Buttercup is marrying Humperdink in little less than half an hour.

So we left Portugal behind, and I don't want to face that I have to head back to real life in two days.

I need to live in Europe. I long to live in Europe. I want to marry a European boy, with European style, European romance, and a European accent. I want to have a European life, with a value of culture, and where the streets are small, the buildings beautiful, the travel made easy, and adventures are like banks--around every corner. Please let me live here. I need to find a way. I will miss Mexican food, my people, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the American music scene, but I will have good wine, new people, and dancing all night.

::this is long, fair warning::

Thursday night took us out again, we found our new friends, and finally made it out to a disco, which was eh. The music was bad, and we were not drunk enough to make it work, but we danced and it was fun, a bit of a bust, but it ended with more wine and good conversation and a lively time until after dawn once again, complete with a little tipsy off-roading in the Jeep. Going to bed when you usually get up means you lose daylight, but we made it to the beach in time for some sun late Friday afternoon, an almost swim (just too cold to go past my thighs, even if it was my last chance to swim on that beautiful beach. Shi and I felt like spectacles for the day, like Sex and the City coming home, and then attempting to take jumping pics on the beach. You'd think that generation would know by now that ours is picture crazy, and we aren't about the portrait.
We had some errands to run in town, and decided to finally go to out to dinner in Albufeira, try and find something Portuguese, maybe a little peixes, and ate way too much of a delicious meal out. We came home to find that we'd missed the boys on their way home to Lisbon. They were so sweet, stopped by to say goodbye, and left us a cd of their favorite Portuguese singer Mariza--which Sheila and I listened to in the car on the way to the airport, and is beautiful, I recommend looking into it. Plus, from the album cover, she has cute hair and amazing cheekbones. --Those boys made our trip, I am glad to have new friends, and hope they will remain so and some time come visit us in the City.

Then we packed it up and said our goodbye to our Praia Oura with a bottle of red Portuguese wine and a clove out on our patio under the stars.

The thing about travelling, is that it's not always going to work out as planned, and not being the most flexible, it's good for me to get this practice. We had a 6am flight, and a 1/2 hr drive to Faro, so we left our hotel at 4:30am. THAT is an early hour, and one we had already been seeing the past few mornings. Our flight from Faro for some reason left a half hour ahead of schedule, I guess if everyone was there and on board, why not?? which got us to Lisbon early, but Lisbon was having some computer issues, and our flight was delayed boarding and on the runway for an hour and half, which caused us to miss our connection in Barcelona. I have done a ton of airport hopping this trip, man oh man. Well, there were no more flights to Bilbao, and TAP said there was no other option of getting to Bilbao, so they'd get me a hotel and I would fly out in the morning. I'LL TAKE IT!! Unfortunately, TAP took three and a half hours to do things, so I didn't get time in during daylight or buisness hours, but I saw Barca, ate and drank, made friends with the kindly young bartender at Cafe De L'Opera--who hopes to see me again, wink-- had a hot shower and a nice bed, and was put in Business Class on both the flight to Madrid and to Bilbao, it was quite okay. I'm sad Sheila missed the amenities --I even was given sipping chocolate from Spanair, and my Coke Light came in a real glass on Iberia-- but she went off to Rome directly from BCN, and had planned on skipping out on the last leg anyways. PS--snow all over Basque country, and it is raining and muy frio in Bilbao. Grr.
I found my way home to Sheila's with only a few hiccups, and releived some stress by cleaning her kitchen and cooking myself a little Easter dinner. I have done too much traveling in too little time, with too little sleep, and my body hurts all over. I have not made plans for tomorrows hopefull trip to the Bay of Biscay, whether I see it in Spain or France, and how and when to get there, but it has rained all afternoon and is not at all pleasant outside. I wonder if it will even be worth it.
At this point, I'm very uncertain what the next two days and my night in Barcelona will look like, pray for nice weather please! Cold could be okay, I brought warm things and while I brought a raincoat and umbrella, I have little desire to wander around in the rain too much.
Heres hoping for some deep sleep, pleasant dreams, and waking up refreshed at a decent but early hour.
With sweet love from Spain on a tired and lonely Easter.

It's been a long slow collision

Yesterday was good, last night was better.
Wednesday night we went out for the first time, met ourselves some new friends, danced, walked home early (2am) because we had to get up early to go to Lisbon. A very good night. I hope Roberto and Ruben really do email us and we keep our friends from Galicia.



We drove up to Lisbon yesterday, it poured rain most of the way, as soon as we got out of the Algarve. We were not prepared. Oh man how it rained down on us. Beautiful countryside, but a tiny highway (we opted for the free National Highway instead of the toll (would end up being like €20 for the whole way), in the rain, slower than we had planned, meant for a long drive. We learned some very expensive lessons about toll roads in Portugal, and had to pay €36.50 instead of the €2 we should have had to pay, becuase we went through the wrong booth and didn´t take a ticket. OUCH. A long car ride, turned longer, since we didn´t have coats or an umbrella to get out and see things, so we drove through them. And got lost a lot. Into Sintra, beautiful, quaint, medeival town, with 7 castles, and drove winding tiny mossy roads, that looked like they belonged in Robin Hood, and we should have been in a carriage. Beautiful.
Over to Cabo da Rocca, our favorite part of the day, the most western point of the European continet, and the place where Queen Isabella deemed to be the End of the World, before they sent out Columbus. We ate oranges there in observance of all those lost to scurvey, and took pictures at the end of the world as we know it, feeling fine.



