Feira

Feira

Wednesday morning is the day of Feira in Chaves. This is my favorite day of the week because of all of hustle and bustle going on in town. As I have mentioned before EVERYONE puts on their nice clothes and heads in to town to buy food, seeds, animals, plants, clothes, etc. Filinto, Marcos, Jenna and I decided to join the crowd.

We woke up early, enjoyed a grand breakfast as always and drove into Chaves among every make of vehicle known to man. Filinto first took us to the animal trading area – which I have learned to despise as I think the animals are not treated with care. We didn’t stay long as the kids eyes grew big and teary within minutes of being there. Before leaving, Filinto bought a handmade leather collar with a handmade metal bell for his ram whom Marcos named Oliver. It was awesome to watch the craftsman work.

I love the gypsy section of Feira. It’s a little sketchy, very loud and fascinating. I like bargaining and buying cheap socks and underwear. Filinto was visibly uncomfortable at this part of Feira as were the kids but we didn’t leave before I purchased 10 pairs of underwear and 10 pairs of socks for Marcos. We ran into lots of people Filinto knew while we were there. Over and over again we all had to endure wet, cheek kisses from bristly, mustached old women. Yuck.

As we were walking away from the gypsy market, I noticed a “sports” section of Feira with lots of Portuguese soccer jerseys. Marcos loves this kind of thing so we stopped. Filinto insisted that he wanted to buy Jenna a mini skirt that said “Portugal” on the back. I insisted that she would wear no such thing. If he wanted to buy her something it should be a soccer uniform. He reluctantly agreed though the gypsies weren’t so sure. They continued to insist on the skirt. “No!” I said – “a uniform”. Well, within moments Jenna was clad in an oversized white Jersey and shorts. And what Jenna has, Marcos must also have. The two of them were identical and so incredibly cute, I couldn’t keep myself from laughing. There were Portuguese women clucking over Jenna and trying to get her into the skirt – which of course, didn’t happen. Marcos and Jenna walked proudly through Feira in their matching uniforms. It was great!

Our last stop was in the rabbit, duck and chicken section. Filinto had it in his mind that he would buy a male and female rabbit for the kids. I was nervous about this as I overheard a phone conversation earlier from a client who was ordering a dinner of rabbit for his arrival next week. The kids, however, were delighted to have their bunnies. Immediately, they were named “Zach” and “Princess flower.” I mentioned to Marcos that they should probably be called “Lunch” and “Dinner” but Marcos firmly disagreed. The kids enjoyed the afternoon with their bunnies and then put them in a rabbit cage and they have been feeding them. So far the bunnies are still with us. We’ll see what happens when that client arrives next week.

I was anxious to see Duarte’s reaction to the kids in their soccer uniforms. It was perfect. Marcos and Jenna went running into where Duarte was working and proudly showed him their new clothes. Duarte’s jaw dropped and he declared “I cannot believe it” and then said “Where did you find jerseys that say “Portugalc?” Portugalc? I hadn’t noticed that… Sure enough- the gypsies messed up and now we have two complet uniforms with “Portugalc” printed widely across the back for everyone to see. The kids don’t mind though and the uniforms were a part of their imaginative adventures for the remainder of the day.