Bob Marley rock

San Ignacio  is a popular tourist destination within central Belize close to the Guatemalan border, most famous for the cave explorations, jungle treks and waterfall gazing.  We took the local bus from Belize City which stops for anyone along the way and then a collectivo from San

Ignacio to Bullet Tree. Â Our instructions from Aiden, CouchSurfing host, was to exit at the market, get some food then make the 400 yard dash down the dirt road to his property.

Palapa

As we rolled up to the barbed-wire gate of this property we began to wonder if we were in the right place, but we followed his very thorough directions to a T.  As it turns out we were in the right place.  A gorgeous and secluded four acre estate lush with Jamaican lime and orange trees.  It was green everywhere we looked and blending into the grounds were two cabanas and a Palapa (thatched roofed hut) at the center.  The land backed right into the Macal river.  There was a dock which just by standing on it you felt at ease, but we couldn’t get too comfortable because busy in the trees above iguanas rustled; and at any point if they felt threatened, could drop.  If that wasn’t entertaining enough, a rope swing hung from a nearby tree.

Crazy Orange Iguanas!!

Chels on the rope swing

The property was amazing, but even cooler was the slew of other CouchSurfers staying at his place.  Most with tents, some in hammocks.  There was no electricity so every night we had to build a fire and eat by candle light.  Even though it was just a short walk to the grocery store, we felt isolated and loved it.  Knowing we could just fall back to Aiden’s place and tune out.  Instead of spending the evenings browsing the internet or watching television we got to know one another, swapping stories from the road laughing and genuinely enjoying each others company.

Men!

For Christmas Day, our plan was to have a big breakfast and then dinner. After Aiden showed us the ropes of how to get his wood-fire stove going, we were all able to contribute in some way.  Some people preparing food; some stoking fires; some cooking and others doing dishes, forging a well oiled machine when it came time to eat.  We had found our little community and it was the next best thing to a family we could have hoped for the holiday.

Massive Fruit Salad on Christmas Morning

We ended up staying five nights and got to experience a few places around San Ignacio that were off the beaten tourist trail. Aiden’s neighbor Marcus, who was also a CouchSurfer took us around in his shaky four wheel drive through the back roads to a couple of beautiful waterfalls. He also let us borrow some of his inner tubes and we all (dogs included) had a lazy float down the river.

Double Back-flips

Lazy river tour

The only negatives were battling the pesky biting ants that left me swollen and itchy for a few days.  Also I did have a brief encounter with Chechem poisonwood which, thanks to a baking soda/water mixture that Chelsea spread all over me and Benedryl, went away after one very uncomfortable night.  It’s all part of the experience and we’re lucky to look back and laugh! Â

Thank goodness for baking soda

The Split!

Getting there was a costly affair though. I recomend splitting a taxi from the airport to Belize City because the cost runs at about $50BLZ ($25). Our driver dropped us off right at the water taxi and after a short wait we packed into the medium sized boat headed for Caye Caulker.

The ride was only

about 40 minutes, but packed to the max with tourists and locals alike, and as soon as we stepped off the boat, we were loving the vibe! No cars, just bicycles and…golf carts haha! Everything was so colorful, rastas everywhere! Ya Mon!

Love the colors!

We found our hostel, “Bella’s” which we were actually camping at for just under 8 bucks a night! It was pretty run down, but safe and it seemed to be cool! Everyone was hanging around the kitchen and common area. What was cool during the day ended up being super aggravating at

night…but I guess we can’t complain too much! Actually they let you use their canoe for free too, so Brad and I took it out for a sunset rum cruise

Rum for Sunset! :)

After setting up the tent, we hit “The Split”, which is the part of Caye Caulker that used to be island, but is now ocean after a bad hurricane hit! It’s got a very chill vibe, with reggae music playing from an open hut bar that sits in between the 2 hang out spots – a hard gravel beach, or a jetty that everyone lounges around! The water is SO beautiful and clear blue!

The Split!

That was basically our time spent in Caye Caulker… riding our bikes around the tiny island, enjoying the sun at the split, and chilling at the hostel with new friends! Very appropriate for the island…laid back!

