AZORES  - DAY TEN - Pico East

Blogs: Day 1 - Getting There | Day 2 - Central | Day 3 East | Day 4 West | Day 5 Last Day | Day 6 To Pico | Day 7 Madalena | Day 8 Pico Mountain | Day 9 Pico to Faial | Day 10 Pico East | Day 11 Pico North | Day 12 To São Miguel | Day 13 São Miguel North East | Day 14 São Miguel North West | Day 15 São Miguel Furnas | Day 16 São Miguel Pineapples | Day 17 São Miguel Baths | Day 18 São Miguel Filling the Gaps | Day 19 São Miguel ABF

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Today was road trip day. No destination in mind other than to circumnavigate half the island and take back road detours off the main road where possible to see the villages and sights. Now while some of the informative signs are in English and Portuguese going to the airport or ferry port, the vast majority of signs are only in Portuguese in the countryside. So you have to learn quickly that a "miradouro" is a scenic look out.  The other signs in Portuguese, we just figured out the hard way! 

If you are not familiar with a manual transmission and driving it on very steep narrow roads, driving in Pico is NOT for you! Nor is Terciera!  Fortunately both Wendy and I grew up on stick shift. But it still takes a LOT of focus and concentration when the slope is a 60+ degree incline, disaster can come quick on these roads. The main road (above) is fine, the side roads are the challenge!  Let's add fog and rain to these roads...this is why my darling wife drinks A LOT when we return home.  LOL 

Did I mention Wendy has done ALL the driving?  I'm a better navigator - she probably would have killed us already if she was the navigator.

As we had to drive right past, we figured let's get that shot of the lake and mountain we missed the other day. It was pretty clear when we left. Oh, well, nice try, no cigar, the clouds moved in again! DAMN! You can just see the peak above Wendy's head. At least we got to play with the ducks again!

As we crested the the mountain's foot hills (about 3000 feet above sea level) we could begin to see the island north of Pico. Sao Jorge is about 12 miles from Pico and accessible by ferry. We decided not to go as the ferry times did not meet our schedule.  It would have meant leaving the house by 7am and not returning back to the island until nearly 10pm.  Driving at night....well....you'll read about that experience in a bit.

While not quite as pretty as Faial, the North side still has it's moments and is nothing to sneeze at.

On the right is a natural swimming pool. We did not see as many natural pools in Pico as we saw on Terceira.

A panorama of the north, you can see Sao Jorge in the background and the city of Almas on the left, where the ferry to Sao Jorge leaves from.

Of course no road trip in the Azores would be complete without countless wind mills!  Wendy is typically a lighthouse junkie, however, they aren't as impressive as New England Lighthouses.  She's made Windmills her jam on this trip.

Of course lots of dragon trees and volcanic rock everywhere.

As usual, the odd cow getting in the way and another broken down house, long abandoned. 

Left: is a community fountain.  Most towns have them and they are either very simple or extremely ornate.  Many are still operable and are extremely mineral rich for one's health.  The community water fountains date back centuries.

Right: We stopped by a cemetery, as Wendy loves looking at old grave stones. Gravesites are only temporary. Bodies are dug up after about 7 years, unless the family paid for another extension, in order to make room for next person. When the bones are removed from the grave they are placed in a container for the family to keep. There is always a photo and epitaph of the loved one on the gravesite.

And finally...

We were intrigued to see Learner drivers have a large L on top of their cars. I have seen the small L on the back of cars in the UK and Australia, but never this big on the roof. Man, they want everyone to know that you have no clue how to drive!

And FINALLY finally...

So following up on yesterday's hint we had a little self inflicted car trouble. Seems like I accidentally put diesel in our gas engine car and we got stuck at the ferry terminal. Hey, diesel is Gasóleo, and gas is Gasolina (what the hell? only 2 letters different?). Diesel pump handles are black and gas is green - the exact opposite as in the USA.  I thought it was international so I was NOT touching that green handle! There are two diesel pump handles on each pump and only one gas handle, once again opposite to USA. This was also the only gas station we went to that was self service. All the others had attendants.

Anyways, the car rental company says it happens all the time with bloody yanks, so we just need to pay for the diesel to be drained and replaced with gas and injectors cleaned. They estimate €100. It could be more - we're still waiting to hear from the car rental company.

The only real downside was due to the wait for the replacement car. Wendy ran out of sunlight and had to drive home in the dark on these damn roads and we are BOTH night blind. However, we got safely home after a couple of melt downs - um.... especially as I put the wrong house in the GPS and we went up a real nasty super steep narrow road in the dark for nothing. 

Neither of us are dead (well, especially 'cus I was waiting for Wendy to kill me for the wrong address debacle!!)  That's cool.  And we're having a great laugh about it all day.