By JOHN OLIVER & JEANETTE ELLIOT features@algarveresident.com
John Oliver and Jeanette Elliott moved from the UK to Portugal around five years ago and live in Ourique, Alentejo. John now follows his lifetime love of documentary photography, while Jeanette trains dogs and breeds Bengal cats as well as teaching belly dancing.
How do you describe a rainbow to a person with no sight? Years ago I thought this, standing in the north Devon countryside watching a fantastic arc appear in a stormy sky.
Here in the Alentejo I think of this quandary often as the colours of spring unfold. This year is going to be fantastic – but how do I explain to you who cannot see with me?
I could explain the greens in terms of ‘emerald’ or ‘Billiard table’. But if you had never seen, this would mean nothing.
 Camper vans on the Barragem. |
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It has to be in terms of texture and sense of feeling. So the greens – not velvet – but deep pile carpet of silk, warm, with the smell of fresh vegetables.
The yellows could be the deep honeyed gold of the sun on closed eyelids, the blues are electric, the vibrant violet flash from lightening, yet they are not cold.
The reds are like the glow from a log fire. The white Cystus is crumpled tissue paper, unfolding on sticky buds, before being dropped to the ground.
The sky is water in a deep warm pool with clouds of down from the breast of a duck.
 A fascination with moving water. |
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Standing sentinel is the oak, bark solid and dark, wrinkled by time. With its crown, now light, now dark with dappled sun.
The whole is at times geometric, blocks of colour, like someone trying out paints on a wall. At others it is dense bands weaving across contours, or it is like someone having a trip, throwing the paint in splodges just for the fun of it.
Perhaps some readers would like to paint for me the picture, to see how well I can present for you the magic of the Alentejo in her unfurling spring gown.
After the much needed rain through January and February the Barragem Monte do Rocha is full and overflowing for the first time since 1997.
Thousands of people have visited, just to watch the water spill down the chute, in fascination of moving water. Maria and Manuel at the café on the dam either have shorter legs or have worn a groove from the kitchen to the barbecue as hungry mouths have devoured piri-piri chicken and porco Preta to such an extent that they have, on occasion, run out. Even they are glad the tide of people has at last slackened off.
This year also we have seen far more camper vans parked there than ever before. Did these people use hotels before or are they newly retired and decided to head off into the blue yonder? There are always a few regular camper vans during the winter months, mainly Dutch, German and English, but this year the dynamics seemed to have changed with Norwegian, Finnish, Swiss, Scandinavian and French to add to the mix. Very few English are among them so far this year. Do the Nordic fraternities prefer the Barragem to the coast, perhaps a reminder of Fjords?
The thing that does surprise me is the arrogance of the parking of these van owners. I presume if they lived in a house with a nice view and I parked right in front of their windows, they would probably make a big fuss to make me move on. Many people eat at the Barragem café because of its location and view (apart from the food). So why do twenty or thirty van owners feel they can park right in front of it. So long as they are across the dividing road there is nothing Manuel can do about it. There is a very good park at the end of the dam with slanted bays where they could park, with everyone getting a view of the water, albeit a short walk from the café. But no – they park like deckchairs on a crowded beach – strange behavior. In future they might not be able to park there at all when the Parque do Campismo eventually opens down the road. I really hope though this does not have too much impact on the Café of Manuel and Maria; little local businesses like theirs need to survive against the progressive world of modern bars in glass and steel.
This year WILL be better for us, at last back on full Solar power (thanks to a very special friend) and John going in on April 16 for a new hip.
With the supposed recovery of the housing market in Portugal perhaps it is not wishing too much that someone out there would really like to buy our smallholding, we can then downsize and really concentrate on documenting the social history of this beautiful and fascinating area.
To contact John Oliver, please email john.b.oliver@gmail.com and to get in touch with Jeanette Elliott, please email iberianbengal@gmail.com
