TE19 Iberian Adventure

Passing Time in Portugal

powered by human will. Saudade – the dreams nourished by a deep certainty and the deep unrest that runs through the psyche but leads to I don’t know where. Her restlessness mirrored my own recurring dream of a clock counting down in a waiting room with a locked door. Where is eternity in eachmoment, the garden to steward, our great obligation?Will we be judged for everything that we did not accept responsibility for? Donkeys brayed and goats kicked dust as we wandered back up the hill. Back at the dinner table no one had moved, save to retrieve wine from the kitchen. Animated conversation turned to mellow reflection and, through rose tinted glasses, they reminisced about the dictator who lived on in the hearts of this generation. “Was life better under Salazar?” Vitorino shrugged, “Sure, we complained at the time, but there was no unemployment, the youth could plan their lives.” “The man was a volcano of ambition.” Maria added, “The son of rural Catholics, he attended a seminary but chose not to enter the priesthood.” ***

“His roommate was the future Cardinal‐Patriarch,” Vitorino noted, “the two remained close.”

“Salazar was an economics professor who seized power in the coup d’état,” Vitorino explained, “He sought to reverse the evils of the war of secularisation that followed the republican revolution. Miraculously he balanced our books and implemented Estado 161