An Additional Week in Flores - July 6 - July 15th

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July 19th 2012

Published: July 19th 2012

We find the days go by so quickly and it is now the weekend of the Festival of Emigrants. We had great plans of going to Santa Cruz by bus, doing a few more hikes and getting lots done on the boat with this extra week (Janice’s plan). We did do one more hike which was spectacular, we met some new people that have arrived in the marina (lots of socializing), worked some on the boat (you already h... Read Full Entry

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Bob & Janice Waller

s v Tsamaya

Like so many others we love to travel and we love to sail so cruising makes a lot of sense. Janice has retired from Cornell as a business manager and Bob has retired from South Seneca school district as the high school principal. It's time to sell the house, get rid of whatever doesn't fit on our 40 foot Caliber LRC named Tsamaya (this means Travel Well in Setswana) and set off to see the world. Our reasons for publishing this blog is twofold, first to keep in touch with our friends and family and secondly to share our experiences. If you would like to receive notification when we have added ... full info

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No Grass to Mow Here

We love the idea of not having to mow the lawn, just plant it full of flowers.

Whale Processing

Inside the old whale processing plant you can see the large vats that were used to boil down the blubber. It was heated from the wood fire underneath. The plaques are the name plates from the various whaling boats used in the past.

Whale Processing Plant

How would you like to get a whale up this hill to process?

Whaling Boat

People were having fun going out into the harbor in this replica of a whaling boat that had been used years ago here in the Azores.

Festivities

Many gathered before the parade started on Saturday night for the Festival of the Emigrants.

A Great Family

This is Teresa’s great family that we met while here. All of them either live in the San Jose area of California now or in the past. It has been great getting a chance to visit with them.

Palm Trees?

The main street was lined with decorations in the form of palm trees for the Festival.

What Exactly is It?

We were told you had to try one of these from a local we had met. The base is a hot dog on a roll, but it is loaded with cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, corn, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, olives and fried potato sticks on top! Bob made the plunge and tried one.

Part of the Parade

This signaled the start of the march of the youth in the parade.

One of Many Dance Groups

One on the numerous dancing groups that performed in the parade.

Renee

Renee is a singlehanded sailor from Switzerland that we first met in Trinidad. It has been great having a chance to get to know him much better since being here in Flores.

Similiar to Square Dancing

One of the many dance groups we saw in the parade. Many of the dances look very similar to our square dances.

The Band That Played & Played

The band was great – we felt sorry for them as they had to play for each of the dance groups which meant playing and walking DOWN the street & then going back UP the hill to join the next dance group and play again walking DOWN. They did this a number of times and did a great job.

Crepes Anyone?

We had delicious crepes made by the daughters of a couple that had been cruising and will now be settling in Horta for part of the year as they are renovating a 100 year old home.

A Great Greeting From Hans

Hans and Marianne are a Swiss couple that have lived 3 months a year in Horta for 23 years. Hans is a regular visitor to the marina and is very welcoming to cruisers and especially watches out for any that come from Switzerland.

Dancing the night away

The festivities here do not get started until 8:30PM and run late into the early morning hours. The dance groups continued to dance down the street under the light of the palm tree.

A beautiful home

This beautiful home is that of Teresa and Joe, very nice people that are from Flores but had lived in the US for 20 years before returning to their home country.

Listening to Music

While waiting for the community sopa (soup) we were able to listen to beautiful music played by the Philharmonic group from a neighboring village.

Great New Friends

We were visiting with a few of the great friends we have made while in the marina here. Here is Jeannette from Dutch Link, Christa and Bernard on Titom and ourselves. Unfortunately we missed Mike from Dutch Link and Pascal from Titom for the photo op.

Community Sopa

A view into the building where the sopa was being served. This is a community “sopa” where soup, meat, bread and drinks are served to all for free. What a lovely tradition that brings the community together.

Bread Soup

The bread soup is made by soaking the bread in the broth from cooking the beef with mint. It was very enjoyable.

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An Additional Week in Flores - July 6 - July 15th

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