Our Life in Portugal - Blog

Where is my package?

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Having something shipped to your new home in Portugal? It is a continual source of wonder at how difficult it can be to receive deliveries here. We have some tips to make this a bit easier.

Here are some basics: First off, anything from outside the European Union will usually get trapped in Portuguese Customs and will remain there until you provide the paperwork and fees they require to release the package. When we first moved here we learned this the hard way. So if a friend or family member wants to send you a gift from the United States (or elsewhere), tell them to send you money via PayPal instead. It'll just be easier.

We do have items sent to us from EU vendors – Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and of course, Portugal. Where there are no Customs issues, there often seems to be a problem with the actual delivery. Sometimes the packages just vanish into thin air somewhere between when they were shipped and our front gate.

When we moved into our first apartment in Porto we were continually having delivery issues as parking around the building was impossible. When we moved to our second apartment we were in a gated community with an guard. Perfect solution, right? Not really. There were two buildings with ouraddress on that street. It being a one-way, the delivery companies would always go to the first building, which was a shuttered business. More than once we had to hoof it up the street to collect a package, providing the delivery driver called us when he found no one would answer the door.

When we moved to Miranda do Corvo, we were on a main street with a street number. Yes! Well, not so much. There are three streets with the same name within the Miranda do Corvo district, and even putting the GPS coordinates in our mailing address didn’t seem to help.

We often receive notices saying that a delivery will arrive on a certain day, only to stay at home all that day and then get a text message late that night that we weren’t home when the driver came by. Even though we had our front gate open and there’s a intercom on that gate. Of course, they will try again. Next day, maybe the same, or maybe a message that they couldn’t find our address and left the package somewhere else. This can be a gas station, a grocery store, or a shop, you name it.

Then sometimes, miraculously, the package gets delivered but looks like it has bounced around in the back of the truck for a month. It can be a bit of a challenge to figure out when to make an order because you will usually be stuck at home for a couple of days. Such issues are not particular to a specific delivery company. One delivery will be flawless and exactly as scheduled, and the next time it doesn’t happen. The delivery companies also tend to pass the packages between each other. A delivery supposedly coming from PAACK ends up being delivered by MRW, etc.

We are Prime members and do order items from Amazon Spain, but that has its own peril. Since we know there will be several days stuck at home, we usually wait to place a larger order. So the five items from Amazon invariably come in four separate packages from three different shippers, all on different days. Sometimes you just can't win.

They recently put a lock box at the CTT office in Miranda do Corvo, about 10 kilometers from us. The service is called Locky (https://www.locky.pt) and our experience so far has been good.

When we were still in the States, we would have Amazon deliver to their lockers and that was handy, so this looked like a pretty good solution for us here. Parking at the post office is minimal, but the box is open 24 hours a day so we can pop in when the office is closed for lunch or after hours.

We’ve found that certain vendors give you the option to ship goods directly to the Locky, stores such as Leroy Merlin, Radio Popular, and H&M. We’ve been seeing the Locky option pop up on Amazon ES (Spain) as well.

This got me wondering if we could just send the package directly to the Locky for those vendors who didn’t offer that service. It turns out there is!

Like everything here, there is a series of steps, but you can make this happen. The first thing needed is an account with CTT so I downloaded the CTT app to my iPhone and created the account there.

Next, I used my computer to obtain a virtual address. I could have used my phone, but dealing with the location maps on the small screen was a pain, so the computer was a better option for me.

Go to https://www.locky.pt and then to the section called ComoUtilzar. Search down the page to where it talks about stores who don’t offer the option of sending shipments to Locky. (Compras em lojas sem a opção de entrega Locky)

By pressing the Register button, you are directed to the CTT site where you can set up a virtual address. This takes you to a map where you can view the hundreds of lockers available in Portugal. The easiest way to select your locker is to use your postal code and select your locker from the drop-down list. Find your nearest locker and click on it, selecting Add Locker (adicionar cacifo).

You will then be directed to a login page.

Once logged in, you will be at the page to select your locker location. You can actually have more than one locker, but each will have a different ID. More about that in a minute.

You will now be given a Locky Virtual Address which will show your information and the location of your very own Locky.

Your virtual address will be a bit of a surprise. Mine is the at CTT regional center in Porto, which is in northern Portugal. That being the case, there is a delay from when the delivery is handed off to CTT and when it arrives in the local locker, but it is usually just a day. The holiday season is a bit slower due to the volume of packages CTT has to process.

There is a code that you are instructed to add behind your name (I blacked mine out above) when you set up your address for your shipment. Your name and this code will direct your package to the correct locker. In addition, this allows them to correlate the information on your account to direct all the text messages and e-mails with the PIN to use when you pick up your package.

You will receive an email when the package leaves the regional center with an estimated delivery date to the Locky. There is also a new CTT tracking number. The email is in Portuguese, Spanish and English.

When the parcel arrives at the locker you will be sent an e-mail that contains a QR code. You will also receive a text message with a PIN code. When you get to the locker, use your PIN or scan the QR code and the appropriate door pops open so you can claim your package. You will later receive an email that indicates that the package was collected.

It is crucial to use your name and the 6-digit code on your delivery address to ensure they direct the package to the right locker.

One of the things you can see when you search your locker is how popular it is. The one in Miranda do Corvo is low usage, but some of the ones in the larger cities are moderate usage, and around Lisboa and in the Algarve there are some with high usage. This could be a problem if the locker was full and they had to hold your package until a space opened up, causing delivery to be delayed. They offer 5 days to pick up the package after the delivery notification before it is returned to the shipper.

So that is how to create a Virtual Address directs your shipments to the Locky for those vendors who do not offer that the service. There is also important information on your locker page that shows the maximum size of the packages that can be accepted. Unless you have a computer, a guitar, or something like that, average size packages will fit in the locker.

I hope this information takes some of the drama out of receiving your shipments in Portugal and will give you more time to explore this beautiful country rather than sitting at home waiting for a (eventual) delivery.

How To apply For Portuguese Citizenship

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:55:53 GMT

One of the many considerations that factored into our choice of Portugal as a place to live was the ability to acquire citizenship via naturalization after five years’ residence. We have now begun that process and thought we'd share what we've learned so far.

