Portugal: A field report on the difficulty of doing simple things

When we decided to spend a year in Portugal, I had certain expectations. Good food, excellent weather, historical cities, a slower pace of life, and the opportunity for the children to experience living in another country.

I also expected occasional bureaucratic absurdities. After all, I grew up in Spain. Nobody raised on the Iberian Peninsula expects the authorities to make life easy. In Spain, obtaining a document can require presenting another document certifying that you have requested the document needed to request the original document. This is perfectly normal. We have been doing it for centuries.

Portugal, however, has taken things in an interesting direction. After several months in Coimbra, I have come to believe that the Portuguese have developed an almost artistic ability to complicate tasks that nobody had previously considered difficult. Their achievements in architecture, navigation, literature, and gastronomy are undeniable. Their ability to connect a dishwasher to a water supply is more open to debate.

I have been collecting observations and what will follow is my preliminary report.