WHEN A CORISCO TALKS ABOUT THE AZORES...

Before I Left (1946) ................ After My First Return (1969)................

ABOVE - TWO ASPECTS OF PONTA DELGADA - Prior to 1970... After 1995

In spite of the title that I have chosen for this particular section, I shall not bother with details about the Azores, since that is done elsewhere on the NET. I feel, however, that I should concentrate on St. Michael's Island since I was born there, and that island is the one I have returned to most often. The photos shown, therefore, are primarily from that island, or related to it. I hope the viewer enjoys them. I also hope that my children and grandchildren find them equally enjoyable, or that, at least, they will be motivated by them to visit that little island someday.

Concelho de Ponta Delgada - Praia do Pópulo (Pópulo Beach).......

PONTA DELGADA, on São Miguel Island, is the largest city in the Azores, but not the oldest  Azorean locality. It is, however, the location most represented here for obvious reasons - The owner of this Web Page was born right over the Ponta Delgada City line and educated originally in schools within that city (Feliciano do Castilho and Liceu Antero de Quental). True that as an Azorean his prejudices could be classified as Azorean Portuguese. On the other hand, that he favors São Miguel over the other islands is equally obvious.

LEFT - RIBEIRA GRANDE, on São Miguel's North Coast, is the second city on the island. Only one other island in the Azores, Terceira, has two cities - Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória. The Ribeira Grande City Hall is not only the administrative center of its government, but also a landmark for everyone who once may have lived there.

Just as Caloura (Left) once distinguished itself by the quality of its local table wine, today it is known more by its scenery and the fact that its location allows tourits the benefits of closeness to Ponta Delgada, Lagoa, Vila Franca and various other areas of interest, one can say that the pineapple industry is now going the way of all flesh thanks to the competition from African countries that are not subjugated to modify the climate as is the case on Saint Michael's Island. My friend Jacinto's family, for example, had been in the pineapple-growing business for at least three generations. The last time I saw Jacinto, however, he had given up the business for obvious reasons - lots of costs, little money. Nevertheless, I also met an enterprising lady who can't wait to get into the quagmire. Somehow, she can't convince herself that what once was no longer is...

1969 - Dr. Jacinto Maria de Sousa at his pineapple farm

LEFT  - ÁGUA RETORTA - (Twisted Water, in English) - Most of the Mello/Melo side of my relatives came to America from this small location during the latter part of the 19th Century and  the early part of the 20th. Today their descendants are strewn everywhere in the United States, although there is certain family kinship that holds many of them still together around New England. America, in a way, owes quite a bit to this hidden valley, for from it have come many contributors to the country's well being. Photo courtesy of: Álvaro Manuel C. Moura

The photo on the left has special meaning to me even though it was shot two years prior to when I was born. At this date (October, 2006) only two of the people shown are still living - my cousin, Maria Jose de Sousa, (the little girl on the front row, and her brother, Antonio Francisco da Mota (the little boy on our uncle Antonio's arms). Maria Jose is presently living in Montreal, Canada. Antonio is living in Massachusetts, after having lived for many years in Danbury, Connecticut. I could write a most interesting biography of everyone shown and put it out as fiction, for in spite of the simplicity of everyone's lives, they all lived close to the unbelievable. The most interesting story, however, would be that of Jose (front line, extreme left), from whom I lost track sometime around 1942.. He was, and was not, simultaneously, a member of the family. On the other hand, he lived at my grandfather's house for so long and accompanied my uncles everywhere that, as I grew up, I assumed he was my uncle. Such was life in the Azores. When families were large and poor, it was nothing to let go of their children and let them live with relatives who had the financial mens to sustain them. Jose was one of those and he had come to live at my widowed maternal grandfather's house when Antonio da Costa Afonso married Rosa de Jesus, Jose's aunt. My grandfather at the time had a considerable number of properties and means. Had Jose been born and raised in the United States, chances are that his survival would probaly have been determined by some kind of Family Court. Such was not the case, however, in the less developed Azorean system where kindness and family futies were often more important than legalities. P. S. The other little girl in the photo was the first one to die (Sometime around 1944, or '45). She was my aunt Sofia, the mother of my cousin Joao Carlos de Melo, presently a retired grandfather living in San Ramon, California. Joao Carlos, it was believed, brought good luck to everyone around when, while at moment his mother was being taken away to be buried, and in everyone's presence, he dropped a small glass bottle that he had been holding, breaking it as it hit the concrete floor. The incident was taken as a good luck sign giving the immediate relatives of the departed a sense of hope. Sofia, at least my mother believed, was telling everyone for the last time that material things (such as a small glass bottle) were not that important in one's life.

LEFT- 2003 - TWO AZOREANS IN THE NEW WORLD - MY COUSIN AND I AS FAR IN THE WORLD FROM THEIR BIRTHPLACE AS TWO AZOREANS CAN GET - PLEASANTVILLE, CALIFORNIA.

