Discovering our family history...Casal Vasco

I knew we were from Portugal, but I couldn't grasp exactly where our relatives grew up. Our Great Great Grandmother and Great Grandmother came over, when our Great Grandmother was only 16, because of an infected let.I know that might shock you, but as the story goes our Great Grandmother's sister had an infected leg and the doctor said it needed to be amputated. Our Great Great Grandfather said he wasn't going to do that, so in order to save her leg they would need to have an operation done in Lisbon. It was going to be expensive so they decided that they needed to go to the United States to make some money so she could have the operation. It was during WWI and they weren't allowing men to leave the country who were under a certain age. So they decided to send our Great Great Grandmother and her daughter, our Great Grandmother to the United States in Ludlow, MA to send some money back. I think it is truly amazing that in the year 1917 two young women, one in her 30's and the other no more than 16, went to go work in the United States alone. They planned on returning, but as life happens our Great Grandmother, Angela, fell in love and married our Great Grandfather while in the United States and didn't want to return. Slowly the entire family started coming over to America. My Grandmother was born in 1920 the first of 7 children. And as a result, they did make enough money for my Great Grandmother's sister to have the operation in Lisbon.

Now it is the year 2010 almost 100 years later and our 90 year old Grandmother and her three grandchildren are visiting the small towns where her parents, our Great Grandparents, grew up before they came to the United States.
I woke up that morning to my Grandmother knocking on the door of our hotel in Viseu. I opened it and she said, "Oh Margot! The buffet in this hotel is just wonderful! They have marmelada and queisada!" Basically jam and cheese. She said she used to mix the two together as a little girl--it was quite good. We ate a hearty breakfast and we were on the road again with Rui as our guide.
The first town that we wanted to pass through was Gouvei. The town sits in the mountain range of Sera de Estrella which is interesting because where we live in Virginia in the United States is called The Shenandoah Valley which means daughter of the stars. They both have similar meanings! Portuguese can't get away from our mountains. The mountains were spectacular! The views from the roads were breath taking. The roads, our Grandmother pointed out, were much better than they were last time she visited 45 years ago. There were huge boulders everywhere and almost all houses were made of stone. Our Great Grandfather was a stone mason and he used to build houses in Gouvei.
We crossed the river Mondego where our Great Grandfather almost drowned. It looked like it was a popular place to go swimming, but there were lots of rapids. After passing Gouvei we were on the search for Casal Vasco! We first landed in Fornos where our Great Grandmother used to walk, that was 2 miles away from Casal Vasco, to sell cheese. Rui had an idea of where Casal Vasco was, but he wasn't quite sure so he had to ask people along the way. Casal Vasco wasn't even in our Lonely Planet travel guide or on any map! This could be a long trip. We asked a woman in Fornos who was collecting water from the local fountain. She told us it was a little bit further up the mountain.
We climbed and climbed; we drove over cobble stone roads and passed an abundance of tile walls. It was very clean, but as we were driving we passed two black cats and Grandma shouted out, "Eww!" The Portuguese are very superstitious, but not to worry the Virgin Mary was everywhere guiding the way. Suddenly our Grandmother yelled out, "Stop!" Rui got a little confused because we hadn't arrived to Casal Vasco yet. Then we realized she was reading a sign. "They have stop signs in English!" she said. We all had a good laugh, because ironically in the middle of no where in Portugal, signs suddenly start to pop up in English.
We finally arrived in Casal Vasco! The garden country. We passed a church where our Great Grandparents got married. The entire town was adored with roses. I was happy to discover there was a soccer field right in the middle of the town. There was a plaza, cobble stone roads, and cute little houses. We decided to stop at a little cafe to ask for directions to the capela, a little church, to see if the statue of the Virgin Mary was still there that my Great Great Grandfather donated. He had promised in 1933 that if everyone made it to the United States safe and sound, that he would donate the statue to the capela. Sure enough the whole family had made it and now we were about to see if the statue still remained.
We entered the cafe and my Grandmother started speaking to the man behind the counter in Portuguese asking if he knew anyone by the name of Ribello. He said yes, that he knew her father's brother's family. I found this remarkable! There couldn't have been more than 1,000 people or less who lived in this little village and 100 years later this man in a little cafe knew my family? Grandmother told him she was 90 years old, that seems to be our ticket to getting just about anything we want :), and immediately a man at the bar says, "I will go get one of your relatives!" He runs out of the cafe and down the street. It was a Saturday morning and the town was deserted, but pretty soon he returned with a man who looked to be about in his 70s. He was a farmer and worked on our old family farm. Grandmother said he looked like a Ribello. Our family were farmers and taylors in the town and cultivated olives, apples, wheat and cherries. What a reunion!
Another cousin came who was in her 30s with blond hair and blue eyes. She offered to open up the capela so we could see the statue that our Great Great Grandfather donated. It was still there!!! It was a tiny capela, but right above the alter hanging from the wall was the statue of the Virgin Mary. It was truly amazing. We thanked her for her generosity and made our way back to the car. We had to press onward because we had to make it to our Great Grandfather's family. The Guerras.