1. Dolores sitting on a bench, waiting for Dulcia
I was from Vilariño. I got married here but I was from Vilariño. We made some papas, we made some soup. Because it wasn't like now that there were things and there are money, but before there wasn't. We had to eat soup. And a piglet was cooked in a small pot. When a piglet was killed, it was no longer fed before. Small piglets were bought and raised. And of course, that’s why they were killed. And that’s how life was like. We had cows, we had donkeys. For going to the grass, the horse (if you were going to bring the grass, you brought it by donkey).
I was from Vilariño. I got married here but I was from Vilariño. We made some papas, we made some soup. Because it wasn't like now that there were things and there are money, but before there wasn't. We had to eat soup. And a piglet was cooked in a small pot. When a piglet was killed, it was no longer fed before. Small piglets were bought and raised. And of course, that’s why they were killed. And that’s how life was like. We had cows, we had donkeys. For going to the grass, the horse (if you were going to bring the grass, you brought it by donkey).
This place was very beautiful, there were many people. Lots of people. The saddest thing for me is that there were many people, a lot of people. And now I see myself alone.
In the field, grass was pulled out with a sickle. Sickles, yes, women. But as my husband went to France, he was in France, so I had to do everything, I mowed the grass, I did everything, everything, everything.
I was eleven years old when I went to plant pines. Since San Benito at 36. We carried the pines on our backs, bundles of pines on our backs. And that road that there is since Baldemir at 36. Everything in those times.
And there was a man who died, he also walked with glasses, they called him Quatro Dentes, and he said to me, Delourinhas (I’m still Delourinhas, I’m going to be 90 years old) and he said to me: the world is all crossed with roads.
I told stories, I read novels. I told stories because there was no radio, then I told the stories. And then we gathered and there was television, you saw it and it had a story. And it told you, come, there were novels that told three nights there. Or better, three months. And then each one went home. We were until eight, I told a lot of stories. He was a man who knew a lot, a lot, a lot.
We cooked bread that had to be taken to bake bread, to the oven. There were many things, many things at that age. I got tired of going with the goats to the mountain to exchange bread for Portuguese ones. They wanted our bread and we exchanged it. Yes, yes, oh, mother, oh, mother. They did smuggling. Me and another lady also wanted to pick up. There came some “guardinhas” the woman who sold us the coffee said to us “guardinhas”, but a lady who responded for us who we brought two kilos of coffee for us to exchange and we said you pick up or hide the way directly to Spain, because you will not get it.
We went to get coffee for the house. I never went to get bread, but there was going. There were men who went. We went to get gas to light the candles because there was also no light. When I got married, there was no light until many years.
It snowed a lot, a lot, it snowed, yes, it snowed a lot, it snowed for 15 days and you were out of the corral, of course yes, if it snowed but now it doesn’t snow.
I'll tell you a verse: The flower of San José blooms every day. The word that I say where it goes, never appears The word that I say to you is like a rope My love is broken, my love, forgive me. But I loved you all and wanted you dearly This was very dear to ask you for relationships that are things of youth
Did you like it? It was a guy who taught me. Before it’s like now that you get a boyfriend and it’s over before, you had 4 and 5 boyfriends, you had more fun than now!
And we went, because we went with the goats, the goats were the ones that saw the paths. Yes, yes. The goats, the cows... we also went to the mountain, because as we were many people, a lot of farm, because yes, there was to take them to where we ate.
2. Dulcia arrives, stating she already saw me
In the field, grass was pulled out with a sickle. Sickles, yes, women. But as my husband went to France, he was in France, so I had to do everything, I mowed the grass, I did everything, everything, everything.
I was eleven years old when I went to plant pines. Since San Benito at 36. We carried the pines on our backs, bundles of pines on our backs. And that road that there is since Baldemir at 36. Everything in those times.
And there was a man who died, he also walked with glasses, they called him Quatro Dentes, and he said to me, Delourinhas (I’m still Delourinhas, I’m going to be 90 years old) and he said to me: the world is all crossed with roads.
I told stories, I read novels. I told stories because there was no radio, then I told the stories. And then we gathered and there was television, you saw it and it had a story. And it told you, come, there were novels that told three nights there. Or better, three months. And then each one went home. We were until eight, I told a lot of stories. He was a man who knew a lot, a lot, a lot.