November, 1999 -The photo on the right, as well as the one above, were both shot in Louisville, Kentucky. Neither has anything to do with the Azores, except for the fact, that at least one of their grandfathers can trace his start in life to the Azores. One of the four (Elizabeth Soffer, 1st row) hopes that her background will help her learn Portuguese someday. The others in the group are Elizabeth's siblings, Donald, Sarah, and Dena.

RIGHT - 1969 - It's not a Kentucky horse. Nor is the scene a Kentucky street. In fact, when I shot this picture in November 1969, I had just about forgotten that I would ever find a scene similar to it in Ponta Delgada. Outside the city? Perhaps. In the city, or its vicinity (In this case the Freguesia de Faja de Baixo), no. Prior to my leaving S. Miguel in 1969, the horse was most important as valuable transportation, not only for pulling coaches that carried people on special occasions, but also in pulling carts similar to the one photographed above. In short, they were the mainstay of several people. I remember, for example, how a friend of my parents cried when his horse died, for he knew that, without the animal he'd be unable to earn a living. Except for the streets in the city, most other streets were dirt roads which would eventually have to give way to rain damage and become quite difficult for the animals as they pulled their carts - a contrast from the stone-paved street on the photo. In the city, for example, the horses, as well as the mules and donkeys also used in the transportation system, provided considerable employment for blacksmiths and street sweepers. The latter were usually government jobs run by the local municipalities, and the sweepers, besides the brooms and shovels that were a must, also pushed a container cart where the trash they found would be deposited.. The blacksmiths, on the other hand, were craftmen who were either independent businessmen, or their employees. I remember, for example, how on my way home from school, I would pass by a blacksmith shop on Peru Street, and wonder why the blacksmith would not get kicked by one of the animals as he applied the hot iron horseshoes to the animal's hooves. I was also equally amazed by the fact that the blacksmiths would also be able to nail the shoes on the animal and do so at no danger to themselves. I never again spotted a similar scene on future trips to the island, for the Azores, in spite of their isolation, have in many ways joined the XX and XXI centuries even if, as shown on this e-card which a friend recently sent me, in the countryside milk is still delivered the old-fashioned way.

Those not acquainted with the photographed area on the left, and visiting Ponta Delgada for the first time, would have a hard time recognizing that the area shown below was for many years a part of Pranchinha/Prai dos Santos Area. They would also have a hard time explaining to themselves why the area west of the white crest (left, second photo) somehow was not as productive of off-the-rocks fishing as the area west of it. Polution emanating from the nearby industrial area, where powdery lime used in local construction, or white washing, was extracted from stone imported from the mainland may have had something to do with the condition. On the other hand, where the sea forms a small bay, the ocean bottom seemed devoid of any vegetation, or life system, that could have fed the plentiful fish that lived in the various sea pools fronting Praia dos Santos, or the Cavalinho the rock that became my favorite fishing spot prior to my emigrating..

BELOW - There is almost no logic about placing the photo of the Village of Nordeste  among those of Ponta Delgada. On the other hand, Nordeste has always had a sort of fascination for me simply because of its distance from where I lived and the fact that it was the easternmost county on S. Miguel. Furthermore, one of my neighbors, whose house can be seen on one of the photos on the right (higher white-walled house) atop the rocky shore was from Nordeste. In fact, she and her entire family - as far as I recall - were better identified by where they came from than by their real names do Nordeste, therefore, became almost legal for all intents and purposes, except for their documents.

ABOVE PHOTO - The new view of the sea from Praia dos Santos Street. Whoever is born across the street from the wall, as I was will never have the chnce to enjoy the change of tides below, as I did, nor go fishing at the Cavalinho. CLICK

S. Roque - I did not snap the above photo, although I suspect that it was shot from a point somewhat to the northeast of the Ilheu. I asked its owner for permission to use it, although he never replied to my request. I hope I don't have to take it down.

AZORES - 2005 - Machado dos Santos St. at Christmas

It's impossible to deny the natural beauty of St. Michael's Island, for there is litle that the Corisco (The island native ) can do to make it ugly. Granted that there one can often see points of the island that could be improved. On the other hand, as one can see by the adjoining photos, even the Coriscos did take time to create beauty. Above, for example, one can see three views of the Sant Ana Palace, built in and around 1860, in the great prosperous days of the island's agricultural export period, as well as when its ports welcomed ships from many parts on their way between Europe and America.The palace is home to the governor, and it is there that he entertains state visitors.The fourth photo, on the other hand, gives us a view of the Conceicao Palace where today the Azores carry on many of their administrative functions in spite of other functional buildings along the seaside. The crater lakes (above) - at Sete Cidades - are almost synonymous with whoever has ever been to the Azores and felt like taking a photo. As for those on the right-hand side, they each give us a view of Furnas without the fumaroles, or the gardens and the Terra Nostra Hotel which are the village's main attraction, or without showing someone cooking in one of the fumaroles which give the meal served a unique Azorean and unforgetable taste.. CLICK