The Rexburg Larsens: 2014

So we took the long drive north - about 8 hours - to get to Viana do Castelo, a lovely seaside city just north of Porto on the northwester coast of Portugal. We got to stop and see Porto on the way, for which I was so thankful; I've heard numerous times of its beauty and uniqueness. We got to visit one of the famous wine factories while we were there, which I found fascinating! Who knew that the wood the barrels were made of would incorporate a different bouquet to each wine? The end of the tour, where guests are offered free samples :-), was somewhat anticlimactic as we couldn't partake, but it was still an interesting insight to one of the main industries of the area.

Viana do Castelo!!!! oh how I love this place... it's such a beautiful little town, right on the ocean, with its cathedral topping the hill like a crown...

Day One in Viana from Carole's facebook: "We had time during the first day to tour historic Porto including the Offley Winery, a walk along the beach, and lunch at a park. On the way to Viana do Castelo we stopped at the largest outlet mall in Europe where we had 30 (are you kidding me?!) minutes to shop. At Viano do Castelo we were able to wander the historic downtown shopping district and, just a block or two away, a shopping mall as modern as any you would find in America. Wifi access at the mall put many on the team in touch with family again. The festival's opening gala took place on an elevated stage in the city center to a crowd of close to 1500. The team looked uniquely fresh and American in their hoedown costumes performed with enthusiasm."

This is where we stayed, well, not in the cathedral but in the dorms right behind it. There was one room with bunkbeds for boys and one for girls. Nice and quiet after the neverending party of Faro! :-) Just our team, so we could enforce curfew and get the kids (who by now all had the "tour cough") some rest.

Where we ate breakfast and sometimes dinner in the dorms

We were out in the country, about 30 minutes from Viana, in a little town called Borosselas. It looked like Tuscany, totally different from the more starkly mediterranean resort feel of Faro. Green, wooded, vineyards everywhere. Beautiful and restful and amazing!

And here was my happy place. A five minute walk from the cathedral dorms lead down to the river, where centuries-old ruins tumbled into the slowly flowing water, with a rope swing on one end and a rock bridge on the other. We went swimming there a couple times - heaven!

The opening ceremonies.... what a night! This was a breathtaking setup, with all the windows in the surrounding buildings lit up and crowds of thousands! A magical festival!

Carole: "Day two at Festival de Folclore Internacional – Alto Minho:
Day two began, like yesterday, with a typical Portuguese breakfast of rolls, ham, cheese, marmalade, and hot chocolate or herbal tea. A morning performance at a retirement center in Deão was followed by lunch served by the center employees and then an impromptu stop at a care center for the elderly. The infirm residents not only listened to, but danced along with, our band and dancers. Watching was a very touching experience.
Following an afternoon of rest and exploration of our hosts' church grounds and village, we boarded the bus for a trip to Alcora where the team gave a thirty minute performance on a beachside stage."

This was on the way to a rest home performance - street decorations!

The lunch they served us here was the best meal we probably had in Portugal! They really went out of their way to make it special for us!

They asked us if we could just stop by and play some songs at another nearby rest home, which we of course were happy to do! I got a little emotional there; Gary's elderly dad had just died a month before, and our kids dancing with the Portuguese elderly reminded me of the night when Gary was helping his dad move around and his dad joked about dancing with him. Had to go leave and sob in the hall. But I was proud of our kids for being brave and loving and getting them up to dance!

"Day three at Festival de Folclore Internacional – Alto Minho:
A slow start to the day was welcome relief to our tired team. Cat naps on the bus don't quite make up for the early mornings and late (1:00-2:00 am is fairly common) nights. Breakfast today was served at 10:30 am.
Before leaving for the day one of our guides, Inês, gave us a tour of the church here on the property where we're staying. After that Mike organized a foosball competition.

Lunch was "paid for" with a dance performed by our team for the lunch workers.
An unexpected trip to a tide pool covered beach in Viano do Castelo was a hit with everyone.
The evening performance was held at Santoinho, a "living museum" type place where visitors come to learn about the history and culture of the Alto Minho area. All teams had a guided tour of the grounds and were then served a dinner which included caldo verde, a popular Portuguese soup of potatoes, cabbage and sausage.
At 10:00 pm the performances began with American Rhythm second on stage. We stayed for and enjoyed all nine performances."

Santoinho! Where people still go to eat sardines (from the Sardinery!), drink their famous wine/champagne/beer combination, and and dancing traditional Portuguese dances! We were there on two different nights; it truly is such a special place! Beware of the drunk Uruguayan team though! :-)

Maggie fell asleep in the weirdest places!

"Days four at Festival de Folclore Internacional – Alto Minho:
Day four started with field game competitions. The Americans produced a winner in the sack race...our kangaroo, Joe. We came close in stilt walking and, though we had teamwork and strategy on our side, we lost in the male and female tug of war battles. During the afternoon we visited the cathedral Santa Luzia and took in the view of Viano do Castelo from the bottom and top of the building. The evening performance was given on a park stage in our host city of Barroselas. After the performance one of our dancers was locked in a bathroom for over twenty minutes before someone finally broke the door down!"

Maggie has a freak talent for walking on stilts. I think someone from Slovenia beat her, but she came in second!

The view from the top of the cathedral, Santa Luzia, below

Performing at Borosselas. Although it's a village of maybe 3,000 inhabitants, the crowd they had there was huge! And appreciative!

