are striking over the rising prices in Spain?? Eeeek! So, let this be a warning to all of you - stock up on petrol if you are coming to Portugal!


We stop for the hottest hours of the day at Beja, a very pretty town with a village feel. We are beginning to realise that the Portuguese are big on tiles... on the outside of houses.

We discover that the library offers free internet use, so we get up to date on our emails - thanks so much to all of you who have written! It's really great to feel your support and hear your news.

We are heading towards Odemira, in the Alentejo (which means 'South of the Tejo' river, Tajo in Spanish). Here we aim to visit Tamera, Healing Biotope I. This is a project that sounds very intriguing indeed... It seems there is a community of 200 people living here permanently, with the aim of "creating peace knowledge". At the moment, they are holding a Summer University, entitled "Be the Change - Youth for a Future Without War". When we contacted them, they invited us to come and join in with whatever is going on for a small daily fee.

The Tamera logo:

In the evening we arrive at the quinta (finca) Monte Cerro, where Tamera is located, and head for the guest car park. Some organisers we speak to tell us to make ourselves at home and go mingle. So we wander around, taking in the caravan accommodations, large tents of different shapes and materials, various buildings large and small, all gathered around a lake. Our walk takes us to "Aonda", the evening meeting point/bar, perched on the edge of another smaller lake, where they serve all sorts of organic drinks. We get an organic beer, chat to the waitress, Cecilia, who welcomes us, and settle down amidst dozens of people of all ages and origins, all looking rather...well... peaceful!

A daytime shot of "Aonda" bar (note the XL solar cooker on the left!):

Nice... Suddenly people start raising their hands in the air and all fall silent - and as the hands come back down a man speaks to introduce a slideshow on a large screen. What follows are photos from a pilgrimage carried out last year by a part of the Tamera community in Israel and Palestine. The images of both landscapes and people are very powerful. We are sitting next to a very nice couple who were on the pilgrimage, and they give us explanations and answer our questions. About 80 people, including 8 children, began the three week pilgrimage for peace, and by the end there were about 250. Along the way they met with Palestinians, Israelis, Beduins... All opened themselves to their message. What an experience for everyone... It turns out that peace pilgrimages are one of the actions the community carry out, under the name of GRACE, and led by Sabine Lichtenfels, one of the three co-founders of the Tamera community. In fact they are planning one next October to threatened peasant villages in Colombia.

Fascinated by what we have heard so far, we go back to our van, cook ourselves a meal while we discuss our impressions, and look forward to a full day ahead of Summer University... We cannot even begin to imagine what lies ahead...