I found Paradise, guys. It was in Portugal!

Hello all,

I'm back from a weekend of sun, fun, and friends in Portugal, and I loved every minute of it! I'd even argue it was one of the best vacations of my life, and that's saying something, because I've been on a lot of awesome vacations! Where oh where do I begin?

Well, we can start at five in the morning on May 2nd, 2014. I had to double and triple check my backpack that I had everything I'd need for the next three days, because my bus left at six thirty in the morning. I realized at this moment that I'm in serious trouble, because waking up this morning was extraordinarily difficult, even though I was about to embark on an awesome adventure! I guess we'll deal with work at 6 AM when we arrive at that bridge, no?
We double checked that all 200ish of us were there (they were) and headed off to Lagos, Portugal, located near the southwestern corner of the country.

We arrived and, well, it was hot. The first thing on the agenda was a Sangria Boat Cruise among the beautiful coastline of Lagos. Stupidly, I had forgotten back in Granada to take out money for it, so I immediately rushed to the nearest ATM. Here is where I began to create a list of things that annoy me in the Mediterranean area, and topping the list at this moment was/is the lack of ability to use card. I spent a good twenty minutes walking in what I discovered later to be the wrong direction in an attempt to find the ATM that was so vaguely described for me. Walking back, getting directions for a third time, and going and finally finding it, I finally acquired the money. Heading back to the hotel, we boarded the bus to the port, where we would begin our boat "cruise" adventure.

It was a cruise, technically. You could call it that. It also was every American college student's dream: a big sailboat in beautiful waters, sailing the sea with friends, girls, and free alcohol. Yes, quite literally that was it. It was awesome. Every half hour or so as well, a smaller boat would arrive and take us on a mini tour of the grottos in the area. They were quite gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

Behold, the party boat!

While the others were on the boat, we were downing our free sangria by the "boatful" (get it?!). The crew had a really good summer playlist going as well, and the water was just warm enough to jump in (but not stay in). I would go as so far to say this was the highlight of my study abroad experience thus far. Beautiful people, scenery, friends, and relaxation. It really doesn't get better than this.

Out on the grotto.

 

After about two hours, we disembarked from the boat onto land, although, for some of us, the boat feeling followed us (a bit much sangria for some). We headed back to the hotel to freshen up/hardcore power nap before dinner. Our group, Discover Excursions, had everything set up for us, including discount meals and drinks at the nightclubs. The first night, some of my friends and I headed out to a local bar that served a hodge-podge of pretty much anything. I had ribs. Dare I say, I devoured them, and I had/have no regrets (There's still nothing quite like American meat...). Then, it was off to the club for most of us; some decided they weren't ready to turn up and headed back to sleep.
For some reason, we were taken to a seemingly-obscure bar out of the way and left there by our guide. Immediately, we were persuaded by the not-so-subtle bartenders to take some shots and buy some beer. Now these bartenders were very, very good at their jobs; wearing nothing buy a sports bra, ripped jean shorts, and a shirt bearing a bit more than usual cleavage, they squeezed at least five euros out of us that we didn't intend to. At least they made good conversation while they were robbing us...
Then we were off to the club. Entering, it was immediately different than the others we had experienced. It was pretty much full of Americans, other people from our program/group, but fun nonetheless. The free drinks didn't hurt either.
After dancing our hearts out, we wandered around the warm, old streets of Lagos back to our hotel and passed out. A good, full day indeed, and we still had two more ahead of us.

Day 2. It would be hard to beat the first day. We enjoyed a free breakfast, one we took full advantage of, as it was the only free meal on the trip (breakfast, that is). Stuffing ourselves to the max, we waddled back over to the buses again to head off to the beach. Here they had the option to go sea kayaking, but given my [lack of] money situation, I opted to stay on the beach. On this beach, which spanned a good length of the city, we drank more free sangria, rented some paddle boats and proceeded to get them stuck out in the water, and body surf for a good hour. I'm not a huge fan of salt water, but I'll tell ya, the ability to body surf is awesome and definitely makes up for the salt.

After recovering from the beach, we set out to one of the coolest destinations I've ever been to; the "end of the world" in Portugal. It's the most western point on the European continent, and we went there to watch the sunset. I'll just leave some pictures up, because words don't adequately describe it.

Somewhere wayyy over there is America.

That night, we headed out again to a place called Joe's Garage, where we were given free drinks (you sense a pattern here?) and fun! Somehow, one of the bartenders that we had met the night before was working at this bar/club as well, so we met up with her again and...surprise...ended up buying drinks from her. *sighs* We are hopeless.

Day 3: Waking up after a good balcony talk with some friends after the club, we proceeded to enjoy our final free breakfast, and headed out to yet another beach. This time we were on our own; our bus would pick us up at around four thirty, so we had to make sure just to be there on time (though, I wouldn't have necessarily minded being left behind there.).
Some people (aka those most sunburnt) weren't necessarily feeling another day at the beach. So, after doing some incredible exploring over the rocks at the first beach, some females and I packed up and headed to another.

Finally, maybe now my father will love me!

The beach was awesome, though a bit cold, and it was nice to just chill and talk before heading back to Granada.

The bus ride back was quiet, because we were all so dead. We got back at 1:30 AM Monday morning, so I ended up missing class the next day (my 8:30 one, at least). Regardless, it was totally worth the experience, and I'd recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone.


Next post: Germany and Semana Santa.

Jacob