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Rain dancing in the Alentejo
Updated: 12-Nov-2009
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Like the Oregan trail. Photos: JOHN OLIVER.
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John Oliver and Jeanette Elliott moved from the UK to Portugal around five years ago and live in Ourique, Alentejo. John now follows his lifetime love of documentary photography, while Jeanette trains dogs and breeds Bengal cats as well as teaching belly dancing.
At last we have some rain, not heavy torrential soul destroying stuff but good solid day long. The dust which chokes trees and humans alike has been laid for a while – it might even be worth trying to do some house work.
But one day’s rain doesn’t make for a pond, let alone refill the rapidly emptying Barragem (dam). We got curious looks last winter from newer residents, unfamiliar with hot summers and draught conditions, when we made the case for needing much more rain than the seemingly soggy pastures were getting. With our marker stone on the lake edge well clear of the water level, we knew the area was several million gallons short of supply to last comfortably in the summer conditions.
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Carriages more used to trials driving.
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The evidence of the dry conditions has been everywhere as we travelled the interior landscape following the many equine Passeios this year. Even the Portuguese were likening the scene as one of the Oregan trail, with the cavalry horses kicking up the dust as they protected the wagons from the Indians, except this was Alentejo and the carriages more used to trials driving. Many of the photographs look like a soft focus filter has been used, with sunlight dappling the dust clouds swamping everyone.
Luck has been with us on the fire front and one had to feel sorry for the Canarinhos crews kicking their heels at the heliport in Ourique while their colleagues did battle further north.
They only really got tasked for two days this season when a seized brake on a train started a blaze near Amoreiras Gare. Their fast response and the combined helicopter power from three areas soon brought the blaze under control.
We ourselves have lurched from one crisis to the next - some we are able to solve while others leave us wretched and usually in a much worse financial state.
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It’s sad to see how this place used to be, with large communities based around local industry.
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Like most people, we hoped the good times were going to last but with the downturn in the Sterling rate, it was always going to be touch and go. Then with the collapse of the financial institution which so many had relied on to live their dream, the past year has been torrid to say the least. Everyone has cut back, which makes earning any living virtually impossible.
Several friends have had to return to the UK to earn enough to survive. Others like us, who couldn’t get back or move where there was more chance of getting some work, have had to knuckle down and try to cut every outgoing to the bone.
When our invertor caught fire last Christmas, first we thought (how stupidly) the insurance would cover it, then we hoped somehow we would be able to get something done about it.
Living with a generator is not impossible but ours is large and costs a lot to run, so we cut back hard, not using it more than we have to and letting the garden go. Infuriating is the fact that we have the solar system working but, due to the missing invertor, unusable. Every time we thought we had it cracked and found some cash, another more pressing problem arose.
Then when my car got impounded, we were well and truly scuppered. Having to raise the cash just to pay the fine was bad enough, but to get the rest for import duty (which according to the rules I shouldn’t have had to pay anyway) and the changes for the inspection, even though the car already had a valid MOT, then all the extra bits for forms, documents, plates, more forms, besides all the trips on the train to Faro…
In the meantime, John couldn’t get back to the UK when his pacemaker appointment came up again, so more in desperation he went to the local hospital.
At least this part of the sorry saga has a good ending as John was seen very promptly and given a new pacemaker during a four-day stay in Beja hospital, under the strict supervision of the ward nurse – the first time he has done as he was told for years.
The photography has really taken off this year with John officially being invited to be with the President of the Câmara for his election campaign. Although we have a very good insight to the way things happen in the Alentejo, this opportunity was a very rare glimpse into the diversity of the region we live in and the lives of its people.
What was very sad to see was the evidence of how this place used to be, with large communities based around local industry. To see all of this now in ruins with just one or two elderly people scratching a life in the broken walls was stunning. But the people have been astounding, for all the hardship we have met some incredible people who have welcomed us, even as Estrangeiros.
From more than 5,000 pictures taken during the campaign, there is a memorable glimpse of a tiny bit of Portuguese social history. There is now a discussion of an exhibition of some of the photographs and possibly a book.
The main thing to come from the campaign is a will to engage for the greater good of the communities here. To look to the future and help inspire the young people to work and start their own families here. Hopefully, the next time we photograph the campaign it is not to find all the remaining young people gone and the ruins just a tumble of stones with only ghosts passing through.
To contact John Oliver, please email john.b.oliver@gmail.com and to get in touch with Jeanette Elliott, please email iberianbengal@gmail.com>
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