Notes from Portugal: Cat Steals Chorizo, Escapes

So far, I have enjoyed Algarve, Portugal immensely. Together with ten friends, we rented a villa overlooking the town of Santa Barbara de Nexe, which is a pretty cute town, but it is literally overrun by British tourists who own all the property.

Needless to say, we have turned the house into a party house. There are only two problems with it, and–incidentally–both have to do with animals.

  1. The cat. The owners have a cat and it steals our food. A few days ago, it stole my friend David’s chorizo [sausage] which was on the kitchen counter, sealed in plastic. He paid 8 euro for this special piece of sausage in a market in Spain, and, honestly, I think it will take years of therapy for him to get over this loss. Yes, that is an actual portrait of kitty the thief from yesterday, taken with flash through the window for extra-special scary effect.
  2. Ants. Our very first night there, we made the mistake of leaving a piece of cheese out overnight (what goes better with port wine than cheese). By the next morning, we had literally armies of thousands of ants marching through the living room, bedroom and bathroom. Trying to put an old wive’s tale to the test, we tried to pour salt over their path but it only worked a little bit. What else works on ants, besides poison?