Things I Learned Today on the Bus

 Being bored on a bus can be brought to great use. These things I learned today:

1) the round giant pines that grow all along the route from the Algarve to Lisbon are where we get pine nuts. They are a very valuable crop and only a few people are authorized, during a specific season, to pick the pine cones which and then thrown down to women who catch them and then shake out the pine nuts which I love as they are used in pesto and cooking; 

2) the large weird stick nests hanging on many hydro towers are the nests of storks who used to migrate to Africa during the winter but now seem to stay all year due to abundant food. However they can interrupt power supplies so artificial nests are built and some other nests are removed. 

3) The Chega party is a neo-fascist right wing Portugal political party that did not win the last election. There are still many, many giant posters of their leader at roundabouts, who has his eyes looking to heaven and sports 5 o'clock shadow while gazing at the Almighty. In the Algarve there were a number of graffito which said: "F%^K Chega".

4) Magellan left port with 5 ships and 247 sailors. One ship returned 3 years later with no Magellan and 18 men who were so ill and destroyed they could barely walk or talk and trembled incessantly. 

5) The reason graffiti is so omnipresent in Portugal is a) part of a history of street protest against fascism which was in power until 1974; b) the economic crisis of 2008 which left many projects half built and then were tagged c) cities don't have the money or manpower to deal with graffiti and tagging. It is an urban issue which local councils are trying to address by covering large spaces with murals and art that guys will not tag out of respect. 

6) Olives are usually harvested as a community effort where people shake the trees at particular times of the year and the women catch them. It can be a festive occasion. 

7) Hemingway committed suicide. It is now thought that he, like his father and siblings, suffered from a rare disease where the body puts all blood iron into the brain causing hallucinations and ultimately madness. For a man of Hemingway's generation and gender to admit to mental illness was unthinkable. 

And this is all you can learn on a 6 hour bus trip plus a lot about pay toilets and how to cover up bus accidents...