hola todos! i am now back on the blogging scene, as i begin 'real life' as a student and resident of granada. before i dive into exasperated tales of the first day of school, today's city-wide strike, or sweet flat-mates, i must share about my recent trip to southern portugal and the learning experiences that traveling entails.
first of all, due to craziness of the last week of the language program this trip definitely qualified as 'last minute' and 'spontaneous.' qualifications for our destination: 1. reasonable priced transportation 2. beautiful sandy beaches and salty water to wash away any stresses--easy enough. hence, we were faro, portugal bound. after a 2 hour bus ride to Malaga (beach town in spain), a 6 hour layover, then another 5 hours by bus to Faro (arriving at 2:00am), our trip started off with the not so pretty part of travel. as we were wandering around faro in the middle of the night, rollie-suitcases clanking on the cobblestones, depending on my google map directions and help from various portuguese hotel doormen to find our hostel, it was time to stop and appreciate--we made it to PORTUGAL, we are on vacation, and life is good. after sleeping off our travel day real vacation began. our faro adventures were unique due to the lack of tourism and nature of being an old-school port town. we found a local beach with gorgeous blue water, delicious sangria, and classic relaxation atmosphere...sound of waves, soft sand, and good friends to share the moment. after a night spent listening to portuguese karaoke songs and making the mistake of singing the spice girls to a bunch of confused locals, we heard rumors of a beachy island a short train ride//boat away. needless to say, we left in a flash, bound for this mysterious island and island luxury that surly awaited us. the island of Farol was everything and more...i'll leave it at that.
this is the walk out to another beach on the island. being here, in a similar climate to california and natural beauty, it made me extremely appreciative for california and the paradise that i can call my home.
after a few nights in faro, it was time to move farther west in the Algarve (southern region) and explore the town of Lagos.
Lagos being more on the tourist radar, it had an instant familiar, international feel. although the weather decided to front some clouds and potential rain, being the california girls we are, we headed for downtown and then to the beach. as the clouds started to part, the ocean began whispering our names, luring us towards the water. five minutes later it was screaming for us to strip down (despite the lack of bathing suits...haha) and indulge in classic girl spontaneity. below is the pic of our cove and cave swimming :)
this picture basically captures happiness and completely enforces my attitude of when in doubt, strip down and jump in a large body of water. good memories are sure to follow.
as you can probably tell, i could go on and on about our adventures and the beauty that is the Algarve. but, at risk of story overload i will just share one more epic memory of portugal. for our last day in Lagos we decided to take the advice of our Kiwi and French hostel owners to take a boat ride along the coastline. little did we know we were embarking on a pirates of the caribbean status adventure with Fernando the teddy bear (instead of mr.depp) as our guide. the combination of the sandstone rock formations with the overwhelmingly gorgeous water was unreal.
as we passed by Fernando the explorer, blew his conch shell...gotta love him. he's definitely the big man on campus...or on agua.
after an hour or so on the water, we returned completely content and sunkissed. we couldn't have asked for more.
after our boat ride we decided to walk along the bluffs that settle our little butts down on the beach below. after laying on the beach for a solid five minutes, the excitement of paddleball took hold. MOST. FUN. BEACH GAME. EVER. the iberian peninsula folk are all about it...don't worry i'm bringing it back for some cross cultural exchange back to cali.
lastly, as we searched for a local traditional portuguese restaurant that Fernando recommended (and received various directions and opinions from the adorable senior citizen community of Lagos--all in portuguese mind you) we passed by the epitome of elegance, smiling gently in a stunning window frame. after walking by, i couldn't help myself...my mom in me told me to go for, make a fool of myself and ask to take a picture--this woman is priceless. when i asked by smiling and pointing to my camera, speaking spanglish, she simply nodded, leaned against the frame and returned the smile. i hope to be her age, smiling at the young crazy girls walking and laughing hysterically through the streets and remember my own excursions. there are so many adventures to be had and i now realize they are all at my disposable with some planning, creativity, and an open mind and heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment