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Published: July 22nd 2013
Mystery solved
And the mysterious fruit is....actually not a fruit. It's the passion flower. Starts off green then goes orange and finally blossoms into the passion flower. First prize goes to my (Nigel's) mom who correctly identified the plant. She wins my respect and admiration (which she already had so I'll have to invent an alternate prize).Today we decided to not venture too far, and to swim and relax. After swimming and some brunch, we headed into town to see if there were any boat rides "on offer" but expecting to maybe book something for another day as it was already 1:00. We were lucky enough to find a boat tour with space left on the 2:30 sailing! After talking with the very friendly tour operator for a while, he noticed Russell's t-shirt (Whitby soccer club) and he says, "Oh, I used to live in"....wait for it....wait for it....."Ajax". Turns out he was born in Portugal and grew up there but moved to Scarborough as a youth, settled eventually in Ajax on Rotherglen Road (1 street east of where we live). When his kids were about 13 and 15, they moved to Portugal and have stayed since. His kids did go back to Canada for university and have stayed though. Seriously small world. He coached with Ajax soccer club for years and both he and his son played in the Robbie tourney many times. His son also played varsity for Waterloo and was apparently a young soccer prodigy in Durham region years ago (he is now 32).
Rachel on the boardwalk
The marina at Portimao. Long wide boardwalk full of cafes, restaurants, boat tour operators and sculptures in marble. Oh yeah, and 4-5 popcorn vendors - go figure. His name was Paul and his son's Michael Santos. Paul worked at CIBC for a bunch of years (King & Bay) before retiring to Portugal to buy a tour boat.
The boat ride was really run! We went along the coast (of the Atlantic Ocean) and went up close to many caves carved out of the cliffs. One was called the Cathedral and another was the Pirate Cave. We saw many secluded beaches (boat access only) and eventually they stopped the boat for some swimming. Most passengers dove off the boat and swam around in the warm ocean water. Then they eventually pulled up anchor and headed back. On the way back we were served Sangria, beer, wine, juice or pop. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon!
Back home for more swimming and some dinner. Russell and I are now watching France v Denmark Quarter final in the Womens Euro 2013 (Denmark is currently up 1-0).
Scroll down for more photos. Click any photo to see a larger image.
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Marilyn
non-member comment
I was wondering if he was related to or knew Debbie Santos \'s father .........he was from Portugal and lived in south Ajax............what a coincidence....................really enjoying the blogs thanks