Ok I had a bit of a crazy experience on my way to Lisbon, Portugal. I had decided against getting a sleeper bed even though the train ride was 10 hours long because I had gotten one the last time I had an overnight train and was disappointed. I also didn´t want to spend 33 Euros which is more than my hostels have been. Normally the seats on the trains are usually very nice and you can easily sleep in them... Not so on this particular train, the area was so small and had 4 seats, two on either side, your knees are touching the persons in front of you, confined in this tiny room. There were two Portugese people assigned to my room. The nicely dressed older guy proceeded to go to the bar and came back really drunk and had been smoking so he really stunk, he was just belligerent, it was just a horrible experience. Luckily the nice Portugese girl that was also in my room was able to complain to the people on the train and we both went into another room after putting up with his crap for about an hour.. So once I arrived in Lisbon, exhausted from the crazy train trip, by the way I took pics of the room so you can see how small it was and how it would be impossible to get any rest even when it was us two girls. Once I arrived at Lisbon, I was sitting on the bus on my way to my hostel just trying to mind my own business in my exhausted state, when an older Portugese woman gets on the bus stands next to me and starts yelling at me. Of course I don´t understand her but you can easily pick up on emotions from people and she was mad at me for some unkown reason. I look up at her glaring at her since this is so not the day to mess with me. She turns to the rest of the bus and is telling them why she is upset, I think to myself ¨Is she crazy, what am I in her favorite seat? What could possibly be upsetting her, I wasn´t in a handicap seat or anything, I couldn´t figure it out so I just put my hand up next to the side of my face in the international symbol - stop yelling at me, and back off. Another lady on the bus grabbed her arm and pulled her away from me. She was still muttering about me under her breath and it was just so strange because when you don´t speak the language it is hard to know what the problem really was but at that point I really didn´t care. That was my introduction to Portugal. As I have been travelling I have always tried to be very respectful of the different peoople and traditions. I was in Lisbon for two days, it was a beautiful city and I walked all around and ended up taking a tour because when I arrived at the hostel they were cleaning so I had to drop off my luggage and couldn´t come back until 5:00, it was only 10:00. I got a 2 day bus tour all around Lisbon where you can hop on and off, and fell asleep during the tour several times. The next day I went back so I could actually see a bit of the city. I left Lisbon after exploring for a couple days.
I was standing in line at the train station to buy my ticket to Faro, which was the next place I was going, and this young guy came up to me and asked me for money to buy a train ticket, he was nicely dressed Portugese guy, and I said I am sorry, No. He was asking everyone in the three different lines. Once I said no, and he walked away I was feeling a little guilty as so many people have helped me along my trip, I didn´t believe him that he needed the money for the train but I felt like it would be good to help someone else. So I got some money out and was turning to look for him when he came up behind me again and grabbed my shoulder, and said loudly, ¨You need to give me money now, I need money for the train, I instantly got so mad and started yelling really loud at him right in his face - DON'T TOUCH ME, I DON´T NEED TO DO ANYTHING, GET AWAY FROM ME!!!
All of my frustration, being tired, being pawed at by the men, and being yelled at by that old woman on the bus had just built up inside of me and he bore the brunt of it all. His eyes got huge and he scurried away, everyone was looking at me but I just smiled, Ahhh that felt really good to yell at him and stick up for myself. It was than my turn at the ticket counter and I sweetly smiled and politely said ¨I would like to buy one ticket to Faro please.¨
I looveed Faro, I had been in a bit of a funk, very antisocial, not making eye contact with people, just kind of going from sight to sight in Lisbon. I found the people I had encountered in Portugal to be cold and unfriendly but of course I wasn´t in the world´s best mood either so that could be part of it.
