Helping out my Local Community - Restaurante Terra Bela in Monte Frio, Portugal

in Natural Medicine4 years ago (edited)

Picknick table near Terra Bela.JPG

Those of you who've been following me for a while, will be aware of the fact that, after spending four months in The Netherlands, I recently returned to the little town where my house resides - Cold Mountain ( Monte Frio ), Portugal

I'm happy to be back, but - as usual - I'm here with mixed feelings.

Not just because I'm Dutch and I always feel like I'm leaving friends and family ( my younger brother, younger sister and parents ) behind, but also because of how many of the town's people are feeling, the energy that they are giving off.

Being hypersensitive ( and having been depressed and burnt out for quite a while in the not too distant past ), I started realizing more and more that this 'negative' / heavy energy was rubbing off on me. I was wondering why I felt bad, being in such a great place, and then the light bulb switched on. It was the overall energy and I can do more about it than I'd been aware of up till now.

Believe me, this picturesque little mountain town, with apparently 200 inhabitants in Summer ( it seems like there are way less people at the moment ), might seem like paradise for those who just see my pictures or who visit it on a day trip. In reality, it's not. The grass is always greener on the other side. If you spend enough time in a place, and you've got an eye for details, you get to know the 'dark side' sooner or later. Many people here are suffering, most have lived a rough life and that's clearly visible.

This isn't meant to be a negative post, I don't want to throw a pity party here, but the point that I'm trying to make, is that I'm feeling how many people are struggling here and I realized that it's affecting me more than I like and - more importantly - that I want to AND CAN help out.

The awesome thing is that I'm now aware that I can indeed help out this community ( and my town's restaurant in particular ) by blogging about this place - I intend to do this in the most positive way possible - by sharing stories, pictures, possibly little videos ( if I manage to find my tiny Gopro camera that I seem to have lost months ago in my house ) and by gifting the entire payout of these posts to the town's one and only café/bar/restaurant, over time.

BACK TO TODAY

When one of the restaurant's owners / proprietor's, who's also the cook ( it's run by a couple and the woman's mother ), told me how much they had been - and still are - struggling in the last couple of months, my heart started aching.

I told the guy that I felt guilty for not having been there ( for them ) in the last four months. He replied that he understood, that it's important to visit family and friends. I agreed but added that I really wanted to help them out - from now on - and not just by buying their drinks and food.

At first I thought of just 'sponsoring' the place with some monthly money, so it will be easier to pay their bills ( electricity, TV, Internet, phone and so on ) but then I realized that I can help them in a way more powerful way, thanks to the power of the blockchain.

So this afternoon I created a Hive account named @terrabela-mf
Terra Bela ( Beautiful Earth ) is the name of the restaurant and mf is short for Monte Frio ( not for the vulgar meaning that some of you might think of ).

If the username could have been more than 16 characters I would have called the account terrabela-montefrio but alas.

So, aside from my usual creative blogging, I will - from now on - be posting about the town of Monte Frio and its restaurant. Although gifts to @terrabela-mf are welcome, I'd appreciate upvotes, shares and - even more fun - comments.

I'll think of a way to get the people of the restaurant on board too but I'll need to talk with them about it first. For now I'll do all the work. They have helped me out a lot since my arrival here, in the Summer of 2018 and now it's time to help them out.

Expect a first post from the @terrabela-mf account soonish.

I thank you, in advance, for your help.

Much love,

Vincent

The picture above this post was taken by me on a walk around town, yesterday night during the golden hour ( no filters or photoshopping ). It shows a picknick table across the road near the restaurant. The view from there is pretty amazing

I also decided to add two pictures of my parents - with their permission - while on their visit to Portugal, in June last year. The first shows them enjoying a coffee at restaurante Terra Bela, the second shows them staring at me, while I enjoy the view behind them. And, as I don't want to stay invisible, here's a picture with the three of us out there, back then.

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so YOU are being the natural medicine that Monte Frio needs - how perfect is that?? Love that last pic of you with your parents the most. Being sensitive is a gift to prompt first feeling & empathy, and then action in a healthy human. 😍

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Dankjewel @artemislives :<)

I actually posted this in Nat Med by accident but I know realize that it fits in pretty well.

Being sensitive is a gift to prompt first feeling & empathy, and then action in a healthy human. 😍

Can I borrow this quote from you? ;<)

It's so true and very much aligns with the message I try to spread with my Hypersensitivosaurus stories

🤗

Hi @vincentnijman,
I'm from Porto. I really enjoyed your initiative to help promote the Terra Bela Restaurant to help the owners of the restaurant. Unfortunately its a bit far for me to visit these days. Can you send me some pictures of the restaurant to try to post on my account and on twitter?
If you accept I will send you a telegram link with a group from the Portuguese community.
Hug from Porto - Portugal 🙏

Boa tarde :<)

Thank you for reaching out to me. I appreciate your offer, muito amável da sua parte.

I was wondering if I can find you on discord too?
This is me there: VincentNijmanZENsitivosaurus#5870

Um abraço desde Monte Frio,

Vincent

Bom dia amigo,
Yes, I will try to chat with you on discord. Thank you for send me your user.
Send me message on Discord portugalcoin#7007

Abraço do Porto 😀

I just sent you an invite :<)

E obrigado a ti por estender a mão

( had to look up this expression )

🤗

Amaaaazing! I wish you the best of lucks in this beautiful proyect ❤️

Muchas gracias ( or as we say here: muito obrigado! ) @vicvperezdelara
Thanks for your kind words, I'm feeling positive about this

🤗

What a beautiful initiative! I'm glad we're in tune. I have similar intentions with Terraventura! And what a coincidence that both places start with "Terra". And what beautiful images! thanks for sharing a little of this.

Much prosperity and abundance comes for these magical places!

Let the good begin! Action! Hugs.

Thank you for your kind words @migud

No coincidence indeed, we need to save 'la terra' :<)

Nice to hear that you plan to help out Terraventura. Are you considering to make an account for them too? If so, feel free to ask for help / guidance on Discord.

✨🤗✨

Thank you @ocd for your recurring help. It's much appreciated 🤗

Aww that's so sweet of you to help them out like that :)

And ahhh your family is adorable.

Rrrrrrrrrr.......... thanks for your kindness, amiga
🤗

This is a very nice gesture! It will slowly grow and maybe help them!

It is and you can leave out the 'maybe'. It's already helping ;<)

Awesome!!

One of my favorite words ;<)

That's such a wonderful work you have taken up @vincentnijman, I wish you loads of success and hope that you can be of good help to your community. And awesome pictures of your parents. will follow @terrabela-mf

Thank you for your kind words and the follow.

🤗

 4 years ago  

So happy you had this realization that although there are some heavy vibes there and folks are struggling - you can help out - great idea! I wish you much success with that!

Thank you. I'm doing the best I can, just posted an update.

Oh, I LOVE reading about your ideas and community-centred living dear Vincent! I too have spent a huge amount of time and energy 'bigging up' my new hometown - it's a vital part of interweaving ourselves into a new culture and community; using our (relatively enormous) privilege of visibility, communications, networks, confidence, etc to draw positive attention to a place... All power to you - I love seeing intimate shots of simple scenes of a place too - this makes me want to visit much more than fancy Instagram poses and glamour! <3 Much love to you and yours!

Thank you for your kindness, Clare :<)

I literally just wrote about what you're saying here ( without being aware of it ), not making things prettier than they are.

Big hug back to you!

P.S. I'm very much aware that you've been doing awesome things for your 'home' town / community. I hope to start some kind of artist-in-residence project myself here, in the not too distant future.