Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Bom Dia! (Good day)

Ahhhh, Flores is so good. Been here for 3 days now. It's absolutely beautiful. And the people are so nice.

As you know, we got in Friday night. After anchoring we decided to go grab a bite to eat at the local pub. By far the worst hamburger I'd ever tasted...but I didn't care at all. We didn't have any Euros, and the bank was closed, so the owners let us eat anyways. Awesome.

Saturday, we got up early and went into town (Lajes). Carolyn and I decided to give ourselves a bit of a leg workout, since we hadn't really used them in weeks, so we decided to grab some lunch and take off for an afternoon hike. The lunch was amazing: Bitoque, it's rice, 2 steaks, french fries, a fried egg, and a salad. So much food, very cheap, very good. I was stuffed to say the least. Then we walked for 4 hours...and walking here is no joke. The roads are basically cliffs...12% grade...what the heck. Which basically means that after 2 weeks of not using my legs...they are now effed. But, on our way bck to town from the hike, we saw a man in his garden (everyone has gardens), he saw us and brought us two massive handfuls of strawberries that he'd just picked....they were so good.

That'll be some fresh smelling laundry eh?


Nice walk


After the walk, we went back into town, to the Restaurante Marinha, owned by Ricardo and Sonja (whole let us eat free the night before), and they were having a July 4th celebration! What!?! Makes no sense. Anyways, they had karaoke, good food, and all of the other sailors were there, so we met a bunch of them. We all hung out, and danced...by the way, Portuguese dancing is like fighting...for real...and then when you are done dancing with the Portuguese girls, they just turn around and walk off...no thank you (Obrigado) no wave, not even a handshake, heck not even eye contact. It was wierd...but really really fun.

So, Sunday we woke up around 11:30 and rented a taxi to tour the island. We drove all around the island for 3 hrs. (small island) and saw the Caldeiras (crater lakes), we went to Fajazhina and Faja Grande, two villages on Flores. It really is a beautiful island. 

One of the Caldeiras

Fajazhina
Malo Alto, the tallest peak on the island.

After that, we went and hung out with the Frenchies, Flo and Beru, and the Mad Brits, Chris and Kathy. Flo and Beru are sailors, and they decided to buy a house here a year ago because they loved the island so much. Flo has a massive garden

and she shares alot of her vegetables (which are amazing after not having any for two weeks). Their house is charming though, and they are so nice.

The Mad Brits are the Mad Brits because they are crazy. Kathy says they have a "Case of the F*** It's!" Ha ha, cracks me up. They bought a house after being here for 4 days! I think I would too if I had the money. They even invited me to come back and help them fix their property up...we'll see. Carloyn and I have taken quite a liking to them though.

After that, we went out to eat with the rest of our motley sailing crew:
Arnie, or somethin like that - Ze German
Dimitri and George - The Greeks
Adrian and Mary - Crazy Swiss
Peter - resident Old Fart
Phil - The strange guy from Liverpool.
From left to right: Ricardo, Carolyn, Arnie, Adrian.

When you eat here with a big group, they bring the whole table food. It's a pain to split the bill after, but they bring plates and plates of food and jugs of wine and you just eat and eat until you're full. I love it.

Anyways, More later.

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