A bit of heaven on earth

Well my time down in the Algarve region of Portugal started out very tired. My last night in Lisboa, a group of 13 of us went out and did not return until 4:30 that morning. It was a long night, but ssssoooooo much fun! I crawled in bed around 5, just enough time to grab 2 hours of sleep before heading off to the train station to catch my train down to the Southern coast. After arriving in the very touristy town of Lagos, I stayed there for a night and hungout out with a guy I met at the bus station. We walked around and grabbed a great fish dinner. I have been eating lots of fresh fish lately and it has been really yummy!

The next day, I got up and hoped on a bus for the little town of Salema. Thanks to one of my guidebooks (thanks again Tina!) I found it. On the way there I met this woman named Franchesca and we started chatting, her in Portuguese and me in Spanish. Luckily the 2 languages are similar enough that we can communicate just fine. Her and her husband rent out rooms in their house so I went with her and rented one for 2 nights. They were great! She totally reminds me of my mom in Costa Rica. They are a very nice couple in their 60´s and have 2 rooms above their house with a seperate entrance that they rent out to travelers. My first day there, she wanted to send me with an umbrella to the beach cause she was afraid I would get burned. Then she sent me out the front door when I politely declined the umbrella with a kiss on both cheeks, a hug, and a "Be careful and have fun." It was so cute!

I spent 2 amazing days just laying on the beautiful beach tanning and reading. The water is crystal clear. It fades from the shore out from clear, to torquise, to a deep blue. The waves are not huge, just enough that there is a nice lapping sound on the shore of them breaking. The shore and water are scattered with smlaa fishing boats since this is mainly a fishing town with just the right mixture of tourists and locals. There can´t be more than maybe 5,000 people who live there. When you swim in the water, there are fish swimming right along with you too. I got nice and tan.

The people here are so friendly. The people I stayed with were great and by the end of my first day there, they had another young couple in the room next door. We were chatting and they agreed that Franchesca and her husband were very sweet. There is a corner where a lot of the older fishermen sit discussing whatever it is everynight. Each time I walked by them, I would greet them with a "Bom Dia" and they would give me big smiles and do the same. While browsing in one of the shops, I started chatting with the woman who runs it. I found out, between her Portuguese and my Spanish, that she was born in this small town, moved around, and has now settled back here. She has 2 sons who live in town and work at local restaurants. One son has a little boy so she is a grandma.

This is the part I like most about traveling on my own, the way you can just start chatting with people and get to talk to them. So far, Portugal has been my favorite part of the travels. I am trying to figure out why we do not come here more as Americans. It is definately right up my alley!