by Margaret Brown features@algarveresident.com
Margaret Brown is one of the Algarve Resident’s longest standing contributors and has lived in the Algarve for more than 20 years.
Another frost this morning and scarlet lilies alongside our drive have turned brown, stands of bamboo devoid of any colour but beige rattling in a cold east wind and the wild Lupin hang dead.
On the plus side, swathes of irrepressible oxalis that were rampant in this endless sunshine now lie in corpse white sheets, down but not out thanks to their underground bulbs. Expecting little remission from this unusual daytime winter warmth and looking ahead to a very hot summer, we visited Portimão Retail Park to buy ceiling fans.
While there we became victims of a very cleverly executed scam. As we came down the steps from a restaurant, we were approached by a well dressed Portuguese man sitting in a nice car beside a large, plump youth.
The driver said “Hello, how are you? You remember me—I’m Victor from the Post Office”. He looked familiar, so we shook hands and listened to his spiel about an orphanage for which he worked in Madeira and, eventually, we parted with more money than we could afford.
With hindsight and without going into details, we realised we had been conned, two gullible and obviously British geriatrics ripe for the picking, who should have known better.
With Shrove Tuesday and Carnival next day, it took our minds off what had happened, Odiáxere putting on an excellent procession of some length and ingenuity, accompanied by much noise and loud music.
Carnival is for excess and overstepping normal restraints before the solemn 40 days of Lent that lead to Easter, of which Ash Wednesday is the first. A church service was held on that day in Luz during which Father Haynes marked the foreheads of those present with a cross.
The ash, mixed with a little water or olive oil, comes from the burning of last year’s Palm Crosses. These symbolise Christ’s triumphant arrival in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago and the spreading of palm fronds along his route which, after forty days, ended with his redemptive sacrifice for the sins of the human race.
Nowadays the ancient traditions of fasting, repentance and self-searching receive less attention as the pace of 21st century life hots up, leaving Christian countries in danger of losing sight of their heritage.
Sometimes it seems that Portugal, to gain status and bring money into the country, is losing sight of the value of her natural heritage.
Several years ago, pylons appeared one by one along a line of hills between Bensafrim and Odiáxere with no obvious destination for six power lines, plus a seventh joining together the tops of the towers.
The investment firm Corte Velada Investimentos Lda having received planning permission in June 2011 is quietly, and with minimum publicity, beginning the development of around 670 acres (2.71sq.km) in the area of Corte Velada e Barriga between Bensafrim and Odiáxere. Their intentions are the reforestation of burnt areas and “conservation of biological resources”. Also to promote growth of the regional economy by implementing infrastructures and necessary and appropriate ranges of services. These include a research centre, micro production of renewable energy and a golf course.
Emphasis is placed on the benefits arising from attracting international investors and tourists, protecting the scenic heritage and providing new jobs.
Perhaps most interesting is increased cultivation of the Arbutus tree which, as the investment firm claims, “is a vital plant in the Algarve’s mountains and part of traditional regional culture”. Traditional but illicit distillation of a delicious liqueur from its strawberry-like fruit is not mentioned, while emphasis is laid on the wide range of medical uses as yet not fully researched.
In order to ensure that only those trees giving high yields are planted, consultation with present producers will be followed by cloning to ensure trees of the same genotype are grown, thus ensuring unification of cultivation and higher profits.
To provide wood for Portucel Soporcel, the world’s premium office paper producer and manager of Portugal’s 120,000 hectares of woodland, reforestation in the Corte Velada e Barriga area will also be of eucalyptus, going some way to reduce the company’s imports of wood pulp.
In view of the present drought, the forecast of Algarve’s future desertification and despite the presence in that area of three Barragens, the question arises regarding a sustainable water supply.
Eucalyptus is a notably heavy drinker; a golf course needs constant irrigation unless the game is played on sand and with the building and occupation of tourist accommodation, together they will make heavy demands on existing underground lakes – added to are the needs of the new Autódromo in the same area.
Portugal’s natural heritage is a combination of its indigenous plants and animals, the unrivalled beauty of uncultivated backlands, family farms and what remains in the Algarve of unspoiled coastland.
These features drew people here in the first place and, like the baby, are in danger of being thrown out with the bathwater.
It is not just a case of ‘not in my back yard’. During 25 years residence in Barlavento, the growing prosperity has been a pleasure to watch, that is until an unbridled passion for construction ran amok.
Thousands of apartments have been built and never occupied, houses remain empty and this was before the economic down turn.
However, if Corte Velada Investimentos sticks to its original plan and loopholes are not found to do other things less worthy, it is to be hoped that all goes well – and that there is sufficient rain.
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