Probably the most typical Hawaiian vacation involves lounging on the beaches of Waikiki watching the lazy waves roll in from the far away reef. To your left is the ever present and impressive Diamond Head, the quintessential view for the Hawaiian Islands.  What Chelsea and I discovered throughout the week was that this area is the least impressive on Oahu, even if you spend a night in one of the overpriced hotels. The whole area is geared for tourists to spend money; in fact the majority of the islands are that way, but Waikiki in particular. It didn’t take long for us to get sick of the tourist polluted atmosphere so after a few hours of sunbaking we headed for our CouchSurfers place on the eastern side of the island in Kaneohe

Waikkiki!

Our hosts Wayne and Kate were awesome and first timers to CouchSurfing. Originally from Maryland they had spent the last year living the Hawaiian lifestyle. We got along so easy and they invited us back for the weekend. It was a pleasure getting to know both of them and they took us to some great spots around the island…one being an old military railway line that you hiked straight UP!  (This was the day after Stairway to Heaven…which we will get to later…so we were SO sore already)..needless to say, it was a challenge!

Phew made it to the top!

Thankfully, W8 also knew a great place to cool off after the hike where you could jump off some small cliffs and check out the snorkeling! Super local spot..very

cool! They happened to know where Dog the Bounty Hunter lives and apparently we HAD to go by because he has a massive mosaic of himself on his gate! lol… loves himself a little too much! We had a delicious burger before checking out a lava tube, which was not altered to attract tourism (like the one on the Big Island) so that was also very cool! It led out to the ocean and some crazy-looking volcanic rocks and tide pools that reminded me a bit of Christmas Island and Wave Rock meshed together!

Looks like its belly first!

Hehe!

One sweet little spot that our CS host Kate turned us onto was the Macadamian Nut farm. Upon entry we were given free macadamian nut coffee and delicious samples of their specialty nuts. The coolest part about this place was that we got to crack a nut with a rock and eat the inside.Â

Cracking a Mac Nut!

An even sweeter spot…the LOST village!!!!

The Black Smokes coming!

We felt lucky to be in Oahu for the 70th anniversary and commencement ceremonies at Pearl Harbor. Â The event is one of the most important events in our nations history and it was definitely worth walking around checking out the sights and recognizing the sacrifices the men and women who died that day. Unfortunately, though we arrived super early, the tours were already booked out.

Submarine...crazy!

That night we found a sweet little camping spot right on  a beach in Laia. We got up early to watch the sunrise and I rented a long board and did some surfing; mostly to say that I’ve surfed waves on the North Shore of Oahu, but also to get pumped up for Pipe Masters surf Competition that day.Â

Sunrise at our camp spot!

Pipe Masters is the final competition in the Van’s Triple Crown series. It takes place on the North Shore of Oahu Nov-Dec on possibly the most epic spectator friendly wave in the world. Not because of its size but how close it breaks to shore and it’s near perfect top to bottom barrels. Of course, no one can guarantee that the waves will be good on a particular day, so there is a holding period of about 13 days for Pipe Masters. On any one of these days the competition can be “called” in the morning. Lucky for us, on the first day in the holding period the competition was on!Â

Wooo HOO!

We parked at the famous Sunset beach, planning to walk from there and right when we pulled up we could see the massive  swell. The competition is a big event, drawing in big time sponsors, hundreds of photographers and thousands of spectators. So, along with the masses we made our way towards the competition Beach.Â

The Pipe!

The waves where pushing 30 feet (15ft Hawaiian, because they measure from the back of the wave) and swallowing up and spitting out riders in the near perfect barrels. The beach was the perfect venue, sloping slightly downhill towards the water creating the perfect amphitheater for the most fan friendly surfing event of the year. Easy to say we were stoked.Â

Met the guy who made this beautiful art!

