Lisbon to pick up Bill and back down to Portimão

At this moment, I’m feeling very blessed and thankful… my laptop took a tumble out of the last Uber car. It dented in the corner with the power button. I figured it was a lost cause, so I pulled out the tweezers and pried the metal off the button and viola! It works. I bring a thumb-drive with me to back up my work, but I’m glad I don’t have to buy a new computer. Though, admittedly, it’s not working quite right.

Our good buddy, Bill arrived from California last Thursday. We went up to Lisbon to fetch him and spent a day trying to exhaust him. We were successful. We dragged him to the mall straight from the airport to feed him a good Portuguese meal from the massive food court. He joined us on the terrace carrying a tray with a McDonald’s Happy Meal. Oh well, these things take time.

We took him on the metro, then on the train, to Carcavelos beach the next morning. By the time we got back that night we were all exhausted, but we still dragged him out to dinner. The next day we took a bus to the Algarve—full of rowdy drunk guys who hooted, hollered, and chanted for half an hour and then they all passed out for the next three hours.

It was cool to see the enormous pelican nests on the giant power poles in the central valley. I can never get my camera out in time to take a good picture. Some on the towers had ten or more nests, all with birds sitting in them watching the traffic go by.

Now we’re at our new place in Portimão (a little west of our last place) for two weeks. This apartment represents two major breakthroughs in our Portugal travels. One is it has a pool that is actually open. Finally! The last place had a massive pool complex right below our window. We spent three weeks watching them get it ready for the moment we left. This place has a cute little pool with water in it… very special indeed. 

And it has a super soft bed. I slept pain-free for the first time in three months (except in Lisbon). The only down-side is the sheets are super silky, so it’s hard to keep them on the bed with the comforter. I used my handy-dandy safety pins to pin the sheets to the comforter and slept fine after that.

We spent today shopping for a beach towel for Bill and then went to flop around on the beach. Joe made a major purchase and got a big red umbrella. When we came back from lunch at the beach bar, our umbrella was neatly wrapped up and sitting on our towels. Apparently it had gone flying and someone retrieved it. I love the Portuguese. It seems that umbrellas are like the fish in the Bible. When we came home, I discovered a cabinet on the terrace full of beach umbrellas. The first we’ve seen at an Airbnb.

Here in Portimão we have already found three grocery stores and a million little shops for beach stuff and clothes, and restaurants. The prices are a tiny bit higher here because it has a huge expat crowd who’re willing to pay higher prices. Kinda like Cancun and Ensenada charge more because we’ll pay more. The Portuguese absolutely refuse to pay inflated prices.

I made us my garlic-butter chicken the other night and learned that their oven runs a little hot when I opened it to check on the chicken. Smoke billowed out. I frantically shut the door and turned the oven off. We made a quick search and made another discovery—they may have umbrellas, but they do not have a fire extinguisher. I texted the manager and asked, “Do you have a fire extinguisher?” He answered, “No.” Ten minutes later he asked why. I also asked if there was a first aid kit in the place… “No.” Gotcha, good to know. Thankfully I bring first aid stuff with me to bandage up Bill’s bleeding foot from the beach. Joe couldn’t get the giant sliding door to lock, so he asked the property manager… “It’s broken.” That means we have to leave the black-out shutters down when we go anywhere. How about the shelf that hangs at an angle? “Don’t put anything valuable on it.” Again, good to know.

Yesterday Joe and I decided to head west. We wanted to see if there were any cliff-side trails like in Armação. Bill decided to call a day of rest. He happily vegged out while Joe and I explored.

We went out last night to an Indian restaurant that had high reviews. I must’ve gotten the wrong restaurant. Today we climbed back into an Uber and headed over to show Bill the little town of Carvoeiro. It was just as pretty as we remembered and he was charmed. It was a bit cold and blustery, but fun to wander the cliffs.

Not sure what tomorrow will hold here, but I know Karina, my darling Guatemalan daughter, will be getting married back in Sacramento. I’m sad to not be there, but excited for this marriage to my oldest friend’s son, Rusty. They are madly in love and love the Lord, so I have high hopes. We plan to have a church ceremony this summer in our yard and have a small reception.

So, goodbye for now. I always think the coming days will be uneventful, but that never happens. Life is eventful. I will keep you posted as we wind down our three months in Portugal.