Lagos, Portugal

This past weekend, since it was my second to last, we had our last hooray! Over 250 American students went through a student travel program to Lagos, Portugal. We stayed at/took over a four star hotel, and traveled there in 5 coach buses! In only a three-hour drive from Sevilla, we had arrived to beautiful beaches walled in by cliffs! The water was unbelievably blue and the rocks in the ocean made for great jumping points, although I didn't try it, too many people came back all scrapped up! After a full day of beach on Friday, our guides took us to the most western corner of Portugal, called Cape Saint Vincent. This is where Christopher Colombus originally thought the world ended, and I can see why, as far as the eye can see, there is just water. I have never experienced such strong, incessant wind as I have at the "end of the world." It was truley amazing, and it felt like I could fly. After a night of dinner and bars with drink specials in the city center, we called it a night. Saturday was filled with a beach party, and a sangria booze cruise! We took out a small speedboat with a guide from the larger sail boat and explored the grottos...nature is a true wonder. The rocks of the grottos are oddly shaped like figures, for example, a skull, a camel, or an elephant. The water in the grottos literally appears as though it is has a light underneath it to illuminate the blue. On the sail boat, I did jump off for a dip in the middle of the Atlantic. As you can imagine, on a trip with 250 kids between the ages of 19-22 and led by guides no older than 29, it could be likened to a Spring Break in Panama City Beach...it was crazy, and sooo much fun! By Sunday, eveyone was tired, but trekked onto the beach and soaked up more sun. The sun in Portugal is so strong, I wore sunblock the entire weekend, and still got burned! All in all, it was a beautiful, extremely fun trip where I got to spend time with all the kids in our program. Luckily, eveyone in our program, there are 90 of us, have gotten really close. Anyone can feel comfortable showing up somewhere because everyone is welcoming and friendly. I would say that stems from the beginning, when you all show up in a different country, friend-less, anything goes for making friends. Everyone has pretty much the same motives, so that makes it easy...and made the Lagos, Portugal beach weekend, a blast!