All change: last Sunday afternoon I walked offsite with Mudi and spent the week hitchhiking through the Algarve. Our first lift came within 5 minutes of us reaching the tarmac-ed outside world road, and was a minibus full of boisterous footballers returning from a game! It jolted me into the reality of ''I speak no portuguese!'' OR ''No falos portogues''. I'm in a foreign country and don't speak the language. It's ok, I was given a phrasebook by a friend, and now's my chance to use it. Though for the first few days I relied on my travelling companion and was very shy to try...it's because I hate being seen floundering or getting things wrong!
Anyway they had scheduled a stop en route at a supporters cafe-bar, and as it got dark we pulled up and piled in, to then be plied with piles of food! :-) Most of which i couldn't eat, as Im vegetarian: steaks, chips, rice, piri piri sauce, bread, red wine and beer. The lady brought me a saucer of cucumber and some salt, which enabled me to get relatively drunk on the alcohol! And the bill for me and Mudi came to just 6 euros...incredible.
As we got to the touristic coast everything became unsurprisingly more expensive, but not awfully so. We were gobbling pastel de nata and other delectable pastries, strong coffee for not much more than 60 cents ever. We got ourselves a picnic at Lidl and ate on the grassy bank of its carpark, overlooking a ring road roundabout. Its nice to holiday from whatever youre used to.
We slept in a tent on Albufeira beach, and baywatched it the next morning under the blazing sunshine. Lovely pink ribbed bivalve shells. Graveyards here have condominium-option coffin modules! Vertically placed in a wall, numbered. Eurgh. Conversations about how it feels when your government to assassinate terrorists who've been bombing your hometown.
The next night we set it up on a piece of wasteground in Portimao after a disappointingly short distance was covered hitching, and opted to catch a bus instead. A storm raged about us for 14 hours, threatening the little flimsy tents watertightnes and stability! We had cafe au lait chocolate, and ingenuity with hair clips and bag covers, it was fine. Just..a little cramped. Im 5ft11inches after all!
The next day we got a bus to Lagos and were met by my friend Dave who drove me here a mere fortnight ago - we stayed on his shared wilderness holiday site nearby for a couple of nights, up in the rafters of the timber frame community house. I helped dismantle an outdoor solar shower, and Mudi tried to get to Spain, eventually succeeding at a very good bus fare. We met an elderly fiery woman on a beach (praia) whose link to the place was my ex's mum's best friend! Small world.
I got to sleep in my very own cute caravan 2 nights, write some correspondence, and then back up to Tamera in Gary Alexander's hire car - he and I dance tango together in East Bergholt, and he also happens to be part of this land-share: the Field of Vision.
What an interlude.
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