Best Western Hotel Maritim Albufeira

... and watches from the wings. Then sheºs in... battered and bruised as she battles those gladiator waves to enter the playground. Ok, letºs try again... getting past those rollers as they come into shore aint so easy... and they do it again... it was the washing machine effect and sheººs out for good this time. Lym grinning on the horizon for the next 15mins bobbing up and down as there are no waves out there, then he gets the Bold 2 in 1 ...

... we can, particularly of Praia de Bordeira. About 50km south of Odeceixe and we arrive in Lagos, one of the major Algarve tourist destinations. We arre initially overwhelmed by the size of the place (we really have been living in areas with low populationo density) and by the number of Brits abroad, but soon gain our bearings, checking out the surf (looks good!) and decide its time for us to have a night on the town, including a meal out (our ...

... in to the hostel, and then was planning to drive out to Sagres, the end of Europe. Kirsten and I decided to join him and away we went.

Alex liked to tell us that he wasn't a typical American. He spoke several languages, and had traveled the world. I found him vaguely annoying, but I was still happy to take a free ride from him. A 30 minute drive took us to Sagres. I don't want to bother trying to explain the beauty of Sagres ...

... I talk briefly with a receptionist in a Best Western hotel. She's actually quite interested to hear my story, and takes my email in case she knows anyone that needs a bit of work done in exchange for room and board. This is the only beacon of hope, in an otherwise very bleak situation.

I eventually find the Youth Hostel, and thoroughly abuse their complimentary internet service. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

... though a little salty. She's visibly proud of it. As she prepares potatoes for roasting we talk about food. Its certainly not her passion, but somebody has to do it. I can see why they were so eager to have me in the kitchen for a couple weeks.

Daniella asks me why I decided to volunteer my time with them. I explain to her that I wanted to work with them because their website says that all of the meals are prepared by a chef, and I was hoping to learn about Portuguese ...

... of Lagos, and many beautiful beaches of Barlavento of Algarve as Meia Praia, Praia D. Ana, Porto de Mós, Praia D. Maria, Burgau, Solária, Batata, beach of Estudantes, Pinhão, Camilo, Canavial, etc….

Head on to the Cabo de São Vicente (Cape St. Vincent - the southwestern tip of Europe, and considered to be the “world’s end” in the Middle Ages), the trip continues towards Sagres ...

In Albufeira, we went to a Portugese bullfight, not the real deal as in they don't kill the bull, rather they stab them in the back with a bunch of arrows. I thought it was mean, especially the first bull because it was pretty much still a baby and looked scared instead of angry. Jon ...

The kiting in Alvor is supposedly one of the best spots in Portugal, because of a huge shallow lagoon, however the wind was in the opposite direction so we ended up kiting on the sea side in the waves. Exhausting, but very fun to launch off the waves. We met a wicked ...

The west and south coast of Portugal is pretty much a long stretch of beaches surrounded and separated by huge red cliffs and you can get from one beach to another by crawling through caves in the cliffs (I also think that's where the bums sleep at night...) We did some surfing at a small secluded beach that I had been to 4 years ago with my family. We’re ...

... dealers or angry English. We had a nice dinner on a beach restaurant overlooking the ocean (not to mention that I couldn´t ******** off the menu...I´m so ****ed). After dinner we headed off to the night club district. We went to a dance club as I proceeded to load up on Sagres (A fine Portuguese beer) and broke out my circa 1992 dance moves on the dance floor as all the British watched. After ...