Carolina

Those of you who know me well, are very aware that I do not make friends quickly.  In fact, most of the time I go out of my way not to impose myself on others.  I admire those people who can strike up conversations easily with people and I am fortunate to have married one.  Ian has an engaging manner and is often still speaking to someone, while I have already moved on.

Fortunately, we can both speak easily with Carolina.  We met her several years ago while at this hotel.  She is one of the desk personnel and when we were looking for someone who wanted to store/take and use our bicycles, she volunteered.  

While my green beauty at home is a come-apart bike and fits into a suitcase sized case, the airlines imposed heavy fees to transport bikes, just about the time that I got it.  So, it became much better value to rent bikes where we were going than try to take our own.  That was, until I looked to rent here on the Azores.  15 euros per day -- every day.  Well, when one is here for 3 weeks, that came to over 300 euros.  Yikes!  Enter Decathlon -- sport store for everything you can imagine.  And yes, they have bikes.  In fact, the basic bike I got (8 speeds) was 100 euros.  It was an easy decision and I got lots of riding out of it.  So at the end of our trip, we wanted to give it to someone who would use/appreciate it.  The lovely young lady from the front desk said she would take our bikes.  In fact, she has stored them for several years -- even for the last two when we could not come.  

Carolina and her husband live in a little row house which they have redone inside all on their own.  She said that it was basically an empty shell when they got it and I can believe it, having seen those types of properties along the streets.  They have set up the house to live on the bottom floor and have the upstairs for  their business (now finished) or storage or possibly a rental flat in the future.  It is a cozy space and still a work in progress, but she was delighted to show us around.  There is a balcony on the roof, but no garden.  We had a thousand questions, many of which had to wait till we took her to lunch yesterday as a thank you for storing our bikes.  Husband Ricardo is off working in Switzerland at a hotel, so we did not see him this time.  Being born and raised here on Sao Miguel, Carolina is a perfect person to answer questions of history and life on the island.  Much of what we gleaned from her will appear in future blogs.

Oh, the coverings over the car parks?  Sol Mar is an Azores based grocery chain and recently changed ownership.  The new group wanted to do something nice for their clients.  Now that is customer service.