Pico Island: A piece of Europe’s Hawaii from my eyes.

Back in October of 2020, I had the huge pleasure to spend a week with my friends Ana and Filipe at Pico Island. I save beautiful memories not only in these photographs but also in my heart. It was a pretty important trip for me. I wasn’t there for work, I was simply enjoying time with my friends and let those beautiful landscapes fulfill myself.

October was a bittersweet month for me. It started with new personal challenges and ended with one of the best weeks I could possibly had. I had been to the Azores before back in 2017, more specifically at São Miguel and Terceira Island, and always wanted to return for two reasons. Besides of only had the chance to visit two islands, I fell in love with such powerful beauty that the land and the sea can give you. And of course, coming back to the Azores a million times was always an option. The second reason was because I wanted to see those islands with brand new eyes. 2017 was a hard year for me, I was still fighting with my depression and I’ve always wanted to come back and see a place that I already knew that I loved with clear eyes and a peaceful mind.

I spent a week this time not in São Miguel or Terceira, but Pico Island. Filipe always said to me that I needed to visit this island and that I would absolutely love. To be honest with you, I’ve never search much about Pico. The only thing I knew about this place, was that the highest mountain in Portugal is there. Little do I knew that I would completely fell in love with that Island.

On the very first day after lunch, Filipe and Ana showed me a bit of what the island has to offer. I was in shock to see how beautiful and gigantic that mountain, that is actually a vulcano, was. I would take a photo and in between conversations look closer to every detail with my own eyes. Save those moments in the heart. Breathe deeply. I was more focused on living that experience than taking pictures. I believe has a photographer, that the experience of it is what truly is important.

You know the moment 'when you simply fall in love with someone? The first time you see that person? You remember how intense that felt? I think I can experience the same feeling every time I travel and see a place for the first time. Especially, a place so unique like Pico.

And can we talk a bit about these greens? Because believe me, these photos can’t even show the true beauty of these. When you see all of these colors for the first time with your own eyes, believe me, you will simply feel hypnotized. No camera can’t really express the real beauty of these colors.

Believe me or not, sometimes before I fall to sleep, I like to go back to my visual memory and remember how things really felt. And what I mean is really from the memory, with no help of these photos. I remember to simply capture with my eyes the intensity of these landscapes. You look at one side and you see all green and mountains and that vulcano that is always following you around the island. You look to the other side and you see all blue, the ocean simply drawing the infinite through the horizon. Depending of your perspective, in between the horizon, your eyes reach São Jorge and Faial islands.

I remember to pray in silence, simply saying “Thank You” to God for these moments. Because I think it is a true privilege to live moments like these. To see the intensity of nature and the perfect design of things at its true form. Not only I was grateful for that but like I said early, for this trip feeling like an enormous hug in such a bittersweet month.

This planet is the pure reflection of love.

Can we also acknowledge the fact that these cows are the cutest thing around this island? I mean, they look so peaceful and friendly just by simply looking at you. And yes, they’re literally everywhere. Everywhere you can imagine on this island. You’ll always see some cow minding its own business and simply being happy.

It was a great and truly happy week to end a year with such hard challenges for all of us like the covid-19 pandemic. I had the opportunity to felt inspired, felt loved, felt grateful to God for every single second there. I will always carry this week in my heart. Always will share this experience with other without getting tired of it.

The world may seem scary and we may seem lonely... but we’re not that alone.
And moments like these remember you of that fact. That love comes in a million different forms. And the best ones are the most unexpected.

I would like to once more thank to my lovely friends Ana and Filipe for the invitation.
And also share with you guys their new project: Atlantic Brine.