Vilana Armação de Pera

... 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 ...

Over the last couple days I've watched my shaky plan fall around me. I don't really know where to go next, and surprise bills are depleting my meager funds. Thankfully I'm stranded in Southern Portugal, its cheap and beautiful, indeed there are less desirable places to be stranded.<br><br>I decide to join a group of young kiwis heading to Lagos; partly for the social aspect, partly because I would like to see more of the coast. Faro ...

... to the station. I sit on the bench and pick away at the ruby red fruit. Pomegranate is similar to sunflower seeds, in that psychologically you are eating, but physically you are consuming so very little. <br><br>I arrived in Faro early in the day, located the nearest internet cafe and sent out a flurry of requests to both Couch Surfing and WWOOFing hosts. I wander the streets, hoping to accidentally find the youth ...

... 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.<br><br>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 ...

... back home might even sell for 30 bucks. Dinner is finished and the plates come back half eaten. Fish is dissected though not eaten, the beans barely touched. Apparently these people hate big meaty delicious fish. A dessert of instant pudding pie is consumed in its entirety. <br><br>I will never understand what it is about a meal that makes people love it or hate it.

<br>An excursion to Lagos&#8217;s Marina followed by a boat trip to Ponta de Sagres (The most western point of Europe, from where the Portuguese sailors started the discovery of new worlds) will allow to enjoy the<br>natural beauty of the rocks, especially the famous and most impressive caves of Ponta da Piedade, wild beaches and the sea waves on the cliffs along the coast and also some of the &#8216;highlights ...

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 ...

... tons of mussels on the bottom, also not fun. The road to get to this lagoon was really sketchy, there's a video in the link below so you can see for yourself.<br><br>http://picasaweb.googl e.com/Jonny.D.Lawrence/20091012Alvor?au thkey=Gv1sRgCN_Jy47QxsiTwAE&amp;feat=di rectlink

... not "surfers" but we we&#8217;re much less scared of getting tossed by the big waves this time. We also came to the conclusion that it maybe wasn&#8217;t us that, but that it&#8217;s the size of the board that was hindering our performance....<br> <br>http://picasaweb.google.com/Jonny.D .Lawrence/20091011Sagres?authkey=Gv1sRg CMmMtI7egbGKvAE&amp;feat=directlink

... tomorrow to attach photoºs as all internet suppliers here in Salema have blocked access to downloading information. We seem to be following a polar front as we keep being told this is the coldest weather theyºve had all year - even January and February were nicer. I guess we canºt complain too much as we could be still in snowdrifts and minus temperatures! Well, someone is waiting for the internet - so Iºll sign off for now. Talk to everyone another day.