Even better was that our next CS host Wes lived right down the road from the competition.Â

Wes is a super cool thrill-seeker living on Oahu and helping shape young minds in the classroom. His girlfriend Kristyn is a Brockton native and naturally we had a lot to talk about! It was good vibes and happy days the entire time, hanging out with his skydiving neighbors and meeting all sorts of interesting people.Â

Wes sees Oahu as his playground and out of his toy box came the idea for climbing the Haiku Steps or Stairway to Heaven. The track has been closed down for some time now in part because out of shape tourists would try to climb, get stuck, and have to be rescued but also the apparent danger of falling to your death.  Â

Soooo Steeeep!

The steps were originally built to service a radio tower at the top of the mountain and it took  3,922 steps to get there. Since the steps are being guarded during the day we had to sneak around through the jungle and enter the steps at a higher point. So, Wes led us through the thick bush and we entered the trail at about step 300. Right before we started the trail we all regrouped and Wes told us that we would need to climb as fast as we could to the first platform so that the guard wouldn’t catch us. Onto the trail we went, practically running up the near vertical steps, an impossible pace and it didn’t take long before we started to wear out. Even though we could hear the guard behind us blowing his whistle we pushed on in hoping that he would give up and let us continue.  At about step 500, already down one member of our group who had turned around due to vertigo, we hear the guard yelling “STOP”. He had caught up to us in an amazing feat of athletic ability. O’well, at least we tried. Wes knew the guard because he had been caught before so he started shooting the breeze with him. Turns out he’s a super nice guy just doing his job and once he realized we weren’t some punk tourists he let us continue, stating that he respected how we snuck around him in the beginning lol.Â

YAY!!

What followed was a true test of endurance and will power, but the reward was a sense of accomplishment and spectacular views. Plus, coming down was super fun and fast. Wes gave us some gardening gloves and told us to let our hands slide down the railing letting our feet kick up in the air.

Breathtaking View!

As if climbing 4,000 steps wasn’t enough of a rush, Wes’ neighbors had told so many crazy stories about skydiving we spontaneously decided to take the fall ourselves. Kristyn decided she would join us and we even convinced Wes’ little sister to join in!

Our plan to skydive had always been New Zealand for the first jump, but since we had been getting to know the folks who ran the jumps and it was one of the cheapest places in the world to do it, we went for it. The day started off cloudy and it didn’t look like we would be able to jump, but all of a sudden the skies cleared and before we knew it we were taking off, destination 14,000 feet.Â

Just before the "No turning back" point!

The plane ride was definitely the most nerve-wrecking part of the experience! I remember noticing how the white tips in the ocean were getting smaller and smaller…and more numerous! Then my tandem guy showed me his altitude watch showing we’ll be going up to 14,000 feet and freefall until 5,000… and at that moment we were ONLY AT 6,000!!! I thought we were already SO high!

Brad was first out…I saw him standing at the door and then he just DROPPED out SOOO fast …. It was unreal! When it was my turn….I didn’t even have time to be scared…and we were falling…and then after the initial few seconds…falling turned into FLYING! It was soo beautiful! Stunning views and it wasn’t even scary! 60 seconds flew by and then the parachute was pulled and I was allowed to control our movements…twirling around in the sky! Only 5 jumps before you can do it on your own..woah I can’t imagine that!

Flying!

Too fun!

After the incredible time we had and awesome people we met, Oahu instantly sprung to the top tier of places we’ve been to on our long journey. Who knows, we may even find ourselves calling this amazing island home!

Pretty Prague

We woke up bright and early to get a good days start seeing the sights! We didn’t get very far before the aroma of delicious food leered us in! Chicken on a stick and sausages, complete with sugary pretzels for dessert! YUM! So now with full bellies, we made our way across the famous Charles bridge before exploring a pretty park which gave us a beautiful view of the whole city! And after some trials and tribulations in the woods, we finally made it to the castle!

YUM!

After walking up a moderately sized hill and proud of our accomplishment, we decided to reward ourselves with a few beers. We ended up stopping at this medieval times type place which was absolutely pitch black inside, aside from a few flickering candles. The tables and chairs were made of heavy wood and the place was decorated like a dungeon.

Medieval bar

We were lucky to arrive at the castle just in time for the change of the guards….so serious! Checked out the cathedral and castle…always a magnificent site, and snapped some fun pics from the outside.

Castle!

