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Published: April 18th 2006
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The bus crew
Jucilene (first Portuguese girl I met), Liam (Aussie), Me, Lucie, and David on the way to Lisboa Okay you guys brace yourselves, its been a while since I've written (wither that or so much has happened recently that it seems like weeks since I last wrote) and this is going to be a long one I think.
The sunshine is screaming come soak me up right now on the beaches of the French Riviera where I am in Cannes (the site of the an annual International Film Festival) and its costing me 3 euro to type for an hour but I simply have to share wverything that has happened in the past few days.
I split from Mel, Blair and Alyssa on the 13th and headed further east to Portugal. I have to admit, although I pretended that I was excited about traveling alone I was really scared and nervous not to have my trusty travel companions at my side to help get through all the ups and downs of traveling. Nevertheless at 8:30 on the morning of the 13th I strapped my pack on and walked to the bus station in Sevilla to catch a bus to Lagos, Portugal....or so I thought....
Turns out that EVERY BUS to Portugal the entire day was sold
Port...
Giulia from Venice with our Portuguese drinks out. I panicked just a little, sat down and chugged a bunch of chocolate milk (that's my vodka I guess 😊 and thought through what to do.
I ended up asking a girl nearby about buses to Portugal...well turns out she was Brazilian...her name is Jucilene and she was headed to Portugal as well and well we would be spending the next 12 or so hours together. We decided to stick together to see what we could do about the situation. She had a boyfriend in Portugal who she could not get ahold of, so after a bunch of phone calls and miscommunications with people at the station we took a taxi to another bus station where to our relief there was a bus to Lisboa (much further north than either of us wanted to go...but at least to Portugal). It was a 3:45 in the afternoon...to arrive in Lisboa at 8:30. So we did it. At the station we ended up meeting another Brazilian girl going to Portugal...the three of us passed the 3 hours until our bus time trying to communicate in a mixture of Portuguese, Spanish and English...we were drawing pictures, making hand motions...quite amusing actually.
Dinner time
Catalina and Julia getting ready to eat On the bus ride over to Portugal we ended up talking almost the entire 5 hours and meeting David (from Mexico) and Liam (from Australia). We all spoke a different combo of languages and so it made conversation pretty interesting...somehow though we managed to communicate and share our common love for music...we were some of the only people on the bus so we were singing American, Portuguese, Mexican and Australian songs along the way.
When I arrived in Lisboa at 8:30 I found a bus to Lagos which is where I had a hostel reservation awaiting me. Unfortunately the bus was not until 1 am. Lucie, the other Brazilian girl also found a bus to her next destination at 12:30. We ended up spending the next few hours at the LIsboa bus station, which is the nicest bus station I have been in yet, shopping and eating some dinner and again attempting to communicate despite our language barrier.
I finally arrived in Lagos, Portugal at 5 AM and stumbled to my hostel where the owner was chipper and greeted me with two besos and told me how brave I was (or stupid 😊) for coming all the
The Chef
Fernando cooking up a storm way. She showed me my room and I feel right to sleep until about 12 the next afternoon.
To be honest, Lagos wasn't that great...it rained all day the day I was there...HARD...PACIFIC NORTHWEST STYLE...I attempted to hit the beach, but its rewally no fun going to the beach and getting soaked without even going in the water.
NOT TO DESPAIR THOUGH...I ended up meeting the most wonderful people at my hostel...
Giulia---an Italian girl from Venice on "holiday" and Fernando (a 39 year old Portuguese guy who lives at the hostel) and his 10 year old daughter Catarina. I know, I know sounds a little weird, but let me tell you these people were amazing!!! We ended up drinking PORT wine (very sweet and liquorey) and playing card games as we listened to the rain pound the roof. Fernando busted out and made us all a home cooked meal...garlic pork with eggs, salad, and hommade papas fritas.
I left the next morning for Lisboa and loved the city!!! But I am beginning to realize it is not the cities that really make an impression on me IT IS THE PEOPLE I MEET!!!!
I saw the
sites in Lisboa, my favorite was the Alfama...an old neighboorhood which is the only neighboorhood that survived the 1775 earthquake...really interesting...Oh and on Sunday morning (easter) I went out for a run, thinking that most people would be at church and ran smack dab into the LISBOA MARATHON!!!! I actually, by mistake ran with the leaders for a while.
I left Lisboa at 4:00 in the afternoon to embark on my FIRST OVERNIGHT TRAIN EXPERIENCE!!! When I booked my ticket the man convinced me to get a sleeper car, for 40 euro...a bit expensive, but definitely worth it for the experience. I was in a room with a Portuguese woman named SOnia. The rooms are amazing, they have beds that fold out of the wall, sinks, closets all within about a 7x7 box. We ended up really hiting it off and chatting all about life and love blah, blah, blah. We arrived the next morning two hours late to Hendaya, France ( our train broke down in the middle of the night).
I then got a ticket that would take me from Hendaya to St. Raphael (where I thought I was going) but defeinitely not directly. I took
Overnight Train Room
17 hours spent in here! 5 different trains...one from Hendaya to Bayonne...Bayonne to Toulouse, Toulouse to Montpellier, Montpellier to Marseille and finally Marseille to St. Raphael ( I am an expert in French trains now)..... or so I thought.
With about 20 minutes left in my final train ride to St. Raphael, I began to think...hmmmm maybe I want to go to Cannes instead (my indecisiveness kicking in)...the train I was on would stop at St. Raphael and then Cannes. The only problem was I didn't know if there would be a hostel open and I knew there was one open in St. Raphael...only it would take a very expensive taxi to get to it.
I asked a nearby couple if I could pay them to use their mobil to call the hostel...they ended up living in Cannes and saying I should definitely go there and they would tell me how to get to a place once we arrived...still not completely convinced I hemmed and hawed with them and then out of the blue this girl in the back of the train came over and said she was listening to our conversation...she said that she lived in Cannes and she would love to
Segolene and I
After about 29 hours of train traveling. This girl is amazing!!! She is from Lyon and went to college to be a PERFUMER...how french!! She's a very artsy girl...so glad to have met her! take me around in her car so I didn't have to walk at 10:30 at night around Cannes. Her name is Segolene...I swear she is some angel. We talked and walked to her car and drove around to a few places, however, much to my dismay the places recommened by Let's Go (my travel book) were closed...soooooo...she said...COME STAY WITH ME TONIGHT...I know, I know probably not the smartest sounding decision ever...but I trusted her...so I accepted....she ended up living in this adorable little apartment in the historic quarter of Cannes, where many of the artisans of the city reside...absolutley adorable and romantic!!!
So that is how I got to where I am now...I slept on the couch at Segolene's house last night, woke up this morning found an open hostel, went for a LONG run on the beach and here I am.
And for traveling solo, I really haven't been alone all that much at all....I am just overwhelmed with people's generosity and kind heartedness right now. I was a little nervous that traveling alone would close me off and make me more guarded because I knew I would have to be a little extra cautious, but
it has actually done just the opposite...it has completely opened me up and shown me so many amazing sides of people.
Okay well if you are still reading you are a champ...Mom and Dad, I will write soon!!!
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