I have to say, my mothering experienced a high every time Maggie was on stage - she is such a natural performer! The audiences just at her up. By the last performance in Viana, the crowd roared when she and Mairin, also an absolute favorite, got up to do their duet in Sleepy Eyed John. The video below hardly did it justice - they roared. It threw Mags off a bit because she wasn't expecting it, but she recovered. After the shows, women and men would just sweep her up in their arms and give her kisses and hug her. She didn't necessarily love this attention, but she bore it pretty well and smiled at everyone in spite of not understanding a word they said! Their meaning was pretty clear...

"Day five at Festival de Folclore Internacional – Alto Minho:
Day five was the last performance day of the festival. Most of the day was spent in the company of all the other teams. First, entertainment was provided to the teams by Viana's pipe and drum corp. Next, our team taught American dances in the courtyard of a 500+ year old church. Group pictures of all the teams at the historic railway building was followed by lunch which we traveled to in an open-air bus. A last chance to shop in downtown Viana do Castelo was appreciated by everyone. Ecumenical services where all the teams provided a reading and music for the congregation took place at another historic Catholic Church in Viana. While waiting for dinner, impromptu tango and milonga lessons were given by the Uruguayans. Dinner was followed by rest, and then the night continued with the final gala performance on the main stage in the center of downtown. Closing ceremonies were highlighted by a colorful balloon release by all the teams. Yet the night wasn't over. A dance for all the teams kept everyone moving until past 1:00 am. Well, almost everyone!"

Maggie and Ines, one of our guides who took such good care of us!!! And our other guide, Margerida, got to release the dove during the ceremony of peace before the cathedral. Our band played the most sublime arrangement of Come Thou Font of Every Blessing - it was lovely!

The tango lessons from the Uruguayans while waiting for the cafeteria to be open for lunch. Eileen, the band director, was the most popular woman in the festival - by the end of the five days she knew everyone, and was a prime favorite of the Uruguayan men particularly.

Matt found a starfish in the fountain by the cafeteria - seriously, a starfish! It was alive! At least a mile away from the beach! crazy day.

Above, Eileen and I with the Urugayans. Closing ceremonies on the main stage! Huge night! So fun. So many people, such a rush!

Releasing balloons. At the closing ceremonies, Gary lost his phone. Totally thought it got stolen. During the next 24 hours, he got over it, realized it was just a possession, and was grateful that nothing worse had happened. Then he found it the next day stuck in the pages of his journal. Tender mercies!

Day six was unique. It started out with a testimony meeting with the dancers. Then the Viana festival has this fun tradition where the guest team makes lunch for the host team of traditional food from their country. We had gone to the store the day before for supplies for sloppy joes, snickers salad, and root beer (actually Sprite and Orange) floats. How much more Idaho can you get than that? :-) well, maybe if we had made potatoes...

The host team pitched in with a whole bunch of items for the brunch as well - we ate so well that day!

Then we had a gift exchange ceremony with the host team's leaders. Such a sweet moment. They weren't sure if they were going to like us, as Americans aren't known to be very thoughtful or endearing I guess. But they loved us, and oh how we loved them!

This is the "chief" of the host dance group, Mr. Pereira, (we just called him Grandpa) with his granddaughter to whom we gave a t-shirt. He was so good to us, and so kind to Maggie!

They all loved Maggie. And Margarida let me try on her traditional dress! Black velvet - gorgeous! Her grandmother bought it for her - many Portuguese women have one. I got a doll with a dress like this for Grandma so I'd always be able to remember what the dress looked like.

After the luncheon and ceremony we napped, packed, and took one last walk around the beautiful country side. Then we went back at Santoinho on the last night of tour, for a full night of celebration. Zac, Gary and I whacked the corn...

While the Kelly's sampled the sardines, and we ate more yellow soup.

There was a parade...

Gift giving (inter-team, and Maggie got some earrings from "the Chief"s granddaughter. The nice moms of the group gave me a Viana do Castello heart necklace! <3 -="" :-="" all="" and="" annabelle="" be="" br="" but="" careful="" charming="" dancing="" especially="" here.="" lots="" of="" oscar="" pretty="" re="" sloshed="" sure="" the="" then="" there="" they="" though="" uruguayans="" very="" was="">

Back to the dorms at Borosselas for the traditional costume party and team awards by the awards committee, Carter, Mairin, Maggie, Maddie and Jenna.

Joe hiding while eating the last of the snickers salad! The rest of the gang invaded the kitchen too for a massive pig out session of all the leftovers. It was the last night though so who cares about sleep? I don't think any of us went to bed, since we got home from Santoinho at midnight, and had a 3:30 AM bus call to get to the airport on time! We knew we could always sleep on the plane.

So we stayed up. Had fun last foosball sessions, a moonlit walk to the roof of the garden to stargaze, and the mad packing of the last items. Our guides and "grandpa" said goodbye to us at the dorms :-(. The drive to to Lisbon was quiet - we were all asleep! and uneventful. Until Jarom started to throw up - argh! We had to do some quick talking but the airline finally let him onto the flight because he was underage and couldn't stay behind!

I have to admit, though I love travel and adventure, I always LOVE coming back to the United States. I was singing "Coming to America" and trying to refrain from doing split leaps down the concourse as we reentered the USA through customs in New York. Then I treated myself to some great, tasty American food (a Philly cheesesteak) and happy thoughts that soon I'd see my kids again - euphoria!