Visiting the Azores II

We started off our next day by getting the rental car (an ordeal all by itself), and taking a short trip to a Pineapple Plantation. When driving in the Azores, there are some very basic rules to remember:

If a car can fit, it must be a parking space

No lines on the road? No problem.

Distance between you and the car in front of you should be no more than 5 inches -- at any speed

Don't bother looking for a street sign, if there is one, you won't see it anyway.

Cows think they're parked cars -- be prepared to stop.

One foot on the accelerator, One foot on the clutch, One foot on the break -- YOU figure it out.


So, we headed out in search of the pineapple plantation. After fruitless searches for street signs, and a few wrong turns, we found it. Though "plantation" seemed a bit misleading -- it's a series of 15 or so short green houses that hold hundreds of short pineapple trees. The pineapples are amazingly small, they easily fit in one hand, and are about 1/3 the size of a regular pineapple. Sadly, the Azores were not made for agriculture, and after blights that killed their cash crops over time, they realized this was one of the few ways to make fruit grow in the Azores. Fortunately, the portuguese have learned to make liquor out of them!
Next Up -- Walking around a volcano!