So I get to Faro and it is a small beautiful town on the southern tip of Portugal. I got my smile back in Faro, the first day I got there it just felt so good to be in a more laid back natural small town environment. For example leaving the train station as I walked across the street people in the cars stopped instead of speeding up trying to hit me. The palm trees, the smells of the orange blossoms on the orange trees that were everywhere, and the huge birds flying around just made my senses come back to life. My hostel was right next door to a beautiful park, there were families hanging out there, everything was so lovely. When I first started my trip I was smiling and delighted with everything but in Lisbon I just got burnt out. Now in Faro even though I was still tired of course, I felt really happy to be there so I could just be in nature. The park next door had peacocks running around loose and I spent an hour following them around the park taking pics of them, they are so beautiful!! The whole time I was in Faro I had this big grin on my face, I just felt so peaceful, my hostel was clean and quiet. I was smiling at everyone as I walked by them but they would just look at me suspiciously, not smiling back looking like why is she so happy, I didn´t care I just kept smiling. I met some great people in my room at my hostel, the first day a girl from Seattle. It was so great to meet someone that lives so close to me. We went out to dinner that night at a restaurant next to the water and were able to watch a gorgeous sun set. While we were eating and drinking, (I have discovered I like Vino Verde, green wine a specialty of Portugal), huge crane like birds kept flying over us with material in their beaks for their nests, everytime I would gasp and say to my friend look!! After about the third time she said yep, they are still building their nests, I had to laugh, I guess not everyone is as excited about huge birds as I am, but of course I continued to gasp everytime they flew over us, as they delighted me, I just didn´t point them out to her, but she laughed when she heard me gasp.. Being a large bird lover I went on a guided boat tour the next day, I met a really nice young French guy who was actually a bird scientist. He was very intent on sitting next to me and talking to me during the tour and he was actually very interesting telling me how they capture the different birds and track the migration patterns, blah, blah, blah, so as he is passionatly telling me about his lifes work, I am mentally giving him a make over in my head, OK so he has a nice face, but I really don´t like his hair so if he cut it, put some product in it, spiked it up a little he could look really nice. These kind of thoughts are going through my head as he is intently trying to impress me with his bird talk. Yes I am a bit superficial but what can you do?? I love looking at birds but I really am not into the scientific data of the migration patterns, the tour was fun and afterwards, of course I ditched poor Ben wah, well that was how he pronounced his name but I am sure that is not the way to spell it. I had met a new friend in the hostel from Germany and we were going to go out. We hung out that night before my birthday, had drinks and dinner and she recommended a place in Seville that she had just come from to go to so that is how I got to be in Seville on my birthday. There are so many details and other stories but I am trying to get more up to date. My German friend did not come with me to Seville but was going to come back and meet me there later. So the night of my birthday the hostel had an organized group activity planned to go to Tapas and see a Flamenco show. When I got to my room at this new hostel I had a guy roommate. I hadn´t had mixed rooms yet so I was a little suspicious of him. He was lying on the bed when I brought my stuff in the room. I said Hello and he just kind of looked at me cranky like and said Hello. I was like well isn´t he fun. I got myself settled and left for a couple hours to hang out with some new found friends I had just made when I was checking in that were from Chicago. We sat out in the sun on the beautiful terrace and talked about our lives, they both were studying in Rome for a semester. They were going to go to the activities that night so I was glad to have people to hang out with. I go back to my room to get ready for the evening and my roommate was up and about and had a better attitude, his name was Paul and he was from Ireland. It is a bit awkward having a guy in your room when you are not used to it. We had a great setup actually, a bathroom in the bedroom instead of down the hall, and the bedroom was like an apartment with a kitchen and sink, very nice and big. We chatted a bit and I aked him if he was going out with the hostel group but he said he wasn´t. I just enjoyed listening to him talk. I hadn´t met any Irish people yet on my trip, I love their accent. Oh did I mention that he was also hot, think a cross between the two main guys in the movie My Best Friends wedding, I can´t think of the actors names. = ) So I was getting dressed up as it was my birthday, it was the first time this entire trip that I had actually made an effort to look nice. I took a shower and put on my makeup, (first time wearing makeup this trip), it is amazing how you forget what you look like when you try. I wore my one dress I had brought and felt all fancy after almost a month in casual wear. So I get all done up and Paul says that he is going out to eat