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Macau Reunion - the 3rd Encontro - March 1999(Millie Brown's Epistle)"Though our trip to Macau was only one week long, we spent our “free day” visiting Hong Kong, and it certainly was jam-packed with full days of activity.  Sunday March 21: Arrival in Macau. We were picked up and delivered to the HOLIDAY INN, MANDARIN or whatever hotel the groups were staying in. There were about 120 of us on EVA Airlines who flew into Macau’s International Airport with a stopover in Taipei. Layover was about 4 hours but it didn’t seem so long this time because there was a contingent of about 40-50 filomacs from Los Angeles and another small bunch from Seattle. It was fun though, because many of us were all decked out in our UMA T-shirts... we didn’t want to be outdone by the Brazilians this time! (Please note that everywhere we went to, there were buses to take us. Really nice!) Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy on arrival and then the sky broke down and it rained (cried buckets of rain -- probably Macau was so happy to see us old-timers returning, or something! Also, we were expecting WARM weather, but froze to death... the first 2 - 3 days, it certainly was cold. Then the second half of our visit, it was HOT HOT HOT... 7:00 p.m. We were feted with a Cocktail Reception at the Lusitano Restaurant in the CAT (Tourism Activities Center) building. Seats, as usual, were SCARCE so most of us have to do our usual ‘balancing’ act with our small plates and wine glasses and eating and drinking at the same time! This is one of the awful things about the Encontro -- not enough seating! 7:00 p.m. Picked up to go to Governor’s Palace  7:30 p.m. Fireworks and Fountain Light and Sound Show in front of Palace.8:00 p.m. Reception at the Praia Grande Governor’s Palace. Greeted by the Governor, his wife, and Zezito. Handshakes with the governor and his wife, but kisses on both cheeks from Zezito, who turned around to Governor’s wife and said: “she’s my cousin”. The Governor’s wife retorted: “yeah, they’re all your cousins!”... Fantastic amount of food and drinks! This time the gardens were covered with thick plastic ... much nicer than before. 1:00 p.m. we were hosted to a lovely Chinese luncheon at the Plaza Restaurant by the Fundacao Oriente. This is the philanthropic foundation that has been giving us Macanese quite nice subsidies over the last few years.  6:30 p.m. We visited the Macau Museum in “Monte”. This is the old Fort Monte . What they have done to this place is unbelievable. Because Monte is on a hill , they have escalators taking you up to the museum which is on four floors – really well thought out. There are exhibits of old Macau, and even a special showcase displaying all the flags of the different “Casas” (Casa de Macau, UMA, etc.) all over the world. Also, write-ups of ‘the Diaspora’ of the Macaenses, when Hong Kong came into existence and jobs were first available, the first flow of filomacs immigrated to Hong Kong. Very very interesting. 7:30 p.m. Dinner was served on the Terrace and under enormous elite tents. Food, food, food ... and drinks to boot. Filipino servers all over the place picking up plates and glasses the minute you set it down. Once again, seating was hard to get, but it was better than the Governor’s Palace! BB’s stomach wasn’t feeling too good. I think many people got sick with the food here. Perhaps the food was left out too long, especially the sardines, and salad dressings, not to mention the desserts. Talking about desserts (and I’m not a dessert eater), those ‘natas’ were surely the best in Macau. The ones I ate at the Belem in Lisbon weren’t as good! “The Macanese Community still residing in Macau actually suffers the purge of an unavoidable and fatal exile. It will, inexorably, become a Diaspora . Still, distant from their native and self-identifiable habitat and having to submit to novel living conditions and to the demands of their new Countries, we truly believe that the Macanese will always express their notable character of adaptability, maintaining their Cultural ‘identity’ distinct from the Portuguese and the Chinese, and recovering their hybrid facets as identifiable traits of personality and individuality.” Wednesday March 24: (Macau Free Day) We took the 9:00 a.m. jetfoil to Hong Kong. There were nine of us: BB and I; Yvosie and Robert; Elaine, Marcus and Marcus Jr. and Bernard’s sister Jackie and husband, Sonny Carneiro. Tony and Cora; Henry and Fanny and Sharon (one of Vivian’s daughters) met us at the jetfoil terminal. Because there were now fourteen of us, we have decided to take public transport to Happy Valley Cemetery. This, of course, was more fun than riding in a bunch of taxis. I’m one of those that like to ride the noisy trams (that is, only ‘for pleasure’). Henry suggested we get off at Wanchai to ‘buy flowers’ because there may not be anyone selling them at the cemetery, so we got off at Wanchai. We then walked the short distance to the cemetery. Without our ‘guides’, we wouldn’t believe it was such a short walk! Seems everywhere is ‘so near’. After the Happy Valley Cemetery visit, we decided not to visit Vivian’s grave as it was quite far and we didn’t have enough time. We then walked back to Wanchai or Causeway Bay for lunch at a real nice dim sum restaurant. After lunch, BB succumbed to the “Macau revenge” so, after lunch, Fanny and Sharon took him home to rest while the rest of us followed Henry around to the malls to do some shopping. Nothing much to buy really that we can’t get for less in San Francisco.  