As soon as the sun went down, we got ourselves ready for Prague’s nightlife! There are tons of clubs, bars, and restaurants open late, and we first got lured into an empty one with go go dancers on crack before managed to find “Eastern Europes biggest club” ha who knows if that is true! Nevertheless, it was a blast. The dance floor was lit up in all different colors and constantly changing, and the 4 of us danced the night away! Brad and I called it a night, but Chris and Joe stayed out til all hours of the night Not really…they left shortly after us but got horribly lost and made a 3-hour walk home! Sorry boys! Makes for a good story though

Dancing the night away!

We left Prague with an appreciation for the cities beautiful mixture of architecture, its green parks overlooking the river, and of course its nightlife!

We arrived in Berlin to rainy weather. Chris and Joe’s train was suppose to arrive at 1pm, leaving just enough time to find the location of the RV lot. Apparently missing your ride out of Amsterdam is contagious or common or something, because when they didn’t show up by 2pm, we assumed they had done the same as us… which they did, only in the form of oversleeping. Saw that one coming!

Legoland!

By the time we got to the RV, it was pretty late but we were exccittteeeed! We whipped up a yummy dinner and just parked it in a grocery parking lot to stew up plans for the rest of the week. The next day, the journey began to find parking for this beast. Keeping an eye out for other Rv’s to buddy up with, we found a parking lot near the Sony Center and decided to check our the massive infrastructure. It was pretty impressive, with tons of restaurants, a movie theater, and shops….none of which heavily appealed to our needs (The Lego Land was cool though!)

We did end up finding a special RV lot where the boys collaboratively emptied out the WC and filled up the water. HAhahaha it was hilarious! I was inside happily doing the dishes and cleaning when suddenly i heard them all just howling and laughing and eww-ing! It was then we decided ONLY pee IF it’s an emergency…we’ll stop at rest stops from now on!

…poo…

When everyone felt fresh again after a few showers, we headed out to the nearest absinthe bar! Being a Tuesday night, it was dead but we didn’t let is stop us. We found ourselves a comfy couch and ordered the strong flaming shots. I actually didn’t know Absinthe was supposed to be lit on fire, but the process is pretty cool! You dip the sugar cube into the stronngg liquor, then pull it out on your spoon to light it on fire for a few seconds before dropping it back in! It’s pretty rough.

Absinthe

Berlin wall!

The funniest thing though was that we all thought it was going to be a crazy night and we were going to hallucinate or something…like the movies say haha! We ended up having this intellectual conversation about gravity and physics and who knows what?! And we all felt really relaxed! Maybe we didn’t drink enough…i don’t know! But it ended up being an early night for everyone!

On our way out, we caught the Berlin Wall! It’s crazy to think that it came down only 20 years ago!!! And yet Germany seems like such a put-together country…impressive! Of course on the day we had to leave, the weather finally cleared up…but we were determined to get to Oktoberfest for opening weekend, so on we went! Next stop…Prague!

Tomatina!

According to legend the worlds biggest annual food fight got its start as a joke among friends. To celebrate the end of the week long festival held every year in Bunol, a small group of amigos randomly started throwing tomatoes at one another. Add a few years, 150,000 tomatoes and 40,000 people, pack them into a rural Catalon town in Bunol, and presto….La Tomatina is born!

Since the early stages of planning for our trip Chels and I have held La Tomatina top on our list of festivals to visit. So when our good friends from Santorini, Drew, Hannah and Racheal decided they were going to come with us, we were more than thrilled to have targets when the tomatoes started to fly!

Our crew!

We left the night before the festivities and took with us a crew of about 8,including Chels and I. We cruised threw ground zero and noticed people preparing their houses with tarps and plywood. (We heard stories about people breaking down doors and coating the insides of houses with tomatoes.) We found some tables, settled in, caught up with our Santorini crew and played some card games till we were ready to go to bed.  I made sure to give out plenty of carrots to everyone to provide SOME nutrition for the night! Now the only problem was to find a spot to sleep.

Fun!

The next hour was spent exploring the areas around Bunol for a nice pitch for our tents. There was this nice secluded area with a night club nearby which provided us with some nice lullaby music!

