Vamos a Portugal!

As promised, here is the second half of my earlier post that I'm sure y'all are dying to see. We left for Portugal on Friday morning ready for some serious vacation time (a bit of an oxymoron). Since the drive takes several hours (we crossed a time zone), we stopped for a short break in order to prevent the spread of the insidious condition known as cabin fever. A few friends and I went into a cafe to check out the digs. A big window full of strange pastries caught our eye. The only problem we had we deciding which ones to buy. Such a dilemma. Finally, we chose a creamy sandwichy thing, and at my insistence, a strange white lump of something. Well, both were yummy. I don't know what the former was, but the latter was definitely coconut.

We finally reached our first destination in Portugal, and had to take a short boat ride to the an island/beach of Tavira where we'd be frying for the next several hours. (The boat resembled the one from the Micky cartoon "Steamboat Willy".) Well, it wasn't very subtle, but I was using a bit of foreshadow with the word frying. I burned again on the beach. I put on sunscreen, but didn't reapply it when I should have. Apparently I never learn. Oh, but I do have some advice for y'all: don't wear shades when your face is burning. The reverse raccoon tends to cramp your style, haha. I loved the beach though. The sand in Portugal is surprisingly coarse, and there are tons of pretty shells along the shore. I hunted them like a demon, and I think I can claim to have a pretty sweet collection. The water was an incredibly beautiful color of blue and green. I could have stared at it all day (but not in the way Narcissus did in the pool). The beach became a part of me. I actually don't mean this in a metaphoric way, but quite literally (when I ingested sand). While I was feeding my face, I dropped a cookie on the sand. I ate it. And what's more, I liked it. The funny thing is that later I bought a donut that was to meet the same fate as the unfortunate cookie. Yeah, it hit the sand as well. I ate it too. I couldn't tell what was sugar on the donut and what was sand. I wasn't a big fan of the gritty texture, but that's life. 

That night, we finally arrived at our hotel in the town of Lagos. The hotel was situated right next to a beach, so we were all happy. After we got settled, mis amigas and I went to a restaurant. We met a friendly little kitty there whom I named Tiago (or Tiaga if female). The next day, we hung out on the gorgeous nearby beach, but in the shade, mind you. That night we traveled to a place along the Atlantic called Cabo San Vincente. When the majority of the world believed the world was flat, this place was referred to as the "end of the world." There are tall cliffs that kind of remind me of the Cliffs of Moher. We stood atop the cliffs and could gaze across the ocean into the fading horizon. From that point, we watched the sun set, and it was sublime. I understand why it could be¨called the "end of the world." I would definitely go to Portugal again just to see that. 

Anyway, we left the hotel the next day to hit one more beach before leaving Portugal. This one was in a place called Albufeira. It was really touristy, but pretty nonetheless. While there, we saw a woman and a man sculpting figures from a pile of sand. They were super detailed and amazing. After a few hours, we finally left for Spain. I noticed something strange about Portugal: they really didn't like when we spoke Spanish. So we just went with English there. Anyway, the trip was pretty exhausting, but I came back feeling great. I really like Portugal, and want to go back some day. If anybody wants to go there and needs a travel buddy, you know who to call!