It certainly was a nice reunion of us Ribeiros com Castros! Elaine and I were ‘best cousins and friends’ when we were growing up, being only 2 months’ apart. Of course, she has a better memory than me. I was always thinking of ‘arraviro’ things and getting her in trouble, sez she! I now look forward to her visit here to the U.S.A. (Pictured here: Elaine, Mildred, Marcus Jr, Yvonne and Marcus Snr.)We left Henry and Fanny’s place by cabs and caught the 9:00 p.m. jetfoil back to Macau. Thursday March 25:  9:30 a.m. was Procession time. The route was from the Sao Paolo Ruins to the Se Cathedral. BB was one of the bearers of Our Lady of Fatima. At the II Encontro, he was one of the bearers of Our Lady encased in a Silver Shrine. At this III Encontro, it seems they brought out more statues for the procession! After the procession, we were treated to another fabulous Chinese luncheon at the Plaza Restaurant again, except this time they served us a whole suckling pig! Wow, no wonder when I returned my cholesterol was a wee bit high! Friday March 26: We were invited by Aunty Florinda to lunch, so we did not go on the Tour of the Islands of Taipa and Coloane. Poor Aunty Florinda was anxious to see us but with such a lot of events for us, we couldn’t put them off. We wanted to visit her but she couldn’t accept visitors because her place was too small; however, she treated us to a wonderful lunch. We met at the restaurant, A Lorcha, in the Barra district. We went to this restaurant the last time we visited Macau and the food there was always good. We had a fabulous dish of huge (9” long) Prawns “Reichado” (split in half and marinated with garlic, salt, pepper and chung in olive oil). (Reichado means “broiled”). This was a real highlight of our trip! Other dishes included: Lamb stew; bacalhau; and others... There were 8 of us: BB and I; Yvonne and Robert; Aunty Florinda; Olga; Nilda (Uncle Julinho’s wife); and Aunty Florinda’s amah of 45 years: Ah Cho. She insisted on coming because she wanted to see “Josefina’s children” again. She was invited to all our many luncheons at the II Encontro. At this Encontro, we did not have so many Family Luncheons mainly because Avo did not attend, nor Uncle Julinho. Also, Zezito was tied up with all the Encontro activities, being the Chairman of this humongous event. 7:30 p.m. We attended the Macanese Festival under the theme “Nostalgia”. Boy, was it hot! Whereas the CAT/Forum we performed last time was ‘open’, this time they covered the whole place with plastic awning. It looked real nice but being a hot day, it made things even hotter. The Stage was not facing the Head Table, so everything got screwed up again. I would hate to say we sang well. We practiced at a lower key to accommodate the group, then it was decided to go one, but wound up two notches higher! The dancing was good. (I didn’t dance this time, though I practiced in case someone broke a leg or something!) The Brazilians started their Carnival LATE, with all their fabulous costumes. Meantime, we had to wait until they were finished -Meoowwww! They were good, but they took too long and had too many people bobbling around. Then they invited the audience to come on stage to join their carnival – Wow! This was not on the agenda, so we had to wait even longer. Saturday March 27: 7:30 a.m. Judas and Tininha brought 10 orders of chi-cheong-fun ; 10 orders of pak kor chook ; and 10 yau cha kwais over to our “Suite”!! Then Y and R, Sonny and Jackie, Thelma and Wiggy joined us “in our hotel tai pai tong ” for breakfast! What a nice thing Judas did for us again! We then invited them to lunch with us at the Riquexo (pronounced Rickshaw) that belonged to Freddie Palmer and his in-laws. Dite and Antonio Manuel joined us and we all treated the other two couples for lunch of Macanese cuisine of: Arde Cabidella ; Minchie ; Lombo por de Bulacho ; Chai ; Bolo Bacalhau ; Porco bafa aca ; and some other goodies. We had some ‘bicas ’, Cokes , tea, and desserts. Can’t believe it, but the whole bill for all 12 of us came to only 560 Patacas , or about US$80 with tip. Oh, by the way, the Riquexo is like a Cafe -- no table cloth -- but homey. It certainly was fun as none of us had too much change left since we were returning home that evening. Dite had to go get some change for each of us and later when we transferred we found out that we could have made a “lump-sum” payment for the bus ride for all 11 of us, i.e. Patacas 22.50!! At our transfer point downtown, we met a few friends who saw our plight, and “donated” a bunch of coins for our ride to Sao Augustino. Yes, it was so nostalgic seeing the “Bonzaria” (where the monks would sound their Gongs every night at 9:00 p.m.); Salesiano School; Sao Lorenzo Church (could only go to the garden but the Church was closed until Mass time); Sao Augustino -- this Jesuit Church was open and we visited behind the Altar where Jesus in his purple robe was carrying His Cross. This time, His eyes didn’t look so scary -- guess I must be “in His grace”! 5:30 p.m. - Zezito and Olga came to the Hotel to say goodbye to us. BB and Robert received a lovely big “boxed” bottle of Vinho Tinto each as farewell; and Olga spoiled us with other gifts." Notes:
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