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Lagos


June 26

I am a little scared to write this down. Yesterday was the perfect day. It started with a cute guy in a cute coffee shop, and an amazing cappuccino. Nic had apple pie because he had to test the Portuguese version. He found it delicious.



I left him with his second cup of coffee and headed out to run. The weather was perfect. It was the exact perfect temperature. I ran down to the fort, and the end of the boardwalk, and then off to the beach. It was a gorgeous run.




I had to prove to the kids I ran on the beach. Gabe needs evidence that I have been at least pretending to stay in shape.


Just beneath our condo is the perfect market. I love it. I wish I had a market in my basement. Especially if my market looked like this.


I am ashamed to admit that I have been loving Pringles on this trip. I don’t even eat these at home, but here, far from home. I cannot get enough.


I found kombucha here! I’m pretty pleased.


Nic and I visited my favorite market in the world and bought a wee picnic lunch with cheese, bread, nectarines, olives, and wine for our day on the beach. Nic opened the map, scratched his chin and asked, “Do you want to get off the beaten path?”

My answer to that is always, “Yes.”

And just like that he whisked me off to this remote beach.








His next question was, “Do you want to climb down?”
Which I responded, “YES.”

And so we did.


It was steep, and a bit of a scramble, but it was worth it because we were the only people in the world on this beach. I did cartwheels and yoga, I scrambled for sea shells and found only sea gull poo. As the tide began to roll in, we spent an hour watching the waves, walking in the beach, and wondering at the beauty of this place.









We did find a little wooden heart with Nelly’s name on it. The other side a bunch of names. Nic and hypothesized about the meaning of the names. I felt like it was important, so we set Nelly’s heart on the rocks, hoping she comes back for it. Losing a heart is not ok. When our hearts are lost, we need people to find them and hold them and keep them safe for us until we can find it again. We did our best for Nelly.


Then we had our picnic. We did not have glasses or a knife for our cheese, but we managed to sort it out.



After we made it back up to the car I realized Nic was on a mission. He had decided at some point while I was running that we were going to see the entire Atlantic coast of southern Portugal. So, we put forth our best effort. We went to surf beaches, forts, lighthouses, and other beaches. We saw many things, but none of them were seashells. On the surf beach I took off questing for seashells, oblivious to all else. Suddenly Nic was shouting my name and beckoning me. Miffed, I had seashells to find, I returned to him. He pointed to a man on the end of the beach - right where I was heading, who was really needed some personal space. When I say that, I mean he and male unit were having a moment that I probably should not interrupt in my seashell quest. 
 

I was angry. Didn’t that man know I was looking for shells? Why was his penis a greater priority?! But I listened to Nic and turned around. Instead I looked at a British family who were fighting about whether of not they should allow sand into their shoes. It was a weird conversation as they were ON the beach and I don’t know how they had avoided the sand thus far. 

We don’t have pictures of the sex offender, or the British family, or the surf because my phone was dead. This is the recurring theme of this trip: Deanna’s cellphone or other imperative device is not charged or working properly. 

I consistently over-estimate my cellphone’s battery capacity. I consistently forget that I’m to take ALL chargers everywhere every time. 

I stole Nic’s phone for the photos from the fort and lighthouse. It was too beautiful not to have these shots.










Also, it was the perfect day of all time and that needs to be documented. 





Kilometer Zero on the Atlantic side of Portugal. 




Portugal is gorgeous, breathtakingly gorgeous. That really is all I have to say about that. 

We had carry out pizza for dinner and I finished another book; The Curse of Jaded Women, which was WONDERFUL. Nic and Vince watched Portugal lose in an important soccer game. Then we went to bed where our feet touched together at the bottom of the bed and I slept perfectly.

Please take my perfect day and put it in bottle where it will stay safely for all time. Do not let anyone breath on it, or damage it, or soil it in any way. It was mine. It was perfect. I will cherish it forever. 



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