We cooked bread that had to be taken to bake bread, to the oven. There were many things, many things at that age. I got tired of going with the goats to the mountain to exchange bread for Portuguese ones. They wanted our bread and we exchanged it. Yes, yes, oh, mother, oh, mother. They did smuggling. Me and another lady also wanted to pick up. There came some “guardinhas” the woman who sold us the coffee said to us “guardinhas”, but a lady who responded for us who we brought two kilos of coffee for us to exchange and we said you pick up or hide the way directly to Spain, because you will not get it.
We went to get coffee for the house. I never went to get bread, but there was going. There were men who went. We went to get gas to light the candles because there was also no light. When I got married, there was no light until many years.
It snowed a lot, a lot, it snowed, yes, it snowed a lot, it snowed for 15 days and you were out of the corral, of course yes, if it snowed but now it doesn’t snow.
I'll tell you a verse: The flower of San José blooms every day. The word that I say where it goes, never appears The word that I say to you is like a rope My love is broken, my love, forgive me. But I loved you all and wanted you dearly This was very dear to ask you for relationships that are things of youth
Did you like it? It was a guy who taught me. Before it’s like now that you get a boyfriend and it’s over before, you had 4 and 5 boyfriends, you had more fun than now!
And we went, because we went with the goats, the goats were the ones that saw the paths. Yes, yes. The goats, the cows... we also went to the mountain, because as we were many people, a lot of farm, because yes, there was to take them to where we ate.
2. Dulcia arrives, stating she already saw me
She was born here. Here she got married to a man from here.
And my husband was from here and so was I.
The meals were the same. They were the same. They went well. Because all the people gathered, a lot. If they wanted to dance, we formed two groups and we told the others. Because there were many, many boys. 25 boys and 25 girls. And there, we are going to have a party tonight? We are going to have a party tonight. And there we went, we passed, we had a very good time.
They came from these villages, around here, We had to go to the village of Portugal. Yes, yes look for the gas.
No, only coffee.
No, no, get the gas, the gas too.
No gas, it was only when we were little;
Oh! When you got married there was no light. And me neither! Ei!
Everything changed
Before you had to work a lot, now you don't work. Before you had cows, goats, sheep. And you had to work all that farm. And there was work There was corn there, there was corn, everything! To make bread! Ah, the bread was... how good was that bread... but that bread doesn't come back The bread lasted for 15 days
Or more!
Ah, if it didn’t last Sometimes, we took the thing to grind in the mill And instead of not grinding, it would open, it would open and the river would go down If we took it there we would have nothing.
And the best bread was smuggling. That’s when we started smuggling. And because we needed it
I never bought it
Me too, but...
The food tasted good It tasted good, yes.
The recipes were passed down from generation to generation, since youth
And my husband was from here and so was I.
The meals were the same. They were the same. They went well. Because all the people gathered, a lot. If they wanted to dance, we formed two groups and we told the others. Because there were many, many boys. 25 boys and 25 girls. And there, we are going to have a party tonight? We are going to have a party tonight. And there we went, we passed, we had a very good time.
They came from these villages, around here, We had to go to the village of Portugal. Yes, yes look for the gas.
No, only coffee.
No, no, get the gas, the gas too.
No gas, it was only when we were little;
Oh! When you got married there was no light. And me neither! Ei!
Everything changed
Before you had to work a lot, now you don't work. Before you had cows, goats, sheep. And you had to work all that farm. And there was work There was corn there, there was corn, everything! To make bread! Ah, the bread was... how good was that bread... but that bread doesn't come back The bread lasted for 15 days
Or more!
Ah, if it didn’t last Sometimes, we took the thing to grind in the mill And instead of not grinding, it would open, it would open and the river would go down If we took it there we would have nothing.
And the best bread was smuggling. That’s when we started smuggling. And because we needed it
I never bought it
Me too, but...
The food tasted good It tasted good, yes.
The recipes were passed down from generation to generation, since youth
3. Rosina in a small walk down the main road
In '43 I was born here. I grew up here and here I stayed.
We made green broth, potato broth, broad bean broth. And stews. We made a very good sweet rice. Then, when it was feast time, they killed a goat and stewed it. Well, they made custard, they made everything.
Yes.