We had considered other countries for our new home—Spain, England and Ireland—but each had their own limitations. For the first two the income requirements at the time we were considering residence were beyond our ability as neither country were particularly welcoming to retirees. Then England went through BREXIT and things were even worse for them.

Spain was a possibility, but they did not allow dual citizenship except for Spanish-speaking countries (essentially ex-colonies). In that sense, Portugal was a Goldilocks choice as we could afford to live here within our budget, had a relatively easy residence permit approval process, and we could work toward citizenship.

Why would we want citizenship? One of the benefits of Portugal being a member of the European Union is that once we are citizens, we can travel throughout that region with little difficulty. And if we ever decided to relocate to one of its member countries, the legal requirements are much less strenuous. We’re not likely to move from our new home, but having options is always wise.

It is important to know that even as residents of an EU country, we are not granted any of the benefits of EU citizens. When we leave Portugal, we are Americans and must use our U.S. passport as our Portuguese residence permits mean nothing to the rest of Europe. We are still bound by Schengen short-stay rules that limit the time we may spend in countries other than Portugal, the same as any other U.S. citizen.

When we return from on overseas trip, we must use our U.S. passport in the foreign immigration line to be granted entry even though we have a valid residence permit. We have no limitations on the length of time we can stay here, but we are actually limited to the time we can be outside Portugal’s borders. None of these limitations are that onerous, but it makes acquiring citizenship even more attractive, especially since the United States has no restrictions on dual citizenship.

The information that I present here is from the perspective of someone from the United States applying for citizenship. For people born and/or living in other countries, many of the requirements may be different.

Residing in Portugal for Five Years
One of the main requirements is that you have been a resident for at least five years before applying for citizenship. The clock starts ticking from the issue date of your first Temporary Residence Permit, not the initial residence visa.

In our case, this meant we lost several months as it took a long time for us to get our first appointment at SEF, who was handling immigration at that time. We arrived in September and didn’t get our first residence card until the following June.

Portuguese Language Proficiency
It is necessary to provide certification that you have taken an examination verifying you have an A2 level in the Portuguese language, or a graduation certificate from an approved language course. We took a state-sponsored course that awarded us the A2 certificate, but not all courses are acceptable.

Check carefully whether the course you chose is on the approved list or it will be necessary to sit for the national exam. From what we have heard that exam is very rigorous.

Apostilled Birth Certificate
You are required to present an apostilled copy of your birth certificate that is no more than three months old. (An apostille is obtained via your state or federal government as compared to a notary.)

Depending on where you were born, this can be difficult. We had certified copies of those certificates from when we first emigrated, but they were outdated because some countries’ birth certificates are a live document that can be changed as time progresses.

In our case, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services required a notarized request for the certificates, so we used an online notary, signed the forms electronically, and sent them off. Only to have them rejected as they required a handwritten signature, not an electronic one.

That left us two options: Make an appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, drive for 2 hours, clear their security check-in, get the documents notarized (at $50 each) and then mail the applications to the State of Iowa to receive the birth certificates.

The other option was to use the notary service the State of Iowa recommended (VitalChek), though that required the certificates to be sent to the address on the credit card we used for payment. Which is in Portugal.

To our relief, the birth certificates arrived in our mail box in good shape (not always the case) and we promptly sent them back to be apostilled by the State of Iowa. Then they were forwarded to a friend in Tennessee so she could forward them, along with some other official documents, in one FedEx shipment so we could track its progress.

Criminal Background Check
Another requirement is an official background check (Identity History Summary) to verify you’re not criminally inclined. In our case this document would be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C. It also needs to be less than three months old and has to be apostilled by the U.S. State Department.

In order to get the background check, you need to submit your fingerprints to the FBI for processing. Fortunately, as an ex-law enforcement officer, I (Harold) was familiar with obtaining fingerprints, even from some people who didn’t really want to have it done. So I was able to do them myself.

If that’s not in your skillset, or you don’t want to risk those fingerprints being rejected, it will be necessary to go to the US Embassy to have the prints taken, then those forms are submitted to the FBI. To have these done requires an appointment and there is a fee (63 euros). After you get the report, it is necessary to send it to the U.S. State Department to be apostilled.

In the event you were born somewhere else than in the United States, or you were a legal resident of another country and older than 16 years of age, you will need to provide a background check from that country as well. For military personnel, this could be a challenge as they are frequently moved from country to country during their enlistment.

Certified Copy of Passport and Residence Permits
In our case we scanned the front and back of each of our residence permits since immigration, and had them certified to verify our five-year residency within the country. We also did a scan of our passports for certification.

Registration Application
The application contains much of the same information that you have become accustomed to in Portugal: name, address, date of birth, name of your father and mother, profession, and your passport number. Once you sign the application, you have given them permission to conduct a criminal background check here in Portugal.

How to File Your Application
There are two ways: either by using a lawyer to handle the logistics or you doing it yourself.

We opted to use a lawyer who did all the certification and necessary translations. According to the application information, translations are only required for documents in languages other than English, French or Spanish. Also, because we used the lawyer, we had some additional Power of Attorney documents included with our application. Since we used an advogado, the application was submitted electronically.

If you chose to do it yourself, you would need to take the stack of paperwork to an IRN office and submit it in person.

Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado

On their website there is a list of IRN offices that can accept citizenship applications, though not all do. For us, the nearest would have been Coimbra.

After the application is submitted, you will see several e-mails from IRN as they do a preliminary check of the application. If everything is in order, it will be entered for processing. Now the wait begins.
After about 6 months, you will receive an access key that will allow you to follow the process of your submission online.

There are four stages to processing the request:

Submission
Analysis
Awaiting Decision
Conclusion

Going through all four stages requires at least 2 years or more for those not from Portuguese speaking countries. Patience is the key here.

Here’s the status my application:

This one was submitted in March 2024, reviewed in September 2024 and now it’s awaiting am official “decision.”

If your application is successful, you will be granted a Portuguese Birth Certificate that shows your birthplace as the United States. From there, you can go to the different offices and receive your Citizen Card (Cartão de Cidadão) and Portuguese passport. The latter can take some time from what we've heard. We’ll be sure to post updates.

For now, we wait with our fingers crossed.

