Seaside Sauna

25 June 2013

Oh how I love the Portuguese. Honestly, I LOVE Portugal. The people are amazing and the language is beautiful. I am kind of upset that my father did not speak more Portuguese to me in the home because I wish dearly that I could communicate with the people here. I have decided that my mother and father need to come to Portugal. It is such a beautiful place, but it tends to get overlooked by American geography. My dad would love the beach, the food, the people, and of course the language.

It was Stephanie’s 20th birthday today and Kailey and I woke her up with a lovely fruit parfait and some bread and cheese. We gave her the breakfast and held up a Birthday sign while singing Happy Birthday to her in Portuguese.

We spent all afternoon at the beach again and right now I am paying for it just a bit. My entire body is lobster red. 7 hours straight of Portuguese sun was probably not the best thing for my beyond white skin. We did so much today and it was so fun, I absolutely do not want to leave Lagos. Kailey’s cousins Nunu and Daniele picked us up and took us out to the beach where we had an absolute blast exploring caves and exfoliating our skin in the clay near the edge of the cliffs. Portugal is incredible. We arrived at the beach around noon, staked out our spot to leave our stuff, and then we headed off east to explore the caves. The plan was to go Kayaking today but the wind picked up enough to make the ocean quite choppy and create a rip tide current that was quite strong. Because of this we had to cancel our kayak plans and instead result in exploring the beach. I am actually glad how it all worked out because I had a blast exploring the beautiful caves and cliffs that I probably would not of been able to do had we gone kayaking. As we walked along the beach the boys tried to turn us back at one point explaining that there were some “not to modest men” up ahead a bit further. Of course we were not going to let such a “cultural” experience pass us by and we wanted to make it all the way to the caves. We had not even walked 100 yards before yep, there they were just as natural as can be. I put on my blinders and walked the rest of the way to the caves with my friends.

Can you say B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L. We went into a cave right on the beach that was built of aged beach rock. It is quite incredible because the rocks are made out of years and years of see debris and creatures. Muscles, snails, and other sea creatures line the walls of the caves, clinging to the rocks as they wait for the tide to rise and cover them in the salty water. At one point we crawled over to a “hidden” beach through a little tunnel in the rocky cliffs…so cool! Nuno and Daniel were so fun and it was incredible to make such good friends in such a short amount of time. By the end of the evening I felt as if we had been friends for years.

One of the cultural differences between Europe and America that I absolutely love is the closeness people have here. In Portugal, and Spain and Italy as well, you always greet people with a kiss on each cheek. Whether you are saying hello (Ola) or goodbye (Tchau) you always offer a kiss on each check to everyone in the room. It took me a few times to become comfortable with the tradition, but now I love it. Breaking down barriers of personal space that quickly in meeting someone, really allows for a friendship to blossom quite fast.

Just chilling with some Portuguese boys on the beach. Quero Cassar-me com un Portuguese.

After exploring the caves on one side of Praia Porto de Mos we crossed over to the other side of the beach to experience the clay that Nuno and Daniel swear is used by beauty companies in many of their products. Whether it is or not, we trusted them and rubbed it all over our bodies. The clay was smooth and soft and it rubbed into our skin fairly easily, drying with a firmness that felt so good on our sunburned extremities. It almost felt like I had undergone Botox on my entire body, and the tightness felt really good.

We went back to our plot on the beach (Praia) and laid out a bit while Nuno and Daniel hit the waves with some body surfing. The current was pretty strong by the time we were done with our exploring and the boys wanted to have some time to surf themselves before we joined them and they would exhort all their efforts in teaching us. It was a bad idea to lay out more and right now my body is as sore, hot, and achy as can be. By the time the boys came back the current was too strong for anyone to be in the water any longer so we resulted to playing Raquete or Racket ball on the shore. I enjoyed spending such a relaxing time with such great friends and am willing to take all the sunburn pains imaginable for the wonderful moments and friendships I have been creating here in Portugal.

Christina and Jorge Grave are some of the nicest people I have met. Christina made us a traditional Portuguese meal again for dinner tonight and it was incredible. She made us soup, sardines, salad, and two beautiful cakes. In the states we have a perceived perception of sardines. I know that before today I HATED sardines. Who wants to eat tiny little fish smashed together in a can and covered in the most disgusting sauce ever. I know that I do not. Fresh sardines in Portugal are a lot different. They are a lot larger and taste a lot like a zesty white fish. I really liked them, and more than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the process of eating them. You eat them over a piece of bread that you will eat after the fish oil seeps into it. The back meat of the Sardine is the only part that you eat, so when you are done it looks like a fish with the head, undersides, and a backbone. Thank you Christina for giving us such a “cultural” experience. I don’t think I have ever had an experience such as that at the dinner table. Christina was even kind enough to make two cakes for Stephanie’s birthday today. One was a chocolate pudding cake and the other was a cheesecake. It is Portuguese tradition to blow out your candles, make a wish, and then bite the candle and keep it, all in that order. Biting the candle ensures that your wish will come true, and keeping the candle reminds you of what that with is.

Sardines are actually quite good and really fun to eat. If I lived in Portugal I would eat them all the time…

Stephanie and her beautiful birthday cake.