The bread, yes. I got tired of baking. When I came to my house, we cooked and my mother too. Because my father was around the world. He was in France. My brother also baked. Yes, yes, we baked in the oven. We baked. We heated with firewood. And then, with “baruto”, we baked. We heated with “baruto” and put the bread. Yes, yes, oh, well kneaded. And then, yes, oh, what bread. Whoever gave us…
I was sick for 4 months, very sick, in France. The second, because the first year I went to operate on my appendix. I had a bakery there. And we baked.
No, because I want a piece of bread. So, a bread, yes, how would you eat a piece of bread? I don't care. I don't care. It's like a piece of bread that I remember that we baked in the oven. Yes, yes.
Well, I've already told you all the information.
It changed, it changed. Before we worked in the field. We worked with cows, we carried things in the field. We always worked in the field. With cars. We walked... We always worked in the field. That is everything that is on the mountain were farms. We planted corn, we planted potatoes, rye, everything. Now the poor man has nothing to eat. Because we too... because we are old and we can't. And so, well…
Well, I turn around.
And they came from Zamora, Casolas, those who make clay, you know? They came to the beach that brought a lot of slate. Many people came from afar. They came, they came. It was always like that, we worked a lot in the field. As they are now, how they are there. They live their life there. And our time had to be lived here because there was nowhere to run.
4. José António saw me passing and invited me to have a beer in his yard
José António saw me passing and invited me to have a beer in his yard.
You learned by yourself. You didn't believe? It wasn’t like going to school where you learned to read and write. I was five years old, I would go around with some goats and sheep. Me alone. Five years old. I had a bag that was bigger than me, imagine, and two big dogs. And 200 or 300 heads.
We had two hundred and something goats and sheep. And sometimes we had twelve. Sometimes seven, other times more, other times, when they had offspring, around twenty. But that gave us food and drink and all that at home, we didn't lack anything.
I would go to the village of Castro Laboreiro to get a sack of coffee from the coasts. 29 kilos of coffee. When I picked them up, they didn't weigh that much on the coast in the village. When you took them, they didn't weigh anything, when you arrived in Taboazas, you already had the marks, what do you think? And you would earn some money to go to parties, to walk around and buy things.
And so you can't complain much, you know?
We would go to buy coffee, to Vila de Crasto, in the Carqueixo, the biggest trade. And sometimes when it rained a lot, we would carry the sacks on a mule up to the river, near the 36. So yes, we went to the coasts. That's how smuggling was done, right?
And I took the little bag there and came straight to Taboazas. Then it was distributed around by people who wanted a kilo... It was roasted coffee from Angola. There was no coffee here.
But my father was afraid, that the guards would come and catch me with the mule and take me to jail with the mule. Then he would say: look, it's better if you don't go, but I would leave, they didn't say anything to him, I would leave, and they didn't know where I went. But at night, the Civil Guard would be around, you know what the Civil Guard was? And there were Portuguese too.
There were some who were bad.
And I said "it's for eating, there's none" Some would say "I don't even want to see". And I said "well, why?" "but we can't let you pass with the coffee".
There were some who wanted to hit me.
I said, "don't come back". But I had to come back.
"But if we don't see you here, you'll go there"
But there were good people. One even walked a few kilometers with me with a sack of coffee. Young guys.
And I, of course, 16 or 15 years old; I was a kid. We would go to get coffee from Vila de Castro, we passed through Serras, all through that mountain up, the 36... It was very far.
Man, I left when I was almost seventeen. In the sixties and seven, I was seventeen years old when I left. We both left.
I was looking for work out there, but there wasn't any. There was nothing. Here there were people, people from here who were working in the fields with cows and sheep and nothing else. There was no work there or anything. I got tired of walking up that mountain to plant pine trees.
I got to know Paris well because I was working there. I worked at Disneyland Park. Fifteen years. And I made a lot of money because I was displaced. Then as the peseta was worthless, you were buying one thing, this year, when we came on vacation, now you came to buy another. Here each year that passed the village was less.
5. Maruja returns from a walk and sits downwith us
This man was asking, thinking it wasn't true that we went to Castro Laboreiro for coffee and those things from there. Of course, yes. You would go on foot through that mountain up there to get there. But now the village has changed a lot, it was a small town like this one. No... the town was always big.
They would go to buy fabrics, clothes, fabrics, and things. There were all kinds of things needed. And a lot of coffee and everything. Soap too. It was a bar soap. Portuguese soap that was white and pinkish in color. And it wasn't expensive, it was cheaper than here. We didn't have that soap here. You had a bar like that, then it would be cut into pieces for washing, at that time.
