Out of the woods

It was Sunday afternoon and I was sitting in one of those white plastic chairs outside at a bar drinking a Coke (Coca-Cola Light, whatever) from a glass bottle. The radio was playing. It felt very 1950's. Then a group of maybe 30 people started doing this traditional-looking dance in a little gazebo next door. While Coldplay and then Queen on the radio mixed with the traditional-sounding music from the gazebo, I was having all these thoughts about American culture taking over and wondering what Portuguese pop music would sound like if not for American influence. Then I remembered that Coldplay and Queen are both British. Nevermind.

Luso is on the edge of the Buçaco Forest, and I came here to go hiking. But the forest is a lot smaller than I was expecting. I was able to see most of it in about three hours, which left a lot of time for sitting in plastic chairs drinking Coca-Cola Light, which was okay with me. Luso only has about 2000 people, so there's not a lot to do outside the forest. I went to the community pool, and ate grilled cuttlefish (I love cuttlefish), and read the Economist. It was nice. While I was sitting in the plastic chair with the Coca-Cola Light I met his old guy who, when he realized I don't speak Portuguese, decided I was French. He kept calling me Madamoiselle. Aside from the typical ?How old are you? and ?Are you married?, I couldn't understand most of what he was saying. His nephew, who kept apologizing, spoke some Spanish and was kind of translating. The old guy wanted to know where my parents were, and where was I staying, and he knows the woman who runs my hotel. He bought me a Coke. It was very cute. And when I left, he made me say good-bye in French.