so he will walk me over to the hostel where the group is meeting. I think well I don´t really need an escort bu I am like OK.. The hostel I am at has two locations a couple blocks from each other and we were at the second location. So he walks me over and I meet up with the group and have a lovely time, everyone is so nice, sharing food and drinks, so many interesting people, the group walks from place to place, eating and drinking, getting to know each other, it is such a great variety of people you meet when you are traveling, you make friends so fast, you just bond quickly as you are in a different environment. The only thing I didn´t like was that everyone was smoking. This one interesting guy I was talking with was chain smoking and kept blowing smoke in my face while he was talking to me, I asked him hey could you not blow it in my face please, he smiled and said well ok but only because it is your birthday. Everything was really nice, when we were at the restaurant the whole group which was about 25 people made a toast for my birthday, it was really touching. I was feeling a little emotional about being away from my friends and family on my birthday after talking to my family, but the people at hostels become your surrogate family. So after the Flamenco show our group is stumbling home and I was the only one at the other hostel so they walk me there. I stumble up the two flights of stairs to my room. I am fumbling with my key at the door and of course have to go to the bathroom after drinking so much beer and Sangria all night. I open the door and I see Paul just going into the bathroom, Nooo I scream in my head, man I had to go and I was doing the pee pee dance outside the door waiting for him to come out. Finally he comes out and I push past him to the lovely bathroom. After I finally relieve my poor bursting bladder I stumble into the bedroom. Paul asks me from his bed ¨How was your night birthday girl?¨ I sit down next to his bed and started rambling on about my evening and all that we had done, I am Ms Social at like 1:00 in the morning. So I am sitting next to his bed on the floor chatting away and he says I don´t mind if you come up on the bed. I am like hmmm, wow, he doesn´t mind huh, isn´t this convenient having a hot guy in my room to come home to on my birthday?? So I awkwardly climb up and snuggle into his bed, we continue chatting away, and he tells me that I smell like a brewery, I laugh and say I am not surprised, and I say ¨Wow you really have a way with words, you must do well with the women." He laughs. So anyway nothing happens we just talk and he tells me how old he is, 38, and I say no wonder you were tired and cranky today when you got here, you are old. He laughs and we continue to chat away. I am surprised at his age since most of the guys at the hostels I have been hanging out with are between 25-28. There are now 2 other women in the room who arrived while I was out. We are in bunkbeds but they are actually really comfortable. I complain to him about him being in the bathroom when I got home and he said he heard my key in the door and knew if I had been out drinking I would have to go to the bathroom, so he raced in there. I laughed and said that is mean, I almost peed myself. Anyway one of the other roommates is snoring sooooo loud as we were talking. We laughed about it and I asked him if he would smother her. We talked a long time and of course I asked all these deep questions about his life not respecting his privacy at all and he asked me a bunch of questions too. I ended up finally passing out and sleeping really hard and drooling all over his pillow. So attractive. Nothing romantic happened at all it was just really comforting to sleep in the same bed with someone (hot guy) on my birthday. I wake up and he is already up and going to the free breakfast provided by the hostel, thank god the snoring lady has left and so I decline going to breakfast with him and just take the aspirin and water he brings me, and fall back to sleep. He smiles at me and says ¨Poor birthday girl drank too much¨ as he hands me the aspirin and water. He comes back a wee bit later, (I love the phrase a wee bit) and says he is going sight-seeing, I just lay there on my bed, by this time I have moved over to my bed and so I say have fun. One thing about falling asleep in your clothes and makeup you really don´t look too hot the next morning. Mascara under my eyes, hair all mussed, still smelling like a brewery. I get up a little bit later wash my face and go to the breakfast where I make friends with some Japanese girls and we go sight-seeing together. We split up half way through sight-seeing so I could go to the Algarve which they had already gone to and plan to meet up later. The Algarve is a beautiful castle and huge gardens, which takes several hours to get through, I am wandering around and there are a bunch of tour groups and school groups and in the midst of all of this who do I run into in this huge place but Paul. It was so weird he left hours before me! We end up hanging out together that day, this story is to be continued as I need to leave as I am going on a little guided tour put on by the hostel... A little side note as I am typing this one of the hot Australian guys here sat at the computer next to me and says Hi Marci, hubba hubba. Think Jesse Metcalfe, a little distracting as I am trying to type. Paul who?? Yes I am enjoying my trip.. Lots of love from the birthday month girl. To be continued and I have about 200 pics to share..