Then there was a man here who did a lot of smuggling, and he would go out at night and almost come back at night, to look for tobacco.
6. Abelina, taking a break from a walk, sitting on a bench
I was born here, but I went outside, I was away for many years, I raised my children outside. I remember a little house here that had no water, no light. I remember making this road, I remember bringing water to the house. The light came before I left.
When I came from France, I was here, yes. I was here for a few days. Then I would leave. Then at the little house, my father was there. I didn't have a place to go.
Then, well, they closed the store they had because they sold it and she had been working there for twelve years. They gave food, there were 20 men eating every day and they had seven towns that came to buy. They had a store and had a good atmosphere. They made constructions, there were people, now they don't make constructions, I don't know what they do. And nothing, the people from here were taking things from my age.
I had an uncle who, well, my mother raised him, and he was a son, when my mother died, well... ...he would come to look for the stores because there was no road, there wasn't, you had to cross the river, because this took me with my grandmother, with my mother's sister, and there you were. The aunt I had, my father's aunt, raised my brother, I didn't know her much. The aunt took the whole life like that, but I tell you, I was up to fourteen years old. Then she took the life like that, but I tell you, I was up to fourteen years old. Then they came to look for me to bring the goats, with the sheep, with the cows. They took me to the mountain with them to dig, everything, everything. I worked in the field, to do anything, everything. Then my father went to Seville to get married. My mother went for us. To bring her children from her, to leave because they didn't let me say anything, I left, period. When I was old enough I left and went.
Here I worked for money we didn't have. I tell my daughter that I was thrown years and years without seeing a peseta because there was none. Here what there was yes, I tell her, you could live without money. But not there. There was light, you enjoyed the parties without money. But here as there wasn't, there was light, you enjoyed the parties without money. But as there wasn't, you stopped eating and as you saw young men from 20 to 25 and 25 young women, you went to the fair and you went for a walk, to see the young men in winter and summer. the parties, there were more parties, yes, a lot in Madrid too and here.
And that's what there was, I France, I worked in a restaurant and then in a dry cleaner. That's what there was, and when I came back I was about to get married and the first son I had was in the dry cleaner for two years and then I stayed there for another six years.
Then we had to come because we had a girl here, a boy in Madrid with my sister-in-law and we couldn't come to Madrid, we picked up our three children and we went to work. There we also had a churro place with dried fruits and we worked a lot too.
The change was very big... From the vacuum cleaner... there was a mop for scrubbing. But when I got back to Madrid there was no mop. And you know what they did to us? Well, they made us kneel to scrub and to scrub and everything. I said "In France, this is done, there's a brush that's put on and you cleaned it.
Changing from France to Madrid was much harder than changing from Sendereiz to France, you can believe it? Because when I arrived in Madrid I didn't speak spanish, I spoke French and Galician, I didn't speak Spanish. I spoke Italian, I spoke Portuguese, but not Spanish, and my husband was Spanish
7. Abelina continuation
It took me a long time to get used to Madrid. It was worse for me than in France. In France, I adapted to what there was and quickly learned to do things. In Madrid, talking and doing things, buying, going to the doctors... I had to learn to speak Spanish in Madrid. Besides, the work group I had there were French. In France, I had friends, I knew, I looked for jobs, I knew how to deal with everything. I knew how to find work for the Portuguese, for the Italians, I had Polish friends. And when I arrived in Madrid, my sisters were in the town, a town 30 kilometers from Madrid. So here I didn't know anyone, and it cost me a lot, it was very hard for me. But I adapted and now I have adapted to everything.
I arrived here at Senderiz and had to work. As soon as the people from here rested, we worked.
I talked with the Portuguese, we exchanged bread. They had black bread, I had white bread mixed with corn, and we exchanged the bread. I went to get corn to Portugal. All that way to María's house. She was in charge of the cherries and above there. And then we had some very big donkeys that carried about 6 or 7 kilos of cherries. Besides selling them in Portugal, we stayed two or three days to harvest honey and then we brought things from there, walking to Portugal, crossing the mountains. I had, many times I went directly to buy, I took, we had a horse, I took a horse, but you had to be careful with the guards because they took your purchase, if they caught you crossing the border. So around here, going through the road, crossing the mountain, they could be there or they couldn't be there.