Planning Ahead for a Disaster

Sun, 27 Oct 2024 14:37:12 GMT

The wildfire near our house (September 2022)

The recent natural disasters across the globe, including the wildfires and floods in Portugal, have been a somber reminder of the importance of preserving important documents during such horrific events. Due to our move overseas, we devised a way to do this, and figured we’d share it with you.

Almost everyone has their own method of keeping track of vital information. Harold’s mother stored hers in a file folder, pertinent documents neatly paper-clipped together. When it came time to plan her funeral and settle her estate, everything we needed was right in that folder.

My parents were just the opposite. It took me forever to find all the life insurance policies and other important documents that were randomly stored throughout the house. Searching for those papers just added to the stress of closing their estate.

Since Harold and I don’t have children, someone else will need to deal with our estate, both in Portugal and in the U.S. Because of this we’ve tried to organize our records in such a way that it’s not going to be a giant hassle (hopefully). This isn’t a onetime thing, either, but an ongoing project.

When we decided to move overseas, we needed a way to relocate our personal and business files. In my case, that was seven years’ of paperwork neatly tucked in banker’s boxes. So. Much. Paper.

Ms. Dali and one of the those boxes. This one contained books.

For each convention, conference, or event I attended as an author, I preserved all the documentation for the travel, lodging and meals for income tax purposes. The manila envelopes for each event were tucked into the corresponding years’ storage box.

Why go to all that work? Well, if the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ever audited my business, I would need those files, and that audit could come years down the line. Same for our personal finances. Since we only shipped a 100 cubic meter pallet to Portugal, the banker’s boxes would have taken too much space.

So I digitized all of it. We bought a Canon scanner that also handles film negatives and slides, because I have a couple boxes of those as well. The actual scanning took many months, one receipt at a time, one manila envelope at a time. Those files were stored on both my laptop and on OneDrive, each placed in the proper event’s folder, and then filed under the specific year.

In case something happened to my laptop, I also have Carbonite do a full backup of my computer each day. Once the scanning was done I had the files professionally shredded to guard the personal information. We did the same with the family photos we wanted to save.

Then there’s The Big Green Binder, as we call it, because there is a lot of paperwork we immigrants need to have on hand when dealing with our new home’s bureaucracy. Paperwork like apostilled birth certificates and FBI reports, our marriage license, social security docs, insurance policies, immigration paperwork, tax returns, you name it. The binder is well over 3” thick (7.6cm+) so it’s totally crammed full.

Having those documents organized in plastic sleeves in a binder made it a lot easier to find what we need rather than rummaging around in a desk drawer. A couple times a year I cull the outdated docs and replace them as needed. That way everything is current and ready for the next official appointment.

But in case something happens to that binder while we’re not at home, the contents have been scanned, stored on OneDrive, and backed up in the Cloud. Because bad stuff does happen no matter how much we plan ahead. Do I particularly trust the Cloud to keep my info safe? Maybe. That’s a personal decision, for sure. Totally your call on that.

We still use our scanner at least weekly. Receipts (faturas) for service or repair work are scanned and stored in the appropriate folders as some of that might become important when we eventually sell our home. Same for major purchases, medical reports that we can’t access via our hospital’s website, and such. Our HSA (Health Savings Account) folder has all the receipts we need to file for reimbursement. We have also archived our income tax forms, both U.S. and Portugal, and bank and credit card statements. And, in my case, all my writing and publishing files are backed up.

Since we live on a mountain with lots of forest nearby, during the fire season we keep our green binder tucked in a backpack ready to go. We also pack a “Go Bag” with medications, as well as a small suitcase with a few clothes. We developed that strategy during the first summer we were in our new house after a fire erupted only a few fields down the hill from us (see image at top of post). It moved quickly. Luckily the bombeiros (firefighters) moved quicker. But it was a lesson learned and now the Bug Out Backpack is ready to go should we be ordered to evacuate.

We also created a checklist because when you’re in an emergency situation it’s hard to think. Our list has tasks like turning off the gas to the house, closing the shutters, pulling back the curtains, and remembering to grab our wallets and our beloved cat’s ashes on the way out of the door.

What might you need if you have to leave your home in a hurry? Here’s a list I saw on Facebook recently:

Passports/Visa
Birth Certificate
Home Insurance Documents
Car Insurance Documents & Registration
Driver’s License
Health Documents, Medical Cards, Medical History
Medications
Employment Records
Tax Returns
Social Security Documents & Card
Credit Cards
Will & Power of Attorney
Marriage License
Bank Statements
All Military Records
Veterinary Records for Pets
Thumb Drive with Video of each room, closet contents, basement, garage, attic, including artwork

This is our disaster plan. We sincerely hope we’ll never have to use it.

Medical Tip - Document for your Doc

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 04:00:00 GMT

Hi, Jana here. Since late 2022 I’ve spent a lot more time with doctors than usual so I thought I’d share a tip that might help you navigate those appointments when your Portuguese isn’t that strong.

We’ve found that most healthcare pros speak some English and often that is indicated on a hospital’s website or app. That way if you have the option as to which doc to choose, that language info is very helpful. But sometimes you just never know. Or their English is basic, but still tons better than our basic Portuguese. We chose to live here so we do our best.

Because ensuring that your medical pro receives the proper information, which is so critical in these situations, I decided to create a document that covers the essentials. I’ve done this ever since we moved here and it’s worked great. Since I used to be a registered nurse (many years ago), this came naturally.
I first draft the document in English, then translate into Portuguese using DeepL translator. I keep my English copy and pass the other one to the doc. That way if he or she has any questions I can refer to my own copy to clarify any issues.

I have occasionally written out any questions I have and then translated them into Portuguese. I do this with my hematologist and then he answers me in English since the topic is pretty complex.

Here’s the basics of that form. I’ve also included a mythical patient’s information sheet below so you can see what it looks like.

Name:
Age:

Status: (married, single, etc) Children:
Family Medical History:
Allergies:

Current Health Issues:

Current Medications:

Medical & Surgical History:

The doctors LOVE this because it allows them to type the pertinent info into your computer record without you trying to explain things in your (probably) basic Portuguese. If you’re fluent in this language, bless you. We’re certainly not, especially when it comes to medical terminology.

