Faro, fado, fish, fietsen and soulmates

If you are reading this blog, you are either family, a friend, a bored hydrologist taking a break or actually really interested in hydrology. It doesn’t matter, the year of 2010 welcomes you to this blog, which will keep you updated on our fieldwork in Portugal!

Getting here in Portugal was a bit of an adventure. We woke up in the middle of the night (some of us just stayed up) to be at the airport around 05:00 when we heard some ash cloud took a u-turn and was keeping us on the ground. Luckily we could leave the next day and we arrived at Faro airport in the afternoon, but not before Margreets bag was stolen in Amsterdam. So much for good luck! We made a pact though and we are now happy to provide Margreet with some cash in exchange for her smile in the coming holiday. ;)

So what have we done so far? Well, we've been swimming in the sea (with the fossils, EC meter did not work anymore). We went to a spring, we played Tarzan and Jane and furthermore we have been celebrating the fish and the famous fado.

So now for the real stuff:
The first week here in Faro consisted of an excursion, which introduced us to the concept of system thinking. This means we drove around the magnificent area of the Algarve (finally we understand retired Dutch people having their second home here) to see different types of wells and springs and we learned how to calculate hydraulic heads and how to connect it to groundwater flow. We also know now how to interpret water quality measurements in relation to geology, geomorphology, vegetation and land use ('go with the flow'). Tibor (former student of hydrology at the VU) also explained about the hydrology in the Campina area, north of Faro. Furthermore we found out that he has met his soulmate here in Portugal when he was here with Vincent (many many years ago). Barry almost met one too (luckily there is still 5 weeks left to find one).

In 2040: Henk and Richard will still be explaining about this region,then Henk will say: “I want to introduce you to Barry. He is a former student of the VU. He met his girlfriend in a local bar 30 years ago. Now he is an underpaid hydrologist.”

After the first week, we are now participating a bikingtour for middle-aged/retired Dutch people. Only 20 km and minimal 9 measurement points a day. As you can read, we are experiencing a lot of fun. We'll see how this will end on saturday, when Richard and Henk will try to crush our minds with system thinking.

We'll keep you updated about our adventures!

xoxo, Caroline and Margreet