All photos by Elvia Contreras Diaz

As a follow-up to Elvia &Co.’s latest adventures in Portugal, during the blackout in Spain they — Elvia and her nieces Pia and Gala — were stuck in the Lisboa airport for 8 hours without electricity — see letter below. Elvia is a dedicated student of literature, a great reader, and in all her travels she seeks out the homes and favorite places of the great Latin authors — or Turkish. Or Kazakastani! In this case Fernando Pessoa, Early 20th century writing genius of Portugal.

And since my many wonderful talents do not include skills with this semi-new WordPress confusion, I simply printed out Elvia’s Portugal letter, took a shot of it with my phone and downloaded the picture. I have tried repeatedly to shift documents from downloads to a post and am tired of trying. And I couldn’t even manage to get it straight. However I don’t think reading it slightly askew will cause any great suffering on the part of my million or so blog fans. At any rate, my favorite phrase here is “fighting like Mexican animals” at the ticket counter. Superb!

Elvia and Pia at a shoe shop

This is at Fernando Pessoa’s home, an engraved quote from his writing.

An imaginative display of the writer’s frustrations at the Pessoa home. Today we ‘d just drag blue and hit delete.

Elvia and Fernando Pessoa having a chat.

Beautiful Lisboa. So many people fleeing the Nazi regime in world War II were so relieved to see this port, safe at last. Some didn’t make it, like the writer Walter Benjamin.

At any rate, whatever the troubles or missed planes, good Portugese wine makes everything better!

So I’ve joined them in this adventure from my computer desk. Travel for me now is difficult, with wounded horse needing daily care and my health only indifferent, so I’ve had a great time! All the Contrerases send greetings and love to all Johnsons.