Finding Yourself Abroad

 

This is a photo of my mother and her older sister, taken at my wedding reception in 1997.  My mother had expressed an interest in travelling with her sister to Portugal one day to discover their roots, since as far back as I can remember, my Auntie Monica used to tell us kids that we were "descended from Portuguese pirates". My parents came from British Guiana (now Guyana), but my mother's father and my father's grandfather both emigrated to Guyana from Madeira in Portugal. 

My mother and her sister never flew to the "old country", but circumstances allowed my own sister and I to take a trip to Portugal together. Neither my sister, Mary Carol, nor I knew much about our Portuguese connections, other than our Christmas traditional dish of garlic pork. It was fascinating to learn how much influence over our family sayings, meals, customs and traditions are more Portuguese than Guyanese.

Our Names

Why would I take a photo of a bottle of water? The name of the brand, "Gloria Patri", is similar to my mother's given names, Gloria Patricia. When we signed into our hotel in Lisbon, the concierge remarked about how Portuguese my own name, Diana Patricia, was, and that was without seeing my maiden name, DeFreitas! The story behind my name that I was always told was that my first name came from The Phantom's girlfriend in the comics. I had no idea my name had cultural echoes.

On our very first full day in Lisbon (Sunday, June 30, 2024), we caught the tail end of the Saint Antony festivities. In Rossio Square, there were many stands set up, selling different things. We found a Portuguese genealogy vendor and found a coat of arms connected to our maiden name. We bought a magnet replica of the crest for our father. We were told that it was an immigrant practice to add "De" to the front of surnames, to indicate that they were "from the house of".

Our Appearances

We flew to Europe on a Portuguese airline (SATA Azores) and the flight attendant first spoke to us in Portuguese before switching to English. She told us we looked Portuguese. Take a look at some of the photos of the pair of us and judge for yourself.

Diana and Mary near the Santa Justa elevador (Monday, July 1)

Diana and Mary on the yellow tour bus on a very hot Tuesday (July 2)

Mary and Diana in the Lisbon Cathedral (Thursday, July 4)

Mary and Diana in Nazaré (Friday, July 5)

Our Meals

We ate very well while we were in Portugal. We had no idea how influential Portuguese cuisine was to us.  As my sister said, she used to get frustrated with how plain my father would prefer his meals, until she saw how the locals ate in Portugal. This charcuterie board in the photo below includes blood sausage, which is related to black pudding, which we used to eat regularly when we were growing up.

Food is simple but tasty. We absolutely adored eating codfish cakes while in Portugal and even the term for cod, bacalhau, is one we've heard my dad use instead of "saltfish", even though he never learned how to speak Portuguese. Along with cod-cakes, I had this yummy "cheesy sheep". 

I get where our dad got his sweet tooth from! Portuguese egg custard tarts, known as pastel de nata, are everywhere in Portugal. I was thankful that they aren't made with nuts, so I was able to partake quite frequently. 

Seafood is a big deal in a country with a significant coastline like Portugal. While in Nazaré, one of the people on our private tour expressed interest in sampling as many of the dishes as she could. It's a good thing we combined with Sonia and Diogo, our guide, to eat, because there's no way she would have been able to eat all of this on her own. We had clams, sea bass with potatoes we were directed to smash with our fists and soak in olive oil before eating, and monkfish with rice.

Alcohol plays an important role in dining experiences. We enjoyed the green wine (vinho verde) made from young grapes and the cherry liqueur (ginja or ginjinha) first developed by Portuguese monks, originally for medicinal purposes. We never made it to the city of Porto to sample the port wine but we didn't feel as if we missed out.

The gelato we ate was delicious. My friend Karen Ambrosh came to Lisbon with her high school friend after they visited Porto and we enjoyed eating dessert together at the pastelaria.

I was able to visit with a couple of friends from Portugal while there (Estrella and Vitor). They each took me to a different local restaurant. The food was delicious. I ate cod with Estrella and my sister at a charming restaurant filled with different kinds of clocks. With Vitor and our group of 5, we had a feast at a little place that defied initial expectations. I enjoyed the battered green beans, the beans mixed with tuna, and the pork. I sampled the sardines, although it wasn't my favourite. My parents used to love tinned fish like sardines. Even the way the salads were prepared, with unmixed lettuce, tomato, shredded carrot and corn, reminded me of the way my parents made salads in the past.

Our Customs

Portugal loves Saint Anthony. He's known as Saint Anthony of Padua but he was born in Lisbon. My sister and I visited the church built on the site where he was presumed born, as well as a museum devoted to him. My sister and I inherited my mother's fondness for Saint Anthony. If she ever lost something important, she'd pray to Saint Anthony for help. 

My mother was a big embroiderer and seamstress. We heard a lot about the history of Portugal, including how women did not have as many opportunities under the dictatorship, (so sewing was one of the few outlets for women to make money) and that very few citizens were able to pursue higher education. This was the case for both my parents, for different reasons. I also compared a Portuguese shawl my mother gave me long ago and the embroidery matched those of clothes sold in the small towns we toured.  

Even mom's love of church, our short height, and "walking the sea wall" have their roots in Portuguese traditions. Portugal was a very Catholic country. One of our guides said that Portugal has "the 3 Fs: faith, Fado (a type of music) and football". Mom went to Mass every week without fail (and still does, when I take her). My sister and I have faint memories of dad playing soccer here in Canada (with his orange running shoes). To complete the "3Fs", my parents love listening to music. 

We took photos of ourselves standing at the doors in Sintra to demonstrate how "Puddagee people" were short back then, and can still be now.

Dad used to talk fondly of walking along the sea wall in Georgetown to look at the ocean and there were many places where people could gaze out on the water, from the westernmost point of continental Europe to the spot where explorer Vasco da Gama (whom my father referenced) set sail.

I hope this gives a hint about how educational this trip was to me and to my sister. We learned so much about ourselves, our family, and the country from our short time there. My mom and aunt are no longer able to travel, so I feel as if this "sister trip" was a way for us to complete this unfulfilled wish. Big thanks to our guides, Joanna, Nuno, and Diogo, as well as the hotel staff and our Portuguese and fellow tourist friends for making this an adventure to remember.