Here’s what it looks like for a fictitious patient:

Name: Adam Henry
Age: 56 years
Status: Married Children: 3
Family Medical History: Colon cancer, diabetes
Allergies: Peanuts

Current Health Issues:
Pain in left knee
High Blood Pressure
Elevated Blood Sugar

Current Medications:
Candesartan Aurovitas 8mg - 1/day

Medical History:
2018 – Surgery for Hiatal Hernia
2010 – Right Arm Fracture
1978 – Appendectomy

At this point add any other information you feel the doctor might need to know, like if you’re receiving physical therapy, just completed six rounds of chemotherapy, things like that.

Because I have a medical background, I include more specific medical terms for each item, but that isn’t necessary if you don’t know those terms. Just lay out what you do know and they’ll go from there.

In the case of the ladies, you might include the dates of your last mammography and ultrasound exams, and the results. List any surgeries related to childbearing or your reproductive system, (if that applies), and if you're in menopause, etc.

If you’re presenting this document to a technician before a mammography and ultrasound, they might want to know if you’ve had breast surgery or cancer so they can make note of that for the radiologist reading the exams. Same with family medical history of cancer. In my case I list my Follicular Lymphoma because that first was found in my left axillary (armpit) lymph node.

Feel free to tinker with the layout and the sections so they best suit your medical history and current situation. Update as needed. I also used a stripped down version of this document (I removed the surgeries etc) for my ophthalmologist and dermotologist since they need to know I am receiving immunotherapy and for what reason.

Hope this is helpful.

Update on that Health issue

Sat, 31 Aug 2024 23:00:00 GMT

This a Jana update on my medical situation from last year. No worries, the news is good.

I'm pleased to say that my health has definitely improved. I zipped through all six sessions of chemotherapy without major complications, which is truly amazing. Now I'm midway through 12 I.V. infusions of Rituxin (a monoclonal antibody) that I receive every eight weeks. I'm tolerating those treatments really well. Their purpose is to target any rogue cancer cells and kill 'em. I'm all over that.

I just had another PET-TAC scan to determine the status of the Follicular Lymphoma and am eagerly awaiting the results. Since this exam was in August, the month when most Portuguese are on vacation, I knew it'd take some time for before those results landed in my email. Still the waiting isn't easy.

Bottom line: I'm feeling a lot better. I still get tired, but I honestly believe that's related to my age (70) than the disease. So we'll keep doing what we're doing and hope for the best. Of course, since my immune system isn't at peak efficiency we mask when we're in public and confine our dining to outdoor venues. Which isn't difficult over here.

I am keenly aware of the privilege I have in this situation, because of our private medical insurance and that we live in Portugal. My medical treatment has been great (Hospital da Luz Coimbra) and the cost of the treatments and medications has been offset by our HSA (Health Savings Account). Never figured we'd use it for cancer, but there you go. Luckily Harold decided to set that up all those years ago.

I've done some quick checks on how much this treatment would have cost in the States and it blew my mind. Universal Healthcare has its problems--adequate funding for one--but no one should face bankruptcy for cancer. Or any disease, for that matter. Here the medical pros need much better salaries and the healthcare system really needs more money. It just has to happen.

So I'm back to working my office, about to publish a new book, and still puttering around the garden. And most important, I'm feeling very, very grateful.

Onward!

Switching Telecommuncations providers

Sat, 23 Mar 2024 15:17:13 GMT

During our six years in Portugal, we have always had telecommunications and internet through MEO. Unfortunately, we recently needed to make a change. This blog discusses how that process played out.

While we lived in Porto there was fiber in both of our apartments and the speeds were great for both surfing and streaming. We had a television package, although most of our entertainment time is spent reading so we didn’t use it much.

When we moved to the country, fiber was no longer available, and we were switched over to a 4G internet router. During this switch, I was obligated to a new 2-year contract for the service. A 4G internet router was attached to the side of the house, a satellite TV dish was installed, and we maintained our two cellphones. At first, the internet service was decent, not as good as the fiber in Porto, but adequate for our needs.

Of course, the Satellite TV was clear. At our location, we do get good off-air television reception, including all the RTP channels plus SIC and TVI so the satellite was not all that compelling for us. Our primary interest was the internet, especially for Jana’s publishing business. Our cellphone service is quite poor with a lot of call drops and missed calls. One bar of service just doesn’t cut it nowadays, especially when Jana was talking to an oncology nurse about her next treatment.

As time went along, we noticed the internet growing progressively slower. Where at first it had about 12 Mbps downloads, then it deteriorated to 3, then 2, and sometimes it would drop to 0.4 Mbps. Doing any kind of online work at a rate like that was painful, so we started looking at alternatives.

Our neighbor bought a Starlink system and was quite happy with it, but I still had several months to go on the MEO contract. In the meantime, the MEO technician was at our house several times and they would restart everything and then end up scratching his head as to why our connection was so slow. You can actually see the MEO tower from our house. He would go away muttering about talking to colleagues to see if there was anything that could be done to improve service. The strange thing is that we originally had good service, but it just kept getting worse. It makes me think there are just too many customers on that tower.

After one particularly grueling day of doing a large image download with a sub-1Mbps speed, we ordered a Starlink and had it installed. The Starlink speed is good. The most recent reading through Speedtest shows 50 Mbps download and 22.8 upload. We have seen it as high as 93 download and 32 upload. This recent reading is on the weekend when more people are using the internet.

We’re glad we made that choice. Starlink was originally 65€ per month and has now dropped to 40€. Because of the way the MEO contract was designed, we had to pay for both services for a few months until the MEO contract ended.

Speedtest Results

During the final month of the contract, I worked with a local Portuguese representative who helped me craft the letter MEO requires stating I wanted to end the contract. Along with the letter I had copies of the most recent MEO statement and my residence card. I sent all of that by registered mail to the MEO address in Porto. About a week later, the calls started to come in.

After several where the call quality was so poor, coupled with my lack of fluent Portuguese, an agent finally called that spoke great English and he explained that they couldn’t accept the letter that I had sent because some of the numbers on the residence card were illegible. He then helped me go through the process of terminating the contract over the My MEO app on my phone. After all the drama of sending in a registered letter, I find out you can just do the cancellation using the app. Sheesh.