Down into Lisbon, for Pasties de Belem, and dois cafe con leites, YUM. Belem is the old neighborhood of Lisbon, famous for these custard tarts, delicious. Lisbon has a bridge like the Golden Gate and reminds us of San Francisco very much.
A long drive home was shorter than the way there, and the rain had cleared up, and I listened to the Cardigans, and had my soul warmed and my thoughts given time to gather and deepen. Lisbon is saved from being a total bust by Cabo da Roca, and majorly by introducing us to the city enough to make certain we come back. We did not get to see or experience it, and wish so much that we had. Like Amsterdam, it is a city I need to return to, because my heart is left wanting.

THEN, we finally made it home around 11, ate a little, dressed a little, made a few coctails and headed out to our little strip of nightlife. We went to the place across the street instead, and found our friends from the night before. Oh how they amuse us! There was more dancing, a LOT of laughing, especially on the box. We were about to head across the street, when we saw some more folks from the night before, chatted for a while, and then ended up at their place with wine and more laughing, until morning. They are fun kids, Shi and I had a great time, though we felt a little like hookers returning from our night before at 11am. Such is the feeling when you stay at a place with families and British retirees. We spent most of the day sleeping and lounging. Today was just gone. The sun was in and out, and rain on and off, so my hopes of coming home with a tan are slipping farther and farther away. I got a few short segments in, during breaks in the clouds, where the warm sun would almost dry up the sprinkles I'd withstand while waiting through the grey for the blue, but eventually had to go back inside becuase it started to really rain on me.





We are going out again tonight, our last night to have nightlife, becuase Saturday our flight leaves at 6am. We hope to see our new friends again tonight. They are so darling, they each have these distinct pesronalities, that we can place so commonly as other people we know, and I love their dynamic. John Paul, the Director, self-righteous, loves film and provides good conversation, wants to be a cassanova, a little dramatic. Jose the dreamboat ladies man, ever the host, tells it like it is with a smile in his eye. Joao, the soft-spirited goof, studying music, a pianist, who meets his babes online. They--like the rest of Portugal it seems-- don't let us speak Spanish, and we don't know enough Portuguese, so we speak English together. My language is not improving much this week, but I sure love to listen to them, both in Portuguese and English. I'm at a point where I can definitely distinguish Portuguese from other things, and think I catch a few words in sentances, and can say a very few things, with a very poor accent, though I am so uncomfortable with it, and feel like my Portguese is as unwelcome as it is unneccessary, that I never really use the things I know. Except Obrigado, thank you, as I leave whatever conversation.

ahh, at last, what i hoped for.

Today it was cloudy, so we went to Faro, and it was the Portugal I´d been hoping and looking for. Old Faro, inside the walled city, is beautiful, from the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Moores conquered. We saw the amazing catedral (second photo) and walked all through these tiny cobblestone streets, (top photo) with brightly painted doors, and intricate iron balconies and window treatments. My mom would love this part. A grrreeeat day. My camera´s battery died halfway through the day, so Sheila has most of the photos on her camera, and I won´t get them for a few weeks still.
In other news, my heart is lighter, and I had a great conversation that reminded me so much of who I am, who I should be, and who I long to be. Praise and thanks, with much love.
Tomorrow we head off early to Lisbon (Lisboa, pronounced lish-boh-uh) and I´m super excited. When we flew over and in, it looked awesome, and I became excited and certain that I wanted to get up there. Speaking of which, Portuguese drivers are CRAZY!! They are rude and drive very fast, and much of the time I wonder what they are thinking?! But, as for the roads themselves, I love driving in Europe, it seems easier, less confusing, for the roadsigns are based entirely on final destinations, so you follow the signs to where you want to go, rather than needing to know directions. Cake.
We have yet to get out dancing. We spent our St Pattys Day at an Irish pub up the road, which was chock full of old Irish and English folks, but lots of fun. We went home earlish, to nap before really going out since bars happen here from 12-3, and then dancing from 3am on. out of time, more to come, with love!

Amor do Algarve

In: Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal

Oh man, the Algarve is beautiful. Gorgeous beaches and coastline, we went to this amazing grotto in Lagos, at the end of the Mediterranean, where it meets the Atlantic. So beautiful, crystal clear turquoise blue water, and these incredible rock formations, orange sand beaches, beautiful. I´m trying to get a little tan, but it was cloudy today, and a little cool. We´ve rented a car, and I like driving in Europe. The roundabouts all have signs that tell you based on where yo~´re going, not like what street, but by cities, and the roads are small. Oh man, at one point we were driving through the city off the main road, through the tiniest one way streets, with hardly sidewalks. Tommorrow we go to Faro, and then Wed Lisboa, and tonight out dancing for the first time.
Happy St Paddys Day!