Awoken by roosters and murmurs of people LEAVING the club, we were ready to get the day started (although a tad bit slow from a night of drinking). It was only 8am when we armed ourselves with massive cups of sangria and goggles before we found our way to the massive crowd of people just waiting for the festivities to get started. First was the Greasy Pole contest, where (drunk) guys attempt to climb to the top of a greased pole to reach the ham…..a great way to get people rowdy and excited. Then at exactly 11am, a loud firework cracks!

TOMATO-THROWING TIME!!!! All the locals that were hanging out on their rooftops spectating….were now the locals pelting everyone with tomatoes. They had CRATEFULS after cratefuls of semi-soft tomatoes….it was never-ending. Those that weren’t throwing tomatoes were unloading gallons and gallons of water onto the crowd. It was really fun but nothing compared to what was next with the dump trucks.

Dump truck!

Ahhh!

About 30 minutes after the fireworks, the first dumptruck of 5 rolled through FILLED with tomatoes. Everyone starts screaming and yelling and throwing anything they can get their hands on (usually either tomato remains or soaking wet shirts). There was a constant stream of hoses to try to keep the tomatoes from staining everything red in this town, but it made for a fun time. The people up high were the best targets, and at one point i got on Brad’s shoulders for a couple minutes before being absolutely pelted with tomatoes! It was incredible! Fun, crazy, an indescribable experience. I’ve always always wanted to have massive food fight at school, and here we are at the WORLDS BIGGEST FOODFIGHT!!!

When the official “end of Tomatina” firework went off, we were sad to realize it was over so quickly. Everyone started dispersing and following the dumptruck down the street….a couple guys ran and jumped in the trucks and just started flinging tomato juice everywhere!! It was great…the cops didn’t do anything about it either! It was hilarious to see everyone just covered in red and dirty clothes, ripped clothes walking around! We found a nice shady spot to hang around in and watch as everyone slowly rolled back to Valencia. I think we were under the impression there would be parties all night in Bunol, but by 4pm it was not only a ghost town, but it was SPOTLESS!! The clean up crew is incredibly efficient!

Frands!

So there we were, the Santorini crew…the only young people left in the town…chilling and reminiscing on what we just experienced and enjoying each others company for the rest of the night! It was an unforgettable experience…and even better that it was with friends

Late-night camping!

When we got to the beach, it was surprisingly quite full of people! Um what?! We thought these were untouched beaches! BUT the water was Beautiful!! It was crystal clear, and almost felt like fresh water! So Brad and I enjoyed our meal on the sand with a beautiful sunset, and it wasn’t long before the beach was cleared out! We were pretty exhausted so set up our tent right there on the beach behind some fishing boats when it got dark and went to sleep! The fireworks were still going off all night until the good show of real fireworks! Then this little family restaurant that was dead at 9pm started blasting club music until 6 in the morning!! WHAT?! Where did that come from?? But we slept through it and i guess felt kind of safe being not completely isolated.

Amazing sunset!

The next morning i woke up officially sick. I felt it coming on! The past few days not only were we eating lots of junk and crap, but we also hadn’t gotten much sleep…so it was bound to happen! The sun was BLAZING hot by 10am and there was not an ounce of shade. Every single person that came to the beach brought an umbrella and Brad and I were super envious. We tried to build our own shade using the tent poles and the blanket, but after 45 minutes of messing around…FAIL! It wasn’t happening. Brad was laying in his boxers instead of his boardies and the tops of his legs fried! By mid-afternoon we said screw it….we had been through tons of water, and i went through tons of tissues before deciding we couldn’t spend another night on the beach like this. Even though it was really relaxing and we felt super safe, i needed to get better! We sadly didn’t make it to the Isolated beached in Cabo De Gata which apparently no bus goes to. You need to rent a car. But if you Google it, they are beautiful and we would highly recommend trying to go! Thanks for the nice water to swim in though!

Feria!

Malaga is a town on the Southern coast of Spain that we had no intention of going to until we heard from Ouali that there was this awesome FREE festival down there! Being a short bus ride from Sevilla, we decided in was a must in our trip!