Calls kept coming in wanting to know if I was sure I wanted to end the service, and I assured them that I did. There were 18 calls made to me during this time: Some I rejected, some dropped, some the agent could only speak Portuguese, and others where we would work back and forth with my basic Portuguese before the agent would tell me in perfect English that they would have someone else call me back that spoke English. It makes me think that they only have some English-speaking agents that are allowed to deal with contract issues.

I finally received a date when the contract would end, and they said I would receive a letter telling me where I could return the equipment. I did call back a couple of times to MAKE SURE everything was on track .

As I mentioned earlier, the internet receiver is attached to the side of the house and will require a tall ladder to retrieve it. After the end of the contract, I contacted their technical service and finally got on the schedule for a service tech to come out and pick up the equipment. There were seven calls required to get this done, most of them dropped calls because of our poor cell service. The tech did take the equipment from inside, but not the satellite dish. We had another individual remove it.

One thing that worried me during this process was what would happen to our cellphones after the contract ended. With the number of official things tied to that number with 2-factor authentication, I could see a huge problem if I needed to change numbers. The MEO agent assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem and thankfully he was correct, to a point.

After the expiration of the contract, we received a bunch of text messages telling us that our phones were being converted to a pre-paid plan (MPRE Livre) where we were essentially just paying so much per day, call/SMS and MB of data. On the My Meo application, I can add money to my account and the app will notify me if my balance fell below 3€. We never lost service, which is a relief, but this ended up being a rather expensive option. There is a base cost PER DAY is 1,99€ ($2.17 at today’s exchange rate) and that’s per phone. So, $4.34 per day for MPRE Livre service plan for both of us. I didn’t anticipate that much expense as it took some time to figure out what we were going to do next.

My mistake was not having a new provider picked out and replacement SIM cards in hand so I could immediately change providers as soon as we went on the MPRE-Livre plan. I also thought I would need to do another contract, but for simple mobile phone service this isn’t necessary. There are a number of companies who offer no-contract monthly rates and that is the way we ended up going.

We chose WOO www.woo.pt/en. I got my SIM card through the local telephone representative, and it is set up for 20GB / 4.5K minutes for 15€ per month. Jana went online with WOO and got a 4GB / 2K minutes plan at 10€ per month. It was only after the fact that we realized hers was less expensive and mine had more capacity. Usually we won't use anywhere near even her 4GB. But recently we stayed two nights in Coimbra at a rented apartment while friends were in town, and she used much more than her 4GB for wi-fi as the apartment's service on the top floor was virtually non-existent. Searching Google Maps, Waze and other such services definitely racked up usage which cost her another 5€, but that is still lower than we anticipated. In retrospect we should have used my phone but didn't think about it until after the fact.

There is a WOO app that makes the sign up and transfer of your number rather painless. You need help there is English-Language support. You just need the portability code (CVP) from your old provider (printed on your monthly statement) and you can transfer your present number to your new cellphone company. It will take about three days (weekends excluded) for the number transfer to be completed.

My experience is specific to MEO, but other providers will probably have a similar process. There seems to be endless hoops to jump through, and it is obvious that the companies do not want to lose a telecommunication contract. Keep at it, and with diligence and determination you can break free of those shackles.

Didn't See that Coming . . .

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 15:01:09 GMT

Life often throws you a curveball, as they say in baseball. In our case, it was a major medical issue and this post explains what we were facing this last year and why we've been blogging less than usual.

A few days before we began our A2 Portuguese class in Miranda do Corvo in late October 2022, Jana had her annual mammography. Unlike in the U.S. it's common to include an ultrasound (ecografia) at the same time, which was a very good thing. The mammography was fine, the ultrasound was not. Her left axillary (armpit) lymph node was bigger than it should be and a biopsy was recommended.

The biopsy results told us she has Non-Hodgkin Follicular Lymphoma (NHFL), a blood cancer. That was a stunner. Follicular lymphoma is very slow growing and is not currently curable. Our best guess is that this cancer has been doing its thing for well over seven or eight years. Because of its slow nature treatment options range from "Watch and Wait", which is exactly what it says, to chemotherapy and/or radiation. Every patient's situation is different. Some are on W&W for years, others need treatment immediately.

To figure what to do next, we had a choice: We could go through the national healthcare system, or go private since Jana has health insurance (Médis). We'd already had experience with IPO, the national cancer center in Coimbra, when Harold was referred there for a sore in his mouth. Fortunately it was not oral cancer, but our local healthcenter doctor wanted to make sure. IPO's staff was great, but clearly they were at full capacity and then some. Unlike our neighbors, we've not paid into the national health system for years and years, and taking a slot at the center denies someone else treatment in a timely manner. Someone who has no other option. Given the situation, Jana opted to have treatment at Hospital da Luz in Coimbra.

After a series of tests (bone marrow biopsy, an echocardiogram to determine if Jana's heart was strong enough for chemo, a PET-TAC scan at ICNAS Coimbra and various lab tests, the verdict was in: The cancer was Grade 1/2 and Stage 3. Unlike solid tumor cancers, NHFL' s staging is different, just indicating if the disease is above or below the diaphram. The hematologist's recommendation was for immunochemotherapy given where the nodes were located. Since follicular lymphoma can transform into a more aggressive form (DLCBL - Diffuse Large Cell B-Lymphoma), it was best to kick this stuff hard right up front. He also warned us that Jana's hair would "fall down" and it did.

In mid-March Jana had a port placed in her chest that would be used to infuse the chemo drugs and she had her first treatment a week later. Throughout the entire six sessions of R-CHOP (a session every three weeks), the doctor, the nurses and the office staff at the Oncology Center were wonderful. The nurses helped Jana work on her Portuguese since the sessions were 4-1/2 hours long after the first one, which was closer to 7. Midway through the treatments another PET scan was done and it showed there was complete metabolic response to the medications, which was great news.

Here's Jana's Report on How It Went:

As of August 10th I completed all the R-CHOP immunochemotherapy infusions. I got lucky, folks. The treatments didn't cause major issues during the infusions, unlike for many people. Issues such as difficulty breathing, heart arrthymias, allergic reactions, etc. etc. Neither did it damage my heart. That chemo cocktail is damned nasty to the things we want to kill, but can also be the same to the host receiving those meds. Someone was watching over me, and I'll always remember that.

