Relaxed day, "cosmic" evening.

A relaxed day and a "cosmic" evening.
The quadriceps were in a state of meltdown after the downhill stretches of yesterday's trek so it was a luxury to be able to loaf around reading my book while Hanne Lene walked down to the village to buy bread.

In the afternoon I walked up to the village shop and bar (Jose António Theodosio, prop.) for a cold beer and to avail myself of their wi-fi (password: itsasecret). This was a charming step back in time; at least three generations of three or four different nationalities, buying groceries, drinking beer, watching pop music on MTV, exchanging neighbourly gossip - truly a multifunctional experience. Just time to download three pages of blippery and comment on a handful of journals ( apologies to those I missed; time was of the essence) before meeting Hanne Lene at Poco do Bacalhau. The evening sun was shining on the rocks behind the waterfall and a posse of grey wagtails were playing tag on the mountain ledges just above the water. A glamorous Portuguese woman in a bikini with a telephoto lens was intent on capturing them while her male friend sat on a bench in the sun enjoying a leisurely cigarette.
After a swim we went down to the foreshore in Faija Grande where Hanne Lene had booked us into a kind of pop up hippy restaurant for dinner. The sun was descending over the sea and the dark volcanic rock on the shoreline, into a thin bank of cumulus, lighting the water as it did so, with a translucent glow. This was already rather theatrical: arriving at the cafe on the waterfront, we found ourselves seated at a table and chair arrangement that created an impression somewhere between a trendy postmodern theatre set and the remnants of a car boot sale.
We had already been warned that although the food was good, the service could be sort of approximate so after fifteen minutes, when a party of thirteen who had arrived before us was being waited on hand and foot but we were feeling forgotten, I went up to the counter and enquired about the wine.
In a characteristically Mediterranean style, the owner and his girlfriend were only focused on one thing at a time, but very friendly once you swam into their attention and I was invited to sample the white wine which they had on offer - which fortunately was pretty good. So I asked for a bottle and a couple of glasses. So we sat in our postmodern carboot chairs listening to an eclectic music mix - U2, Lou Reed, Jan Garbarek, The Buena Vista Social Club and a bit of opera - as the sky slowly darkened, and the sun began to set. It seemed to take hours but some combination of music, wine and natural lighting effects took us on some curious trance journey....from which we eventually surfaced to find a table, a candle and place settings. Suddenly the hosts were all attention and a makeshift menu appeared, and almost before we could order the waitress told us our food was ready. A stainless steel wok appeared containing giant prawns and a large fish which looked like a more exotic type of sea bass in a sauce of wine, ginger and herbs.
The food tasted even better than it looked and later we were offered a spiced rice pudding and good coffee. Before we left I paid the bill and had a short chat with the owner and his girlfriend/waitress who had in fact worked their socks off and were appreciated our appreciation of their efforts.
Our way home led us northward up the coastal road, more of a lane really, there are so few cars here. The sea was starting to light up silver in the moonlight and from overhead came the strange giggling Donald Duck call of seabirds called Cory's Shearwaters.