208 hrs in 15 days

Wow, I was looking at my last post on the 31st of August and that seems like it was months ago. Things have been running pretty much flat out since my arrival, and we arent out of the woods yet, I have been given the morning off to recuperate some lost sleep and I wanted to write something to keep everyone in the loop.
I can remeber the last thing that I wanted to write before life became a routine of grapes, wine, day, and night. Of all of our everyday things that we take for granted, one of them has to be getting gas for our cars. In fact, depending on what state you are in you may or may not be allowed to do it yourself. Here in Portugal the closest gas station is twenty minutes away in Regua. My days start at 8 in the morning and I needed a few things from the grocery store. Much to my displeasure the store was closed (no yogurt!), so I decided to get some petrol and head back to the Quinta. Well, I pulled in to a busy station and got out for some diesel. And who would pull in right behind me? It was Nuno the other harvest hand I had been working with for a few days now, along with his rediculously loud techno. I asked him where you pay, thinking you had to pay first then pump. Just like it is anywhere in the US. I handed the man my money and told him which pump. Nuno had come in with me, and the man behind the counter asked me something in Portugese which was too fast for me to understand. I looked at Nuno who translated. Come to find out you pump first, then pay, then get your reciept. So I pump and come back in for my reciept. Nuno is still inside and askes me if I want a coffee real quick. Sure why not? So he makes me an espresso at this really nice self serve espresso bar. We put an entire packet of sugar in it and slam it down. Nuno pays and I leave, telling him I will see him at work. I cross the bridge out of town and make the right turn onto the road out to the Quinta. The road follows the river twisting and turning with no shoulders. I am behind a black Mercedes and we are both following a large truck. I look in my rearview mirror and see that Nuno has caught up with me. Then I look ahead a little closer and realize that we are both following Hugo, the assistant winemaker. I realize that this is going to be a race to the Quinta. Now, for your understanding know that I am driving the owner´s wife´s minivan. It is a six speed and corners ok, but its not the small VW that Nuno is driving or the Mercedes that Hugo has. But with the espresso and the sugar running up the RPMs it was hard not to have some fun. Nuno passed me pretty easily on a small straight away and we all overtook the truck on the next one. I was able to close the gap on some of the straightaways but they usually pulled away again in the corners. Nuno was smiling when I walked into the winery, but he had to give my some credit in that I did pretty good for driving a minivan. For a moment I thought of Jim´s Impreza and only thought about what could have been. Jim you would love it here, the roads and the terrain are perfect for your car and the way you drive. Some day.