Yet another PET scan (#3 and counting!) shows the lymphoma sites are significantly reduced and now I'm on Maintenance, as it's called. One of the parts of my R-CHOP treatment was Rituxin (aka Rituximab), an immunotherapy drug. I'll be receiving an infusion of that med every 8 weeks for 2 years. Rituxin is a monoclonal antibody that specifically targets a protein (CD20) on my cells. If it finds it, it kills that cell, or my immune system does. Our aim is remission, if possible. That can last for months, years or decades. As they say "your mileage may vary."

Unfortunately, Rituximab also messes with my immune response so I will continue to mask, be careful what I eat (no raw fish means no sushi!), avoid crowds, and have regular blood tests to monitor how my infection fighting capabilities are during these treatments.

Through it all, Harold took great care of me and ferried me back and forth for all the treatments, tests and such. Our friends in Portugal (and around the world) were very supportive. That support meant everything to both of us. Now that we've hit the rainy season, I'm rebuilding my stamina, eating lots of protein and getting on with my writing. And yes, my hair is growing back. :-)

We both consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to face this diagnosis here in Portugal. The healthcare was topnotch, and we have no doubt the cost of that care was considerably less than in the U.S. So that's our "curveball" for this last year. We're hoping that'll be the only one for this lifetime.

How to Resell Excess Solar Energy

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 11:42:43 GMT

Hello, Harold here. My previous post discussed the logistics needed to install solar panels at our home. This one looks at what it takes to sell whatever excess energy you generate. Yes, in Portugal someone will pay you for the energy you’re generating.

There are many steps necessary to get to that point, and as usual I ended up doing some things out of order which resulted in some unnecessary delays. But now I think about those sunny days when the batteries are full and the excess energy the panels are generating are not wasted, but flowing back to benefit Portugal’s Green Energy initiative.

Here are those steps:
Potência:
First thing you need to do is to review the potência, the amount of power you have contracted for with your electrical company. Ours was set the same as the previous owners of the house and was far above what we needed. There is no point contracting for a greater amount of power than you will use because it is just unnecessary expense.

With the combination of the solar system and the fact we are retired, we can concentrate our electric usage during those times we have sun and full batteries, thus requiring less electricity from the grid. Also, by signing up at the e-Redes site, you can get a chart of your power usage so you have a better handle on the amount of power actually needed. Be aware, regulations prohibit you from changing your rate plan or potência more than once per year so make sure you have a good feel of your peak usage during both the summer and winter months.

Rate Plan:
We use a Bi-horária Diário which separates our usage into Vasio (off-peak) and Fora de Vazio (peak) for billing. Off-peak is during the week, and from the hours of midnight to seven a.m. Our household usage is very low during these times so we normally source our electricity from batteries. If our batteries are low because the skies have been cloudy, we can set our dishwasher to run overnight to use the off-peak rate. Usually we run the dishwasher and wash clothes during the day when it is sunny.

When the weather is hot, we often run the mini-splits in the bedrooms in the late afternoon to cool down those rooms. Removing the heat is another form of energy storage rather than having to cool down a hot room with purchased energy.

Even though we sell our excess energy, the price paid is quite low so it is better to use it. We are paid 0.06€/kWH (currently about 6.5 cents USD) for our excess but purchased power is 0.18€/kWH at peak (19.6 cents). Even off-peak is 0.08€/kWH (8.7 cents) if we buy it so it is much better to use the energy than to sell it.

There are different rates for the weekends with more off-peak hours on Saturday and off-peak all day on Sunday. There is also a Tri-horária rate plan that includes some peak-hour billing during certain times of the day, but this generally corresponds to times when we have solar energy and to me was not compelling to use it. With solar, potência is the biggest part of our bill during most months of the year.

System Registration:
Prior to doing any sales of excess power, it is necessary to register the system on DGEG Portal. This is normally done by the installer but they will need the following information:

- Photographs of the entire installation
- Last electricity bill
- Portuguese mobile number to enter in your system registration on the DGEG portal
- Photograph of the inverter's serial number

We are fortunate that our hybrid system has all the internal controls to support grid power injection. Some systems will require additional components and controls to be installed before putting energy back into the grid. If you are still in the process of installing your system and contemplating selling your excess power, make sure your installation includes all the components necessary for grid injection.

After the system is registered with DGEG, you will receive a Recibo de Submissão which will have your consumer and producer CPEs (in essence information as where your panels are located).

Smart Meter Installation:
After your system is registered, e-Redes will contact you about doing a site-visit to evaluate your meter. If necessary, the meter will be exchanged with a bi-directional meter free of charge. The meter installed will automatically record your usage and you will be notified when it is no longer necessary to take your own meter readings. Since we are in the country, our meter has a cellular system that updates both the consumption and production readings every day at midnight.

After the smart meter has been installed, you will need to contact your solar installer to have them remove the zero-feed and start delivering the excess power to the grid.

You can then register at e-Redes at:
https://balcaodigital.e-redes.pt/

Here you will be able to monitor your consumption and injection. It is a good idea to track these readings as once our meter stopped reporting readings and we needed to contact e-Redes to get it fixed. You can track your usage and the energy injected on the Consultar Históricos report below:

You will see that in June we have very little energy consumption (C in the above table) and we are injecting quite a bit of energy into the grid (the I field in the table.) As seen above, on sunny days we commonly inject 7kWh or (much) more into the grid daily.

Here's our Studar graph for the month of June showing our energy usage. The Orange is the solar being generated by the panels. The Red is our electrical usage and the Blue is the amount we re-selling back to the grid. As you can see, we generate a lot of excess solar energy during the summer.

Taxes:
You will need to contact Finanças and open an activity with a CAE code of 35113 (solar energy production) so you can report the income from your solar sales. Don’t be concerned as there will be no tax due unless you make over 1,000€ per year from your solar sales which is not likely to happen with a residential solar system. You will more likely receive something on the order of 10€/month.

We had our accountant do this for us as there were a lot of questions that we just didn’t know how to answer. It only took him about 5 minutes to open the activity. Once we had the activity, we could contact a broker to purchase our power.

Choose a Broker:
We use Energia Simples for our energy sales and we still use EDP as our main energy supplier. It is not necessary to change suppliers or have the same company as your supplier and broker. It is necessary to initiate a contract with your broker, provide them with a signed contract, your Activity Declaration and a signed Power of Attorney. It takes several months for the contract to be finalized so start as early as you can.

