That´s all folks!!!!

Hello from Portugal!!!!

The past week has been crazy...I love this country!!!! We started in Porto where we visted the beautiful city and toured the port wine caves (lots of tast tests too!!!). Our hostel was a pretty chill place and I met so many ppl from all over the world...I think meeting people is my favorite thing about traveling....now i have places to stay wherever I travel...very practical if you ask me!!! The second night a bunch of us went to the tiesto outdoor concert....it was crazy....6pm-6am! On our way home we got lost, and I tried to speak Portugese to these two mothers with their childre (who brings 7 yr olds to a tiesto concert???) for directions.... apparently my portugese isnt that great because they ended up driving us to the OTHER end of Porto...totally NOT where I wanted to go. I felt bad asking them to take us back, and they clearly werent understanding me anyways, so we figured we would just take a cab....turns out the cab drivers dont understand english, however, so we got kicked out of the cab. Just as I was about to start freaking out (just a little of course!) a guy came up and asked us if we need any help... obviously we did, and he knew exactly where our hostel was....so he walked us there.... turns out he is a drug addict who is on a special program to stop without going cold turkey because his family and friends disowned him and he lost his job.... funny what u learn about ppl when u are lost in Porto! lol Everything turned out ok, and we got back to the hostel safe and sound!
After Porto we were off to Lagos. During a bus pit stop I tried my Portugese again with a local waitress... I somehow ended up ordering a coffee....we have come to the conclusion that while i thought I was telling her what a lovely country Portugal was, she was asking if I wanted a coffee, and thinking she was asking something different, I said "si"...I should use more hand signals next time! lol
Lagos was amazing...more touristic however sooo much fun! We hit the beach and an Aussie and I decided to swim out to the caves which were pretty cool! The next day we did some surfing with a few ppl that we had met at our hostel...I actually was able to ride a wave!!! It was awesome...I may have chipped a tooth and a got a huge cut down my back, but that is to be confirmed at a later date... :) The next day we did a boat tour where we went out to the caves which was cool but overprices. Afterwards we took a boat and went to go see wild dolphins! It was crazy! The boat ride was super fast and we flew off waves, and then we got to see dolphins jump and swim around the boat! I had never seen dolphins in their natural habitat so that was pretty cool!...Im considering taking one home and keeping it in my pool....
Presently I am in Lisbon...the capital city of Portugal! It´s a big city but still has a Portugese feel to it, which is nice. Tomorrow we are doing a walking tour of the city and then following day we are going to Sintra, which is supposed to be a fairytale city with castles and the like! On the way we are going to stop at a cliff which happens to be the most western point of Europe and has a crazy surfer beach...Im going to watch the surfers this time!! ;) On Saturday Im doing my "independence" and going to Evora, which is home to a church made of human bones...yup...it´s true! How crazy!!! It even has two skeletons hanging from the ceiling!!! A little disturbing I admit, but nevertheless a must see on my list! That´s pretty much it...my plane leaves early Monday morning, so Im basically spending my last night at the airport and shopping at duty free...it´s time to come home tho...my clothes are ruined, my new purse that I have not yet used got moldy because of the rainy trip from Porto to Lagos, and I look like a mess (every day in Europe is a bad hair day..right???? lol)

Hope you all miss me!!!...cause Im coming home! See you all back in the 514!!!!

-Ash
xoxo