Oh, Mama

On top of Thanksgiving dinner, Mama makes breakfast every morning. All the crepes you can eat, smothered with chocolate spread, jam and if you hate yourself, Vegimite (though Mama is quick to tell you that it is no good and she doesn't approve of its use on her crepes. Some Aussie must have left it out she said). Just now, after my shower, she actually walked into my room to see if anyone was still sleeping. They need to get up and eat because there are too many crepes (it is noon, after all).

There is a large movie library and a lot of people who like to watch "Entourage," "Harold & Kumar," and other awesome things on the TV.

Yesterday, I went for a swim in the Atlantic on a beach nestled in a cove of high cliffs. It was sunny, but not warm as the rain started to come down. I figured I was going to get wet either way, so I jumped in. Head bobbing in the gently rising and falling ocean, the surface was speckled with rings from the drops falling all around me.

Someone from the shore yelled to me, "How is it?" I replied with my typical answer to that question people always ask me when I swim in the sea. "It's not warm."

This area was believed to be, centuries ago, the edge of the earth. Three years ago, a young guy from Massachusetts of Portuguese decent came to Lisbon to visit his family. His brother told him he should go down to Lagos while he was there, and he did. The two of them, without ever having stayed in a hostel, soon after opened The Rising Cock hostel (named after a Portuguese legend and, well... you know). Now his mom cooks, his dad cooks (both are native to Portugal), and they all do whatever needs to be done here and at the bar/restaurant/cafe across the street. Such a cool family.