Normally, I went in the morning and returned at night with the horse walking. I went at 36 and crossed to Portugal and went to Vila de Crastro, which was where there were shops. Where now we go to eat at the restaurants, before we went to the shops to buy. To sew, coffee, rice... we went to the store, because there was nothing with the guerrillas and the war. Later, the guerrillas and the war, there was nothing, there was nothing.
The Portuguese had a few carts that came. Some had relatives, they came and we gave them things, we gave them bread, we gave them potatoes. They carried small sacks of corn or potatoes or bread and things like that, they carried to eat.
I was born in the war. The same weeks that the war broke out, I was born. My father escaped to Portugal and was like, well, he would be about twelve years there, around there, through the mountains of Portugal and there through the houses of Portugal, well hidden. My mother brought the food until they killed him, they killed him in the war, in front of our house.
And my father stayed there, I already tell you that they took me to the town of Parada and then my father came and married one from here and I was needed to work, then they came to get me. And as then the parents had all the rights, it is not like now that children also have rights, but before children had no rights, only the parents.
8. Rosa, Maruja and Rosa invited me to accompany them on their usual daily walk.
Today, as it was very hot, we started walking at seven o'clock.
By the road, it’s very hot. Is there shade around here or not?
Yes, there is shade up to the river.
But I usually go to Vilarino, and at this time, there is shade along the whole road.
We should take the road, because now there are a lot of ticks.
Yes, one fell on my leg yesterday. They are very small, but they still stick.
Yes, I took it out with tweezers, Antonio helped me because it was on the back of my leg.
When we used to go to the mountains with the goats, there were ticks too, and it didn’t bother us, right?
There weren’t as many before.
There were, there were. It didn’t matter to us.
Well, we all wanted the same thing.
We all wanted the house in the village and now we are going to stay there.
We'll see, that’s all, because the ones who live here are us.
The day we can’t live here, it’s over. Because the kids, when they come, have the food prepared, everything.
When they have to do it themselves, they don’t come. They don’t come back to this place.
There are still a lot of cows here. They usually go higher up.
The 36 is full of them.
Yes, I saw them too when we went up.
When we went to eat at the 36, we also saw A Fraga and ate there, by the pool.
Turn around, Rosa.
It’s very sunny out there.
Yes, yes, this is where the sun starts.
Let’s go back to Vilarino.
I don’t know if I’ll make it to Vilarino.
When we get halfway, we’ll see if we can continue.
Look, more cows.
But there used to be many more.
In the village there used to be eighty or ninety.
There were a lot of people, and each one had 4 or 5. When there were a lot of us, there were also many cows.
I grew up with 6, and there were others with 6 too.
Well, six, five, or four... Many goats. With our neighbors, we herded six or seven dozen goats.
And we went with them to the field every day. All over the field.
But then our parents got old and couldn’t do it. And their children went abroad looking for work, and everything stayed here.
It was lost.
France, Switzerland, Germany, Venezuela, Canada.
Andorra also has a lot of people! And Barcelona. Yes, many people went to Barcelona.
At that time people were emigrants, they would send a little money, the money the kids sent was worth more than what the cows produced. For the cows, you had to have as many dead as alive for them to say anything, otherwise it was for nothing. When you sold the hill, you had nothing.
You had spent the money.
9. Continuation
People borrowed money with the promise of the calf. When it was sold, it was just to cover the costs. It stayed the same. Hard times. May they never come back! It was fun, but there’s no poverty!
Shall we turn around?
There used to be cherries all over this field.
I don’t remember a cherry year like the last one.
This year they all flew away, overnight there was nothing. There’s nothing here either.
There’s nothing. No pears, no apples.
No, I have apples. I also saw pears.
There used to be a lot to eat, and now there’s nothing.
For the broth? Well, you’d have to put the beans... Soak them?
Oh, yes. The soaked beans, yes. A
nd then the meat, put it in and then... whatever there was, right?
There was pork that fit in. And when the bean was cooked, you’d throw in kale and various potatoes, and the meat, well, very, very white.
Well, each one has its recipe.
Yes, that’s what it is... you have to cook a lot. And the meat too. And they also put in the loin. When the meat turns very white, very white, that’s when it’s ready.
Here we call it “unto” to give it flavor. We also put it in. It was just for the house, there was nothing else.
We killed the pig and used it. Today, when we make broth it’s a party, but in the old days we had it every day.
Shall we stop here or do you want to keep going down?
No, it’s fine.
Then let’s go back! I’m not young anymore.