I have been quiet on here for a while and for a good reason.
This isn't the type of post that I was planning to write, but there's a reason why I'm not the Instagram or Facebook type:
I prefer to be honest.
In other words, making things more beautiful than they are, has never been my style, not even when I was a filmmaker or photographer.
Since the day when I started this account and wrote an intro post from my personal blog @vincentnijman , the situation around restaurante Terra Bela hasn't gotten any prettier.
I don't want to go into ( too much ) detail(s) here, as it's a personal matter but suffice to say that the owners seem to be struggling even more to keep their heads above water.
All this made me question if I should even continue this account, trying to raise money and awareness for my village's
or should I say hamlet? ( there's probably a couple of dozen people living here at the moment )
one and only café/restaurant.
In fact, my twin sister and brother in law said that it would probably be wiser to focus on my own life first.
Although I agree with them ( in a way ), I don't like quitting projects before I've seriously tried, so I will keep this up for the time being.
Anyhow, for those of you who are still with me, it's not always easy for a writer ( especially when you aren't writing fiction ) to be open and honest with your audience, without either making it too personal or the opposite - too general.
I can only hope that the situation turns around / changes for the better and will do my best to find the inspiration to keep sharing updates on the situation around Terra Bela, that isn't living up to its name these days, to say the least. Then again, my town, Monte Frio, isn't much of a cold mountain either, with temperatures between 30 and 40 degrees Celsius and a night temperature that hardly goes below 25 Celsius.
To end this on a more positive note, I had a pretty awesome lunch at the restaurant yesterday: Chanfana ( old goat in red wine, way nicer than it might sound ). I hadn't tasted this dish in many months and it's probably one of my favorite Portuguese meals ( as long as I still eat meat ). This was when I learnt about the worsening situation.
Enough with the negativity...
Now let me leave you with some pictures of this town, the amazing view that never ceases to impress me. These were taken two days ago, just before a little thunderstorm ( NO FILTERS, NO PHOTOSHOPPING ).
NOTE TO SELF: Perhaps I should just write more general posts about Monte Frio and not necessarily talk about the restaurant, now I think of it.
TO BE CONTINUED...
All payouts of this post will be used in an attempt to help out Terra Bela.