First Day to Play

Breakfast in the sunshine

In the morning, the weather actually dawned sunny and warm, so we collectively decided to set up our breakfast table out in the sunshine in the front garden.  It was actually quite nice, sitting out and eating breakfast in the sunshine, such a luxury that we too rarely get to experience.

After breakfast, we all went down to the clubhouse to check out e-mail, although we discovered that it was closed this day, and so we had to sit outside to check any mail.  Luckily we managed to do that, and then returned to the main house (a somewhat strenuous 15-minute walk uphill) where I was then surprised when those in the "other car" suddenly all up and left.

Sintra, with the castle visible at the top

I was soon to realise that a continual problem of this trip would be that with two people speaking every language (Dutch, Norwegian, and Swedish), as well as many people understanding most of the other languages, that conversations were frequently happening around me in languages I did not understand.  I know I've often been told it's rude to have conversations in languages people around you don't understand if you speak one that they do understand, but apparently with this group that did not apply.  Hence, a continual problem for the entire trip was to be people speaking without me knowing what was going on.  Irritating, but what could I do?  Yet an unusual experience for me, as given that I speak English, Spanish and German (as well as understanding some French), I've normally got most things covered, but here I was clueless.

It turns out that they were going to lunch at the house of the Belgian's godmother, who lived nearby.  Which left me alone with the Norwegian, making somewhat tedious conversation until the Blonde Dutchman came back from wherever he had been, and we all decided to go for a quick lunch in the nearby town of Sintra.  

We drove over there, and ate a quick lunch out in the sunshine, where I had some lovely lasagna as we sat and watched the people strolling through the square.  We couldn't stay long however, as we had to quickly get going to go play polo at the club.  

Sintra

We drove back to where we'd been the day before, and made our way out to the polo fields, where they had the ponies waiting for us.  The grounds were still a bit wet and muddy, but playable, so they got us set up on ponies and we started stick-and-balling.  

I was pleased to discover that my talents had not fled me entirely, although I certainly was nowhere near as good as I'd once been.  The Blonde Dutchman seemed to be hitting the ball reasonably well, and I was pleased to note that I was much better at connecting with the ball than the Norwegian.  I'd wondered how my skills would stack up with this group, and so it was a relief to find that I was among the better players, in fact that I was the next-best player after the Blonde Dutchman.    

The Portuguese Guy and the Blonde Dutchman at dinner

I perhaps pushed my pony a bit too much while stick-and-balling, as then we got into playing chukkers, and I found my pony to be quite exhausted (and I had no whip to encourage it to most faster).  In the end, I had to change to a second pony much quicker than everyone else, which taught me something about running my pony into the ground too quickly.  

I found myself on the same team as the pro we were playing with, facing off against the Blonde Dutchman and another talented player, a friend of the pro who had come to round out the numbers.  The Norwegian and the Portuguese guy were also playing with us, but they were both of such a lower standard than the rest of us that they didn't add much to the game, and I can't even remember which teams they were on.  

The Portuguese Guy in the quasi-outdoor restaurant at dinner

It was fun facing off against the Blonde Dutchman, as I found riding him off to be like hitting a wall, I've never more solidly felt like I were running smack into an immovable object.  I know he's a big guy, but that was ridiculous!  I complimented him on this, although he assured me it had much more to do with his pony than it did with him.  Indeed, a bit later on I managed to sneak my pony around behind another to avoid a ride-off, grab the ball and whisk it down the field, which the Blonde Dutchman laughed and noted, "Now there is where we see your riding skill!"  Indeed, it helps to have been riding horses for my entire childhood...helps me stay on through anything!

Indeed, at one point during the game, the Norwegian's pony slid in the mud, and when it went to its knees, I knew the Norwegian had no chance of staying on, and he tumbled mightily into the ground.  Luckily, all that mud meant that the ground was quite soft, and so he was able to change ponies and get right back on another.  We all had a good laugh at his expense however, as the rule in polo is that if you fall off, you owe everyone else a beer.  I've seen that debt paid many times, and this was no exception.  The Norwegian was definitely on the hook for beer!  

The giant bucket of beers at dinner

After the game, we all went out for beers with the pro and his father at a nearby place, sitting out in the sun some more, eating ham and enjoying the cold lager, always one of my favourite parts of playing polo.  I wish we could have stayed longer drinking, but alas, we still had to drive back to Cascais.  

We followed the Portuguese Guy into Lisbon, as he had to drop off his sister's car for her to drive home after she finished studying at the university.  He then hopped in our car, and we went back home, showered and changed, and then went out for dinner at a place the Portuguese Guy knew of, a Portuguese tapas place that was very popular with the locals.  

The Portuguese Guy and the Blonde Dutchman at dinner

The place was really neat, as we had to sit outside (the Portuguese Guy was such a gentleman, placing me seated right underneath the heater so that I wouldn't get cold), and they brought us a giant bucket of beers and then plates and plates of absolutely delicious food.  Sure, a lot of it I didn't recognise, but it was mostly seafood and mostly delicious!

We had a bit of fun with our waitress at the end of the evening, when we decided to take all of the random currencies in my wallet and pile them up as though we were settling the bill with them.  That got quite a confused look from our waitress, who we eventually took pity on and paid the bill in Euros.  

Paying the bill in all the world's currencies

The Portugese Guy asked if he could have a dollar from my wallet, which I happily obliged.  Yes, a bit random perhaps, but quite funny.  All in all, an excellent day, a great first day of playing polo!