Traffic Jam Cabanas’ Style

Life in Cabanas is slower than many places I have ever been in a while. It is really refreshing to live in “Praise of Slowness” (Shout out to Chris Holohan for letting borrow his book in SA) by cooking and heating the place with a wood-burning stove, working in the sunlight with the gatos (cats) and watching sunsets. Portugal is a place where business deals are forged and broken on the basis of the amount strain it generates between parties.

The most stressful thing I have observed in the town has been the afternoon grid-lock captured above. I am staying across the road from a sheep’s milk dairy and the afternoon grazing is about as busy as the roads get near the home. As you can see there is a real pile up around the orange tree that brings the flow to a grinding halt. The other sheep just keep on coming and the cascade of wool just increases around the tree. The sheep in the middle were trapped by the tree but they did not seem to mind it much. In fact I actually watched one sheep use the back of his brother to stand on to claim an orange (my battery died so I could not catch it on film but it made me smile). When life gave him lemons, he decided to make orange-aid out of those who held him captive.

Even though it is a stressful time with Reckoning deadlines, life around me is sending a powerful message to take things as they come and enjoy an unhurried pace of life.