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The year is 1951. Vasco Spinola is 14 years old and lives in the northern Portuguese fishing village of Renondo. There is a legend there that people in the 13th century found dinosaur fossil tracks in the rocks leading from the beach to the top of the cliffs on the cape. A man came forward with the story of a great light that shone on the Cape. Arriving there, he said he saw the Holy Virgin (“Nossa Senhora”) riding a giant mule from the ocean up the cliffs. When people went to investigate they found the dinosaur fossil tracks and declared them as the hooves of the giant mule. A chapel was built in the mid-fourteenth century, to store an image of the Virgin, built with much of the rock upon which the tracks were found. Over time, as the legend grew, modest homes were built to receive pilgrim to the site. This led to the eventual construction of the convent and a church at that location. Vasco made his living selling pearls to tourists from oysters, which he gathers from Renondo Bay. It was a dangerous job and usually only paid one or two large dividends per year; with persistence and luck. Vasco would grease his body to conserve heat, put greased cotton in his ears, wear a tortoiseshell clip to close his nostrils and grip a large object like a rock to descend without the wasteful effort of swimming down whilst also carrying a wide mouthed basket or net to hold the oysters. In fact, pearls from the Renondo Archipelego were considered the “finest of the world” found in “high bred” shells in deep, clear, and rapid tidal waters. Some days, Vasco could find a few oysters on shoals at a depth of 5”7 feet from the surface, but more often than not he had to go 40 feet or even up to 125 feet deep to find enough oysters. He would usually expect to find 3 or 4 pearls of varying quality per half ton of oysters collected. But one large pearl of exceptional quality could set him up for a year. But in between, he could make a little money selling the fresh oysters at the quayside. A one bedroom shack on a hill overlooking the harbour is Vascos’ home, which he shares with his sole remaining relative, his Uncle Melissa. Vasco’s parents were killed in an earthquake when he was 4 years old. (Vasco was in hospital at the time recovering from a minor operation to remove excess skin from between his toes). His mother was somewhat older than his father and was what could be termed an old school Lovely. She wore her hair cut very short but her dresses were very sultry and provocative, and her demeanor was flirtatious and mysterious. His Father was a graduate from the Coimbra Academic Institute with a PHD in Paleontology, and a well respected lecturer on the subject who, through tenacity and hard work, had amassed one of the finest private fossil collections in Iberia at the time. A mysterious list was found in the wreckage of the house; which reads as follows: Vilapods, Segupods, Harupods, Spipods, Nagupods, Inkapods, Dongopods, Bartopods, Aopods, Komapods, Shakopods, Zozapods, Grilpods, Gejipods, Kasupods-Samupods, Kubapods, Masepods, Danapods, Tenkropods, Mossapods, Mesapods, Winapods, Thunapods, Gagopods, Koropods, Ojipods, Tamapods, Mugopods, Shimapods, Darupods, Bomapods, Senpods, Azepods, Mantrapods, Pagopods, Leopods, Tobapods, Denpods, Hapapods, Anupods, Ryzapods, Torgapods, Nokopods, Shopods, Hanepods, Pikopods, Makapods, Musapods, Samepods, Rudapods, Zaapods, Elopods, Pahapods, Zyrapods and Trogapods.