The Algarve Revisited -- Part
Three
Coming back to the Algarve after staying somewhere else lets one see
the place anew. I've always found the Portuguese a strange people, but
things are starting to fall into place.
The customs here are far removed from the kind of life that ex-pats
from Northern Europe are familiar with. The place takes some getting
used to, that is, if you intend living in the community rather than
staying a tourist.
The first thing you have to remember is that the government is your
enemy and you need to keep a low profile. Dont put your money in a
local bank. It can be blocked and removed at a moment's notice without
you even being aware of it. If the tax man thinks you owe some money he
will simply take it. There will be no warning, no demand. Your money
just goes. Now try getting it back!
Get used to threats. Get used to policemen carrying machine guns if
they come to search your property, or stop you on the highway because
you were speeding.
Stay below the radar. Dont answer nasty letters, just pretend you dont
exist until the hassle, whatever it is, goes away. Most people from
northern climes dont understand this, they insist on arguing, to put
their point of view. That isn't how it works in Portugal. Give the
other fellow no foothold, no help at all. Leave them wondering. Leave
them to keep making the next move. Eventually they go away.
Friendly lot? Well, yes, and no. And that sums up a lot about the
Portuguese. Yes, they are friendly. Most of them speak
English, which is more than you can say for the pesky folk in Southern
Italy and Sicily. But they are friendly in a Portuguese way. You need
to understand how the underlying fabric of ethics works here.
The law simple doesn't work like it does in the UK. It is against you
automatically because you are not Portuguese. Most of the EU
regulations are not enforced in Portugal, and a lot of the taxes and
laws quite blatantly break the EU codes. If I gave chapter and verse I
would have to write a whole shelf of books.
So how does the law work? It doesn't start with prevention or
detection, it starts with an argument, called a denunciation. You can
do all sorts of illegal things without any interference until a
neighbour gets upset and denounces you. That's when the police make
their first move.
This means the penal code is not the basis for an ethical way of life.
Ethics is based on fear, and the need to get on with your neighbour.
Social behaviour is a delicate balance of deceitful behaviour on the
one hand, and a need to keep a low profile, and not upset your
neighbours, on the other.
On the one hand you will find a helping hand in your community if you
really need it. My friend ended up in hospital 400 miles from home. The
visitors saw she was alone, and rallied round, bringing in food and
other small gifts.
Another friend living in a small town in the Algarve had a problem with
his back and couldn't work, and because it took so long to get a
disability pension organised, his neighbours brought home boxes of
vegetables from the shops and left them at his door.
On the other hand, the average Portuguese person distrusts his
neighbour. Naturally, because he is deceitful himself, he thinks his
neighbour is too. When he buys a new site or a ruin, the first thing he
does
is put up a stout fence and a gate with a good lock. Only then can he
move building materials onto the site and start building.
Preferably he gets a fierce dog to bark at neighbours. He mistreats the
dog so it will dislike humans. And if he has something stolen, he
immediate suspects his neighbours.
It's a strange balance, and it takes some getting used to. It seems to
work, but for someone from the North of Europe, this ethical system
based on a solid foundation of deceit seems distorted. How on earth can
you teach ethics when the whole basis of society is a mistrust of one's
neighbour, while at the same time that same neighbour will support you
when you're ill. It's enough to give a moral philosopher nightmares.
john