The buffet breakfast was a nice affair, with all sorts of
delicacies. I liked in particular a thick slice of fresh cheese with a spoonful
of Azorean salsa (yes, Azoreans have seen the light and are beginning to use
salsa), and of course several cups of coffee. The damn tooth is still bothering
me, so I have to chew with my right molars and have to avoid biting with the
incisors.
At 9 am our perfectly charming tour guide, Marco, met us at
the lobby and escorted us to our bus. There are only 14 of us, but we have been
assigned a 40-seat bus, so we have plenty of space to spread out. The first
half hour of the ride was a bit of a blur because I fell asleep, but after that
we settled in a regular pattern of stopping at a view point, taking a picture,
and getting back on the bus. Marco is very good and kept the story going, so we
learned quite a bit about the Azores, their autonomous government (they are
like Hawaii, their own state within Portugal), and a bit of its history. The
Azores were not colonized until the Portuguese came in the early 1400’s (so
even later than Iceland !),
and for a long time have been hanging out here on their own. For a time in the 1700’s
to1900’s they were big producers of oranges, which first the British navy would
load by the barrel in their ships to fight scurvy, and then Europe would import
to celebrate Christmas, but a plague hit the trees 30 years ago and that
industry disappeared.
Another historic industry has been dairies, and that is why
many of them immigrated to America
to work in the dairies of Stanislaus
County Turlock or Delhi . They produce all
imaginable dairy products, although I have never really heard of Azorean cheese
as being outstanding. They are currently strengthening their banking sector
(but being a part of the EU there is only so much they can do), and they are
looking at tourism as the next big industry. And it is the next big industry!
Sao Miguel is beautiful and incredible scenic, all the towns are gorgeous and newly
painted (I see EU grants playing a big role in this), they have some fine
hotels, prices are still reasonable, and you are in Europe !
Between Hawaii and the Azores I would take the
Azores any day of the week!
Three things deserve special mention. The first is the town
of Furnas ,
which extends along the shores of a lake nested inside a small caldera. Furnas
means “furnaces” and tells you about the presence of fumaroles and boiling
springs throughout the city. In one of the parks (a fantastic example of imported
vegetation, because there is very little left of the native vegetation) there
is a large, rusty colored pool of hot water where the locals like to bathe. The
odd thing about this pool is that the hot water that feeds into it is perfectly
clear. My interpretation is that iron is in the Fe2+ form in the incoming
water, which happens to be soluble, so of course one cannot see it and the
water is clear. As it mixes with the oxygenated waters of the pool the iron is
oxidized to its Fe3+ form, forms insoluble iron hydroxides, and gives the water
its rusty color. A neat example of geochemistry in action.
Still in the subject of fumaroles, the folks here have a
tradition, in which they bring to the fumarole fields their pots of cozido (a mix of meat of beef, pork, and
chicken meats, blood sausage and pork sausage, and cabbage, carrots, kale, and
potatoes), and for a small fee they can put it inside one of the steaming
holes, cover it with dirt, and let it cook for about 6 hours until it is ready
at lunch time. Restaurants make a big to do about sending their vans to pick up
the cozido at noon, and everybody
seats to lunch at 12:30 to big steaming plates of cozido. It is very yummy, but I would like it to have more broth,
like in the Spanish cocido.
The second memorable thing was a tea plantation. Now tea
these days is cultivated in southeast Asia, India ,
Kenya , and apparently also
in the Azores . Tea was brought to the islands
two hundred years ago as a gift from some clueless potentate, and the Azoreans
have kept a modest production going ever since. The machines are still of 1800
vintage, and at the plantation they did a great job explaining the different
types of tea there is. For example, black tea and green tea come from the same
plant, but the black tea is made with the tender shoots, and is oxidized before
drying, whereas green tea comes from the not-as-tender shoots, and is steamed
instead of oxidized before drying. Both types of tea are “rolled” to give the
aspect of little sticks so common in black tea.
The third very memorable thing are pineapples, which under
normal circumstances would not grow in the Azores
(I believe they need hotter, drier climate). This local family, however, has
been growing pineapples in greenhouses for ever, and the fruit is now firmly
entrenched in the Azorean diet. First, after you cut a ripe pineapple, you
strip the underlying stem of leaves, and bury it horizontally in shallow moist
soil. This enhances asexual reproduction by budding. Once the small pineapples
have sprouted they are transplanted to another bed, where they can grow for
about 6 months. Then you “poison” the plants with smoke (the plant thinks it is
in peril, and puts out a flower as an emergency measure to give the next
generation a chance). The pineapple is the thickening at the base of the
flower, which you let grow for a few weeks. Then the pineapple is “castrated”
by removing the inner portion of the flower (so, alas, in all its ingenuity the
plant doesn’t get to reproduce), and the resulting “capon” gets to grow fat and
sweet for about 18 months. If you want to know whether you have a pineapple
that has gone through this process all you have to do is look at the crown. If
it is tall and bushy the pineapple was not castrated and may not be as sweet.
If it is pitifully small you are probably looking at a very sweet pineapple.
Dinner was way too late, and I had a simple fish soup
because my tooth keeps bothering me and I cannot face anything too al dente. It
is beginning to feel like all of my upper jaw is numb. Rats!
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