Once the contract has been finalized, your broker will send you their NIF (fiscal number) and then you need to go to Finanças site and designate the broker for an Autofacturação (self-billing) agreement. On the site, the section you need to fill out is “Comunicação de Séries de autofaturação com acordo” which will allow your broker to send the auto-billing statements. This is a little hard to find, but look under Todos os Servicos and search for Séries Documentais, then click Comunicação de Séries Documentais. The broker will send you instructions on how to do this.

The broker will be able to determine your energy injection using the production CPE. It is not necessary to collect any data as it is all done automatically. This is the reason why it is a good idea to occasionally check if the readings are coming through on the e-Redes site in the Consultar Históricos section of the website.

Getting Paid:
After several months, usually once a quarter, you will receive an e-mail that indicates the amount of earnings. This is the result of the auto-fatura and is an automatic invoice for your power sales that quarter. Ours comes about three weeks after the close of the quarter.

About the first of the following month you will get an e-mail that includes a SAF-t file. With this file, you go into Finanças, go into the Commercial area (Commerciante) and go to the Enter Invoice, (Enviar Fichero SAF-T(PT)), and enter the year, month and SAF-t XML file you received from the broker. You will receive the amount from the broker as a direct deposit to your bank account after another month. There are a lot of delays between the end of the sales period and the time you get your money.

In Conclusion:
Those are the steps we went through to get paid for our excess energy. As we stated in an earlier blog, this is not going to be a money-making scheme for us and we are not likely to ever pay back our investment.

The system allows us peace of mind as we have a backup power source in the event of grid failure, which happens every now and then in the country. We also expect that someday when we sell the house, the system will definitely increase the value of the property. And, in our own way, we’re helping Portugal become energy independent.

Going Solar

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

When we were looking at the home we’d eventually buy in rural Portugal, one of the pluses (besides the glorious view) was the location. It was perfect for generating our own electricity using solar panels. This blog details the process we went through to have a system installed and some details on how those are performing. Let’s dig in!

Solar Panels After Installation

The property we bought in Central Portugal included an annex with good southwest exposure, and the roof area was sufficiently large to handle a series of solar panels. Since the annex was separate from the house we hoped that would reduce any panel noise in the event of strong winds, which happen frequently up on our mountain.

Our goals were straightforward: We wanted to generate electricity during the day, plus we wanted the possibility of storing any excess energy for use during the nighttime, or on days when the sun was not shining. Living in a rural area there was always a possibility that the electrical grid might fail (it's happened). Since we live in a rural area and sometimes driving down the mountain isn't an option, we have both of our refrigerators stocked with extra food. We also wanted a backup for our fireplace boiler during the winter. So essentially a system that would act as an UPS (uninterruptible power supply) so if we were ever to lose the grid we could still operate the system off-grid.

Something that is not well known is that most solar systems will completely shut down in the event of a grid failure. Even if the sun is shining, your solar panels will turn off and you’ll be without electrical power. This is to prevent any feedback of your solar energy to the grid and the real possibility of killing a lineman who might be repairing that the power system. Having solar batteries solves that issue.

Power Meter

Prior to making contact with solar installers, I (Harold) wanted to obtain some solid data about our daily electrical usage. And I wanted more detail than the monthly meter readings we do for our energy supplier (EDP). In usual engineer fashion, I went overboard.

I purchased a Watt-hour meter that I could put in the electrical panel, and connected it to a RaspberryPi computer. This took samples of our voltage, frequency and power usage (Kilowatts) every five minutes and plotted the data on an Excel spreadsheet.

It was rather surprising to find out how much energy we used for different things during the day. We have a big spike in usage while we are making coffee and toast for breakfast. Other big users are the oven, and of course the electric space heaters for those cold mornings. When we run the mini-splits for air conditioning in the upstairs bedrooms we use some energy, but a surprisingly small amount. Since we heat with wood and our range and hot water is gas, those things do not impact the power usage. However, the pump that circulates the heat generated by the wood fireplace does require electricity.

Graph of Daily Energy Usage

I also set up a camera to take a time-lapse video of the sun exposure to judge what the solar panels would receive. It was fortunate that I did that as there is a specific time of day that the house casts a shadow on one set of panels. Why does this matter? If one of the panels is shaded, it will take the whole string offline. I know it is possible to use micro-inverters to avoid this, but we wanted a DC-coupled system so we elected to install a second MPPT charge controller to reduce the effect of this shading.

This is only an issue in the winter when the sun is low in the sky and the rest of the year we do not have a problem with shading. This is a compromise since it is during the winter we wished to collect as much sunlight as possible since the days are shorter and the hours we are going to be running off the batteries are much longer.

We chose Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries for our backup, and we have about 10kWh of battery capacity on the system. Normally we average about 11 kWh of power per day at the house, so this is more than sufficient to get us through the evening and night hours when we aren’t using a lot of electricity.

We have been running our dishwasher, oven, washer, and other high-usage appliances (the tea kettle is really power hungry) while the sun is shining. During the past few weeks it has been very hot here (the hottest day was 106F/41C) and we are running the mini-splits during the day to keep the upstairs area cool. We still have much more energy capacity from the panels than we can use. Our batteries are normally fully charged by noon and the rest of the day the panels only supply the needs for the house and are otherwise idle.

Solar Control System with Batteries

We have now signed a contract to sell our excess electricity back to the grid, and registered with the Portuguese tax authorities (Finanças) to report those sales. But there are some considerations. Even so in our area daytime cost for electricity is about 0.15€ per kilowatt hour, the electric company will only pay us 0.05 or 0.06€/kWh for our excess power. When we sell the power, we pay sales taxes (IVA) on the amount we produce so it is not all that lucrative. We discussed it and decided that once we’re registered with the government we will go ahead and sell the excess since it seems a shame to “waste” it. I suspect there will be another blog post on what that involves.

So far our electricity bill has dropped from a monthly average of 85€ to 29€ in the summer to 35€ in the winter. We have now changed some of the billing features, such as reducing the potência and setting up day/night billing (bi-horário diário) rather than the Simple which would mean we could take advantage of the lower rates late at night in the event our batteries run out of juice.

