Lisbon and Lagos (aka I'm on a Beach!)

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I arrived in Lagos on Thursday and it's incredible here! It's a small town in the Algarve (the southern part of Portugal) of about 20,000, and it's basically just a beach town with lots of bars and restaurants and tiny winding streets (like all of Portugal!). The beaches are incredible, though. They have these enormous cliffs and make you feel like a tiny little ant when you're up next to them! The last couple of days have been a welcome retreat from the business of traveling, especially after all the walking in Lisbon. I've just been lying on the beach all day and then going out at night.

The first night I got here I ran into this guy on the street advertising for a bar called Johno's, and he told me about a really cheap restaurant called Casa Rosa and brought me there. It was basically empty, but the owner is English and so friendly and we got to talking and I met all the people who work there. It was great! They have this deal called Power Hour where you buy any meal on the menu and then you get unlimited drinks for an hour for €8.95! Good deal, eh? So that's where my night began, and it may give you some idea of where it went after that haha... So anyway, I headed over to Johnno's and made friends with all the bar staff there, too. They're pretty much all Australian - I think that 9 out of 10 people I've met here are either English or Australian, so I feel pretty at home! Especially in comparison to Porto where like no one speaks English. It's nice to be able to communicate finally! After they closed up the bar I headed over to another club called Inside Out and didn't end up getting back to my hostel until around 5...a good first night if I do say so myself!

Last night was more of the same, but with a surprising twist! I went back to Johnno's to hang out with the barfolk around there and there was a bachelor party there of Scottish guys. The bachelor was wearing this ridiculous outfit - women's leapard print leggings and a really ugly white tank top with these huge multicoloured flowers all over it. While having a cigarette outside I struck up a conversation with these guys, asking them why their buddy was dressed in such a ridiculous manner, and they ended up offering me money to switch clothes with him! At first they offered me €500, but after they could see that I was genuinely considering taking them up on their offer they reduced it a bit to €100, and I bargained them back up to €150 with the condition that I have to get my clothes back. They agreed, saying that they would drop my clothes (and I was wearing a skirt, FYI) back off at the same bar today. So off me and the bachelor went to swap clothing. Once they saw me, though, I think they realized that they had got the bum end of the deal since the outfit was ugly, but I'm hot enough to pull it off lol. So anyway, these guys actually handed me €150 and then off they went to another bar. The only crappy thing about the whole deal was that then I had to stand around wearing the ugliest thing I've ever put on my body and I had no reference point anymore so that people understood what had happened! But either way, I was still the one laughing at the end of the night. I think I made more than the bartenders there, and in only about 20 minutes!

Today another beach day...got a bit burned, but that comes with the territory sometimes. Tonite I'm going with a group of American girls I met last night for dinner and to watch the sunset, and then we're going out somewhere or other. Unfortunately I can't put up my pictures from Lagos because for some reason my pics won't upload onto this computer, but if you want a taste of what it looks like check this out:

http://www.airportdirecttravel.co.uk/live/Portals/10/Algarve/Lagos.gif
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/1c/2e/29/lagos-centro.jpg
http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1544028.jpg

Anyway, I was supposed to be in Faro tonite but I decided to stay here instead since apparently Faro emties out on the weekends since all the students leave. I'm not sure how long I'll be here, but Lagos seems to be a bit of a black hole for travelers! Most of the people who work here - all the English and the Aussies - just came for a week and ended up staying a year! But on the other hand the rainy season is coming and then the attraction of the place will wane slightly. But still an incredible place! Not sure what's next on the travel menu, but I'll keep you updated. Ciao for now!

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