We arrived with no plans, so accommodation, and no idea what we were doing. Luckily the bus and train station were super spiffy, had a great information desk with maps and everything we needed to know about Feria, the festival! AND it has huge lockers for only 4.50 euros for 24 hours! We locked up everything important, except for our passports and my camera, brought a mat and our blanket with us, and set out to find the festivities.

Once we got out of the crappy part of town that usually surrounds the train station, we found the old town, small windy streets of Malaga! There were heaps of massive cathedrals and some huge pedestrian streets that were setting up for the next day! Already though, there were tons of street vendors selling local nuts and flowers! Brad and I stopped at the market for some water when we spotted a bottle of Tequila and made a rash decision about the rest of our night! Haha so we found a nice square with a big statue in the middle (big surprise for Europe) and played games with each other and people watched while we enjoyed the lovely taste of Tequila! Then we followed the masses to the beach around 11pm where we found craziness for the pre-festival opening party!!!

Beautiful cathedral!

The looonnngg stretch of beach was PACKED with people, young, old, families, anyone! We listened to some live music before the MUSICAL fireworks show! The soundtrack included Dirty Dancings “She’s like the wind”, Shakiras “Waka Waka” song, and Lady Gaga’s “Alexandrjo”!

Fireworks!

The families cleared out, but the beach was still packed with young people ALLLLL night! There was a DJ set with some crazy visuals, and tons of drunk kids running around and swimming in the water! It started raining so Brad and I went to explore the boardwalk a bit! Around 4am we were back on the beach and ready to sleep! We laid out our blanket and slept in the bright lights with a group of guys playing the bongo drums and chanting Spanish songs until 6am! The beach was TRASHED…i mean COVERED in trash! People were out with metal detectors and trash bags picking up lost belongings. Brad and I did wake up with 2 guys sitting practically on top of us…probably trying to get in our bag! We had nothing on us though and the camera was wrapped around my wrist and tucked in my clothes so we shooed them off and went back to sleep! Then we were woken around 8 or 9 by a masssive truck cleaning off the sand that probably would have run right over us ha, so we moved up to the grass and went back to sleep! Not much fazed us and there were tons of other people sleeping on the beach too!

Next time we woke up, the beach was spotless and actually really pretty! The water was still a bit dirty, but still swimable! We eventually got up and found ourselves some somewhat covered showers, washed off with soap and all, brushed our teeth and hair, and were on our way feeling refreshed and good as ever!

Malagueta!

Flamenca!

We knew today was the official first day of the festivities, and by the time we got to the old town, it was already a drunk fest by 4pm! It was unreal and unlike anything we have really seen! First of all, the streets were just FULL and tons of women and children were dressed up in Flamenco outfits! There were random break outs in Flamenco dancing in the streets and alleyways and everyone had flowers in their hair. The teenagers all made matching colorful outfits with names and sayings on their shirts! Then all the plazas were packed with food and drink vendors….drink really! The ground was SO sticky from spilled drinks that i had to cling onto my flip flops and lift my leg up off the ground to get unstuck! Trash everywhere! And a crowd you could barely breathe in! We were not on the same level so walked down the street to find another plaza….same story! More drunk people than i have ever seen! We watched a mom puke on the side of the street! At least she was dressed classy! ha!

I looked at Brad and said….Shizen…we just need to get a drink and get on their level. So we bought ourselves the famous Vino de Tinto which is basically Sangria in a big platic cup! You can buy all your drinks by the litre and for only a couple euros (hence the drunkeness)! We found a corner to post up on and watched the nuttiness! Eventually we explored our way to the beach to grab some grub and enjoy the sunset!

joining the festivities!

The beach was quiet and tranquil with everybody on the other side of town for the festival, but we did notice an abundance of backpackers hanging around! As soon as it was dark, everyone started setting up tents and mats and all sorts of goodness. I think we all congregated together for safety and it was a much better sleep the second night!

Sunset on the beach!

With so many hours on the beach, we had done some reading in the Lonely Planet book and found out about the Almeria Coast which apparently has beautiful beaches. So off we were the next afternoon. Goodbye Malaga…you showed us how crazy Spaniards can be!