To be honest, I’m not sure we will ever completely pay for the system with energy savings alone, but this was something we could do to help the environment and also give us backup power in the event the grid failed. Since we live in the countryside, that is always a possibility.

We’ve had a couple of instances where we have lost power in the winter when we were using the fireplace and had to quickly shut everything down to avoid boiling the water in the water jacket because we didn’t have the pusmp running to move the water through the radiators. Also, since we live on a mountain, we usually stock a lot of food in the freezer that we wouldn’t want to lose if we had an extended power failure. Both of those issues are mitigated as if we ever lose grid, since the system switches over to 100% battery and solar and keeps right on producing power for the house, providing that there is sunlight to be collected. So besides the environmental issues, it also gives us some peace of mind.

If you want much more detail regarding the solar installation and the pre-install monitoring, please check out my blog posts at: www.HaroldBuehl.com

All in all, we’ve been pleased with how the system has preformed and are looking forward to obtaining more data as we go through the year.

Gardening In The Countryside

Sun, 15 May 2022 13:53:48 GMT

One of the decisions that factored into our house purchase was that we wanted a garden area of some sort. It didn’t matter if that was a container garden on a veranda or a full-sized one, outdoor space was important to us. I (Jana) don't think either of us realized how important that was until we'd live in apartments for four years.

The house we bought has an area set aside for a garden. It had a few vegetables growing there (potatoes and turnips) but the previous owners worked full time and had three small kids so they already had enough to worry about. The garden just needed to be expanded so we could grow some of our own food, while getting needed exercise and Vitamin D from all that abundant Portuguese sunshine. (The white lines added above were for reference as to where our boundary lines were. The polytunnel structure is our neighbors'.)

We are nowhere as hardy as those neighbors, who spend hours hoeing their garden patches, so we had raised beds installed. The raised beds allowed us to we use the square foot gardening method, with some modifications. This method was created back in 1976 by a gent named Mel Bartholomew who felt that gardening in rows was not very productive. For more info about what’s involved and why this type of strategy works, take a look at the Square Foot Gardening Foundation website. There are numerous other sites on the web with all sorts of information as well as a number of Portugal-based Facebook pages to follow. We get daily updates on the FB sites with pictures of some absolutely stunning gardens.

For us, the first task was having stairs installed down to the garden. There was a steep and uneven ramp in place, and given that we’re older we thought stairs made more sense. Less chance of injury that way.

Upon the recommendation of Filipe the Gardener (the local gardening expert) we hired Senhor Luis Marques to construct the stairs and rework the ramp. Luis is a gem. He does top quality work and the new stairs (see photos above) are not only easy to use, but also quite stylish. The ramp was also reworked and we use it for anything requiring a wheelbarrow.

Luis also installed our raised beds. We could have gone with wood or metal sides, but decided to use concrete blocks instead. After installation, the exterior side of the blocks are covered in concrete. They’re tall enough that our backs don’t scream quite as much and the tops wide enough we can sit on them while we work. Filipe ordered a load of horticultural dirt which he and his brother, Ricardo, loaded into the beds. In the rain, because you garden when you can not when the weather is cooperative.

I had already created diagrams of the various plants that would inhabit each bed and the total number of seedlings needed. Or in the case of some items just how many seeds I’d need to plant. Since our beds weren’t the standard 4’ x 10’ I adjusted the number of plants per square. As the soil is enriched, we’ll be able to up the growing capacity. This year is all about discovery of what works, what doesn’t, and what never to do again. We have no doubt there will definitely be some of the latter.

Our local garden centers offer seedlings for sale in big potting trays. Rather than individual little pots, you scoop out the seedling from the tray and place it and its buddies in a clear plastic bag. When you check out you tell them how many seedlings you have and what kind if there are different choices. Of course, all this is done in Portuguese, as it should be. Seedlings cost about 5-7 cents a piece (about the same in USD with the current exchange rate) and they’re top quality. So much easier than trying to grow all of our own.

I also started some seedlings this spring, with mixed success. Some did really well and others not such much. We have one window that is good for the germination, but if I want large quantities of seedlings this won’t work. We’re currently debating if we want to add a polytunnel green house to start seedlings far earlier in the year. We’ll have to see if that happens or not.

Once we laid out the grid pattern on top of the dirt, we began to plant the seeds and seedlings. Unfortunately, we got ahead of ourselves as we should have incorporated some composted manure before planting. (Duh!) The top layer of soil went rock hard after it dried out. Once we worked in some composted horse manure, then topped it off with a thick layer of good potting mix, the soil is a lot more manageable. We added a layer of straw to help hold the moisture.

In the diagrams below the items in blue have been planted and the ones in red will be down the line. Harold's worm farm now has a home in Bed #3 (the long one) at the far right side.

The grids below were created on Virtual Graph Paper

While Luis was working on the beds we asked if there was any chance he could help us set up a rain barrel. He found us one for 70 euros (about $74 at the current exchange rate) and then he created the concrete block base upon which to install it. From there he connected it to the drainage pipes from our downspouts and driveway and we were good to go. The night after he installed it rained and the tank filled up to the overflow tube. Wow!

Pro tip: If the tank is not new make sure that whatever was stored inside is not oily or might kill your plants.

We will be placing light blocking fabric on the tank in the near future to avoid the inevitable algae growth that occurs in this storage units. Since the water will be used in our garden later this summer we don't want to treat it with bleach or chlorine. It can get really hot and dry in this part of the country, and sometimes the authorities initiate a water usage ban for municipal water supplies due to drought conditions, so we like having this backup resource.

Besides the plants listed on the planting grid, we hope to establish some Parsley, Thai Basil, regular Basil and Lemongrass down the line. And our neighbors just gifted us 12 more lettuce plants so they’ve been planted as well. Now we need to get a rabbit or two (just kidding).

It’ll be a matter of finding out the growing patterns, how much rain we will get, and what grows best in our location on the side of a mountain. And as always, we're watching what our Portuguese neighbors are doing as they are the experts.

Here's our favorite YouTube gardeners:
Huw Richards - https://www.youtube.com/c/HuwRichards
Benedict Vanheems - https://www.youtube.com/c/Growveg-Garden-Planning-Apps
Gardener Scott - https://www.youtube.com/c/GardenerScott
Tony Smith - https://www.youtube.com/c/TonyCSmith