Raquel Ponte

Who is Raquel?

Raquel is an almost 40 years old girl, a woman also. But someone that is learning now how to become a woman. Because I was kind of a peter pan syndrome person, I always thought that this was a trap: being an adult. And all my life was never a straight line, I almost did everything to avoid becoming this responsible person and paying my bills, having a …. job and all of this; which I am now starting to learn at 40 years old.

But somehow I am still trying to keep the child within. And also most importantly what made me come out of this Peter Pan stuff, I got pregnant and I have my beautiful daughter and this is one of the most challenging things that I’ve ever had to deal with in my life.

What would you like to do when you grow up?

When I get older I would like to keep being completely honest, not pretend socially. Because this is really difficult, you are dealing with different people in different areas and it’s a challenge. When you lose your essence, you adapt. So my goal is to always keep who I am, being honest. I see myself at 60 years old, living in the countryside with a view to the sea. I imagine myself in the land living on a big farm with animals, planting my own food.

Probably my daughter will be traveling the world, backpacking, and discovering the world. I will be taking care of the animals, farm, doing my stuff with my hands. And still, if it’s possible on technology because this is something that I believe, that technology is not necessarily a bad thing, it can be bad if you lose control and disconnect with nature. But also you can use technology to help you with your daily routines. So I imagine myself in this really techy farm with smart sensors and I am taking care of my stuff with some techy things around. And also having residences around, that people/artists can go there and live. This is my utopia!

What is the first thing on your mind when you think about Faro?

First of all, it’s my hometown, I was away from Faro for a couple of years when I was living in Lisbon. So Faro it’s like a safe harbour, I’ll always come back here, even though all my friends are a little bit splitted. It’s always a place that I know I’ll find my family. When I think about Faro, I also think about all the potential that the city has and I keep questioning myself “Why aren’t we doing more amazing things with such a beautiful city.” It has everything to be this amazing place to live, which it is. But at the same time, there is a big lack of culture. Sometimes I still question myself: “Yeah, I will stay here, live here. Maybe I should have stayed in Lisbon or Berlin or London… What am I doing in this city?”. But at the same time, I think this is the place because it’s an amazing city and it has great potential. We just need to have open-minded people and cooperate.

What would be the soundtrack of your life story?

For the more cheerful moments Tame Impala, it’s a band that I like a lot. So you always hear this if you are in the car with me and I am driving them for sure! 

I also like very melancholic music. Maybe it has to be in Portuguese culture that we tempt to be very dramatic. For not so good moments Radiohead songs, all these dark songs.

What is the place in Faro you are most connected to? Why?

A place that I will always need to be near the sea. I’ve tried already to live even in big cities but they were interior cities. And I didn’t manage because I felt that I have this need of looking to the horizon at the end of the day. Because we have this beautiful geography, you can just go out of the work and sit on a bridge and just watch the sunset. For me, this is a very nice place.