A lake and a castle

My uncle Leonides and my godfather Moses took us around the island to help us find some more locations. The first place that we went was a lake near the center of the island that fit my memory and the script perfectly.

Afterwards we headed to the south of the island, where Leonides was born. We saw some nice towns over there, then continued our trek to find the main location for the film.

In the movie, the place where the main character stays in is supposed to be a modest old abandoned town. This has proven to be difficult to find. The main problem being that although we see many modest abandoned old houses, we also see a newer house right next door. This makes it easier very difficult for the audience to believe that someone could live there anonymously.

This brings me to the second to last picture. Although, the house pictured is far from modest, it fits almost all other criteria for our film. I had seen the house a few days earlier when we were fishing near Sao Mateos and had not thought much of it. But, as we were driving back from our trek around the island we passed by Sao Mateos and the house came to mind. I asked my uncle to take me to that house and we looked around. We loved it.

We will continue our search for alternative locations, but for the time being, that house is our leading candidate.

The last picture comes from the end of our journey and as anyone who has ever held a camera in their hand before would tell you, you never let a sunset go to waste.

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Yesterday we drove around the island to get a feel for what the various sides are like. We stopped and visited our German friends again and had a great time playing music into the night.

Today we went up to see the house that my mother was raised in, then went to visit an old friend of hers who makes various liquers.

We plan on hiking Pico mountain tomorrow morning.

First picture is of my mothers old house in Santa Luzia.

Second picture is of my mother's old friend, who used to live next door to her.

Third picture is of me and my little friend (one of the Robbins daughters)

Fourth picture is of the German director's beutiful and talented wife (she plays the violin with great skill) with her other daughter.

Fifth picture is of a couple of kittens that were playing at the distillery.

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Fishing in Sao Mateos

On the other side of the island from where we have spent most of our time sits the town of Sao Mateos. My uncle Leonides and my aunt Evagalina have a house over there.

We found some more ruins that could work for the main location of the movie, but we still haven't found the perfect spot. The rock formations on this side of the island are interesting; however, so we will definitely be shooting a scene or two over here. The Town also has the benefit of facing the west, so the lighting will be great for dramatic evening scenes.

My cuzin Renatto comes to Pico this week with his wife and if the weather permits we will climb Pico when he arrives.

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From up high

We took the road up to the bottom of the climbing spot and checked out the view.

First photo is a common sight in Pico.

Second photo shows Fial, the nearby Island. The clouds broke right after we arrived to show the view.

The sky has been pretty clear for the most part and we are planning on climbing up Pico sometime this week. We feel as though we will have a pretty good feel for the island by the end of the week and after we can explore some of the other Islands. Then in the last week that we are here, put together our storyboards.

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Full moon

Some things have changed since I've been here, but not much.

Finding locations that fit the script seems to be easier than I anticipated. In fact I am finding that there is much more here than I had dreamt up in my script.

With only one quarter of Pico scouted, the difficulty may be narrowing down what to shoot. It is amazing to me that very little is filmed here.

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Visiting the Robbins'

We met with a film director that lives in Pico and was referred to us by the film commission and spent the afternoon, evening and night with him and his beutiful family.

He showed us some great locations and had some good insight into the issues that may come filming in Pico.
Afterwards, he introduced us to his family and showed us a great time, as they were marvelous hosts.

We hope to see them again before we leave.

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Pico mountain

Today Pico decided to show herself for a few minutes. We drove to the town of Arcos to get a better view and by the time we got there Pico decided to be bashful and hide again.

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Lajido

First picture is of an old Portuguese oven.

Second picture is of the cliffs of Lajido.

Third picture is of a small "pool" that my mother learned to swim in when she was a little girl.

Fourth picture is of the road back to Lajido from the water.

Fifth picture is a bonus picture not taken in Lajido of the local swimming pool :)

This town is a great canidate for one of our locations. I picture the little Portuguese boy in the story running through the streets of this town.

Soon we will meet with a gentleman who works with the film commission here, we have lots to see!

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Pico

We have arrived at Pico! On the short flight over from Terciera all we could see were clouds. And then, out of nowhere came a volcano peak sticking out of the clouds, it was majestic and took our breath away.

My uncle and two of my aunts were there to greet us upon arrival. The satisfaction of finally arriving, seemed to make all of my sleepiness go away... well, at least for a while.

We sipped some wonderful Scotch while we waited for a meal to be prepared and then ate some eggs and a dilicous pork dish.

It didn't take long ; however, for the jet lag and lack of sleep to catch up with us and we had to crash. Dispite the lack of sleep, I still found it hard to get any quality rest as thoughts of the upcoming days ran through my head.

We will probably take it easy for the next day or two, then the real work begins as we scout locations and figure out the logistics of shooting a film out here. As of right now we are excited to take on the challenge.

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Leaving Terciera

Terciera was great, very beautiful. Had a productive and promising meeting with the film commission. We head to Pico next!

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Terciera

Beer at 11 am their time, 3 am my time

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Almost to Terciera

Half of an hour away from the azores. Almost no sleep in the last couple of days, but we're geared up and ready to meet with the film commission.

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Potty talk

Tourist tip #1

If you need to use the bathroom in the city go to the ritsiest place you can find. The hole in the wall type places not only have nasty bathrooms, but are non to kind about letting you use them.

The ritsy places not only let you use their bathrooms if you act like you belong there, but they'll hold thee door open for you as well. And boy aren't the bathrooms pretty... I didn't want to leave. :)

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Layover in Boston

Boston in a beautiful city... I'm tired...

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Off to boston

On my way to a 15 hour layover! Yay!

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Getting ready for portugal

9 more days until my trip to the island of Pico. Anderson and I are going there to scout locations and meet with the film commission for a feature that I am writing currently titled "The king of portugal". It's a "Don Quixote-esque" movie that takes place on the volcano island of Pico.

We've been planning on going to the azores for a couple of years now and it's really exciting to finally get to go. It has been over 15 years now since my last trip, so its going to be really interesting to see how my memory of the place from 15 years ago stacks up with present day Pico.

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Test 2

Test 2

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Test

Test text

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