We took the short and inexpensive bus ride from Lagos and as we searched eagerly for a spot to bed down for the night, we found ourselves climbing down to the nearest beach. Something we noticed right away about Sagres was the tide. The fluctuation were a lot larger than the beaches we had come from on the Mediterranean. Since it was high tide we had to take a nice trek through the incoming water and waves to get to a good spot. Once we found our nook, and home for the next two nights, we headed straight for the waves. The gett’n was good, and we body surfed till late that evening.

Miss everyone!

Body Surfing!

We enjoyed a nice and light dinner as the sun went down, then watched the canvas of stars above us and the night fishermen till the shooting stars woo’d us to sleep. We saw the most amazing… brightest… longest shooting star we’ve ever seen! It was INCREDIBLE! Halfway through the night though…i woke up all paranoid about the tide coming in! It was the biggest change in tide i’d ever seen….it came all the way up to our tent around 2 in the morning and i was scared it was coming further, so i built a rock wall with a mote in front of it for the next 30 minutes or so haha! It stopped just before out tent luckily…but ya never know!

My safety rock wall!

We spent the whole next day on the beach…played lots of games in the sand…hangman, tic tac toe, and had a photo shoot haha! It was good times and just an amazing beach with amazing water!

Running man!

The best part by far though was waking up in the morning to a completely empty beach that we got to make the very first footprints in! We would go back in a heartbeat!

Footprints!

Sunrise!

After a failed attempt to squat for one night in Lisboa, yet again we had the genius idea of the overnight bus to Lagos. The city is in the southern region on Portugal known as Algarve. Arriving to your destination at 4 in the morning is the best nights accommodation, BUT, we had the pleasure of lovely beach only a few hundred meters from our dropoff point. We hoofed it there, just in time to catch the beautiful sunrise. As picturesque as it was, the hot, blinding sun was not so conducive for sleep. Fortunately the beaches of Lagos are surrounded by high cliff walls that provided us with a shady place to catch some z’s. Funny enough we settled in next to the other backpackers that were there and got a couple decent hours worth.

Lalala!

We loved the beach, especially our new spot. So much so, that we made it home for the next 36 hours! Our day was spent body surfing the violent waves (when the lifeguard wasn’t looking) and one super undercover trip to the camp grounds showers to freshen up; which we later found out was a military personal/family only camp grounds.

Sleeping on the beach has become one of our favorite traveling pastimes.The sand is soft, its free and the crashing of the waves is a wonderful soundtrack for sleeping.

yum!

…As long as you don’t have to worry about protecting your valuables. Unfortunately, in Lagos this is not possible. The reputation for Lagos is a party town. So, passing out on the beach is usually done by the people too drunk to make it home, thus creating nice targets for local thieves to take advantage of. Mindful of this we set up our tent in a secluded little area protected by tall cliff, thinking that we would have a nice night of undisturbed sleep. Wishful thinking and reality hardly parallel each other and in this case they had set a different course. I had passed out quickly, only to wake up with Chelsea no next to my side where she always is, but outside of the tent chasing our towels down the beach, as the wind swept them away. I really didn’t think much of it, but when she returned to the tent she told me that the wind had not woken her. Instead it was the footsteps of man, who apparently had army crawled through the small tunnel connecting our nice secluded spot, to the main back around the corner. At first I was in denial about him wanting to steal our stuff, but when we spotted him sneaking a look from his hiding spot around the corner, waiting for us to fall back asleep I began to worry. Once he realized we saw him he acted like he was leaving. Fortunately for us we could see through a hole in the rocks the path that left the area, allowing us to see that he hadn’t walked by yet. So when we saw him peer through that hole on his hands and knees like the sneaking thief that he was, checking on us again, I shined our flashlight and yelled at him. We took this as a sign and decided it was better to move to a more open location, where people could see us.

Our home for a few days!

When we walked back around the rocks, it was like a different world…party on the beach!! But we slept much better knowing we were safe! We woke up to lots of people on the beach…and nobody minding that we had a tent pitched!

Cute little town!