Travel in Books - Costa da Caparica, Portugal

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Books

• 📖Calamento - Romeu Correia | 🌍 Costa da Caparica, Portugal 1949

  
  

Calamento

by Romeu Correia

"Calamento" — “the act of silencing” or “the set of ropes needed to pull ashore the trawl fishing nets” — perhaps it is those who live by fishing who fall silent, weighed down by the burden they carry in hauling through life.

This is the book of my homeland, of my roots — a book that, as I read it, showed me the exact places and made me hear the people speaking as if it were today. A book that takes us on a journey into a Portuguese reality once lived across many of our coasts, but on this particular "Costa", it remains a vivid reality in the memories of many, and in the local dialect and expressions that are still so distinctly ours.

Calamento tells the stories of the fishermen, their wives, and their children from Costa da Caparica - once a small village and now a city just on the outskirts of Lisbon. These “homes” (men in the Costa dialect), women, and “crienças” (children in the Costa dialect) who had only their hands and faith to rely on, survived on what the land and sea gave them. The life described reveals the dichotomy of life on the beach — the life of the fishermen, for whom the beach is their livelihood, their sustenance, and often their fate; and the life of the holidaymakers, for whom the beach is an escape and a vacation. One cannot exist without the other, in a fragile balance where money rules — those who have it eat, and those who don’t, perish.

The beach is very different today, but even in 1949, its fate was already sealed:

"For years now, the beach — their beach — had been dying slowly. Everything their eyes once saw in its original shape and character was fading with time. Stone masons carved into the rock, stone-and-lime walls began to take the shape of windows and doors; beams were hammered in and covered with flashy tiles. (...) In just a handful of years, Costa da Caparica beach had taken a devilish turn. What a shock for those who remembered the reed and thatch huts, here and there, familiarly scattered on the sand! The old Costa had been something else: to the north, the people of Ílhavo; to the south, the people from Algarve — all living off the fishing seasons, yes, but alone.”

(translation from portuguese made by me directly from the book)

The old beach, in its beautiful and cruel paradox, transformed over the years into a battlefield of sand, stone, and lime, where the locals — even with their differences — united to defend the little that was (and is) theirs: the sand and salty water, their “island of vanishing.” A book that remains relevant to the reality of this city-village even today:

“Back then, we lived in huts, but it was just us! We managed… and even the sea had more fish! Now… it’s plain to see: buildings upon buildings, fireworks and more fireworks, and the damn beach more cursed every day! What do I care if they label this a city, if one of these days they build some airfield around here, luxury and more luxury, when we’re all still in misery!?”

(translation from portuguese made by me directly from the book)

This reality makes us reflect on all the local places we travel to and the impact we have on them and their people. Are we leaving these places as we found them, or does our presence crush, little by little, those who depend on that reality to survive? How can we balance the fragile symbiotic duality between the "Fisherman" and the "Holidaymaker" anywhere in the world?

"Calamento" is a raw book of the life stories of the people — hunger, domestic violence, the harsh life at sea, faith, and all that defines what is still today a living tradition in Costa da Caparica: the life of the Arte Xávega (traditional Portuguese fishing) and the ongoing struggle to survive and escape poverty. It is a popular ode to Costa da Caparica and its people, who, with all their cultural heritage, say:

"I get by somehow, and I’ve gotten used to not dying of hunger."

If you want to visit Costa da Caparica with me and know local stories check my page: Guided Visits or Contact me directly! Remember to always get out of your can!

By Yours:

Uncanned Sardine