I left Algodres two days ago, but it is already taking on the trappings of a ephemeral experience, albeit one that produced a long-lasting result. We finished the wall a day early and spent the last afternoon planting trees and shrubs in the surrounding area. The area had to be fenced off to prevent the horses and cattle from munching on the trees.
Antoine, Manu, Anaise, François, Abel, me, Zé, Anna, Augustinho, Charles, Nuno. Look how tall the wall is! Abel and Ze sported Faia Brava shirts with this embroidery. The preserve is home to Bonelli eagles and Egyptian vultures.
I lived, worked, ate and partied with a crew of 11 people for two weeks. A lot of hard work, intense heat and good times. Now, poof, it's over. I guess the best compliment I received was from Emmanuel who told me I was "boule d'énergie", a ball of fire. We all danced and drank until 3:30 am the last night at the village party....none of the local girls would dance with the French boys....too much gossip afterwards, I suppose. The crew danced together anyway and the village men made fun of us. Antoine got up on stage and danced with the women in the Pimba band.
The Faia Brava project is ambitious...trying to help preserve the steep valley of the Coa River and return some of the historic biodiversity to the area. The preserve is adjacent to the Coa Valley archaeological preserve, one of the premier Paleolithic Rock art sites in the world. We visited one of the sites at night with an archaeologist....20,000 years ago people in this valley created the oldest known animated drawings of wild horses, sheep and cattle (aurochs). Many of the drawings show the animals with two or three heads, tracing the motion as they cautiously looked around for predators. I asked about lions and yes, there were lions, and a 20,000 year old rock drawing at a nearby Paleolithic site in Spain to prove it.
So, we built a stone wall at the entrance to a preserve containing Paleolithic Rock art. Everybody found this satisfying. Nuno wants me to come back to work next year. I achieved part of the dream I had working with stone picks and shaping stone, a task straight out of the Iron Age. The other part of this strange fantasy, driving burros, has not been achieved yet. As if it was pre-destined, Nuno told me that if I wanted to drive a burro he has the perfect opportunity for me. There is an organization called Associação para o Estudio e Protecção do Gado Asinino in the nearby Tras-o-Montes (behind the mountains) region of Northeast Portugal dedicated to the preservation of the Burro de Miranda which originated there. The organization can arrange for me and Gina to take a burro out for a 3 or 4 day village-to-village trek. The burro carries our things, water, food, etc. and we follow old shepherding trails and stay with local people along the way. I haven't told Gina about it yet! How could she possibly say no?
