Sunday 22 March 2015

Algarvian Winterlude

It is exactly three months ago that we arrived in Portugal and we're itching to get going again in a week.
Mainly we have been not cycling very much. But we have been busy

We spent Christmas and New Year in Tavira. Resting, waiting for a new wheel, doing some gardening with Flor at Monte Gurugu, coming up with ideas for a new show, turning the old show into Portuguese and enjoying the luxuries of having a kitchen and cooking our own food every day. And all the time thinking about carnival, making carnival costumes and trying to get people to come and join us for a ride to the famous Loule carnival. In the end it was just the two, what where they called , what where they called, the two parrots, no pirates, bon dia bon dia, Jean La Peep and Jolly Molly making our way to Bordeira. Here we found a true excellent local carnival and a couple of cyclists that we shanghaied and took to Loule carnival. In Loule we found and joined forces with another pirate crew, the Corridas Carnavalescas das Barreiras Brancas.Here's a picture of their ancestors 40  years ago.

Here a little slideshow from our journey from Tavira to Lagos...
  

After carnival we returned to Lagos to stay with our old friends from the Laboratorio de Actividades Creativas. http://www.lac.org.pt
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We settled in at the LAR Galeria, did a Bluescreen, showed some photos at photographias de meu computador, did our show again and got creative upstairs...
Ducky Deko lives again, long live Ducky Deko! He will be appearing in our new street wise show:
The Pedal Powered Scopigotone! Appearing on a street near you soon!

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Ducky was happy to find himself in the company of the Birdman, who was upcycling carpets from St.Vincents palacio, turning them into works of art.... carpets that will fly again. Hail to our feathered friends!
http://www.birdman.de/
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Oh an you get another glimps into our new spectacular.... The Pedal Powered Scopigotone!.... test ridden here by Mustafa Moustique from Bollywood Pizza, Lagos.
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Wheel building time at the Bikey Hut in Barao sao Joao.
After some wheely wheel problems in Spain Sylvia now has a what we believe to be a near indestructible super wheel, custom built. Thank you Ben for the instruction and guidance!
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A chance encounter with a cyclist from Greece, a technical problem solved, a self portrait on the streets of Lagos. It's a small world for cyclists, we realise we meet a lot of the same people on our travels... Wheel most likely bump into Aris again, no doubt. Ate proxima amigo!
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Ah and a little plug for the Algarve bike polo team https://leagueofbikepolo.com/club/lagos-algarve 
The Portuguese National Tournament will be held in Barao this May, to find  a Portuguese team to play in the European Finals in Zaragoza, Spain at the end of the year. Anybody wishing to know more, teams that want to come and play (non portuguese teams also welcome) contact Ben at algarvebikepolo@gmail.com
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Lagos em Transicao are recruiting new members and are busy making little events. So we joined them for a film screening of  'Another World is Possible' and cycled from Lagos to Odiaxere with a little posse of cyclists and some music of course. Get involved and create another world, because we need it! https://www.facebook.com/TransitionLagos
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Good night Galeria LAR, we'll be back one day, because bicycles always come round again!
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Winter is definitely over now and it is time for us to come out of hibernation and to go for bike rides and pic-a-nics.