Day 7 & 8 Leaving Lagos and Heading to Porto

the moon from the Lagos beach.

Wow, what a whirlwind Lagos turned out to be! I met some of the coolest people, and got my fair share of adventure. The past 4 days there were a little sleep-deprived, but I'm in no position to complain, as I had a fabulous time. As I mentioned, Lagos is more of a beach and lounge town, but I took full advantage of that, anticipating the month coming up as a more routine setting, with daily chores & activities that will keep me on a schedule. Last night was not, as it turns out, Will's actual birthday, however with the 3 Aussie girls leaving, we hit a great Indian spot anyways. Everything I have been eating has been accompanied by a starch, so I am going to try and focus on eliminating that in Porto!

Afterwards we spent some time at the hostel just hanging out and pre-drinking, and what with a Litre of Smirnoff only 13 Euros, the girls and I decided to splurge, spending more than my usual 2 Euros or less budget on my average wine bottle. We spent most of the night in the hostel, and I bailed early again, as tomorrow night I wont be sleeping (as I do not have a bed booked!). With a good rest under my belt, I woke up the next morning and "checked out," meaning I packed up my things, returned my keycard, and then used Doug's to get back into the apartment and sleep for another hour. We all went for a late breakfast, more like lunch actually, in which I wolfed down more starch (oops) and then hit the beach for my final day of basking. I'll be sad to leave this whole no-responsability thing behind me, I'm living a dream here!

me, a little worse for wear after the night out.

That night we went out just the 4 remaining roommates, the 3 original Aussies I checked in with and myself, for some all-you-can-eat sushi, which was pretty darn good! With that heavy rice base in me, the 5 Euro all you can drink bonanza was a fine place to head to afterwards. That night we went to Inside Out again, and in the mood to dance and hang out with my new friends for the last night, the whole of my acquaintance at the hostel came out too. A few were also Canadian, from Vancouver, and we all gelled well. The night ended with a trip to Gran Cafe, a house/techno/top 40 bar that plays the best music in town. After it's closing at 4 am, we all trekked to the beach, me after retrieving my "homeless" pack, and joined the many who had decided on the same location... a few of whom were brave enough to skinny dip in the cold Atlantic... BRRR! Star-gazing and listening to music, I was pretty sad to get up and head to the bus station in the cold morning hours, but promptly fell directly asleep on the bus, forgetting about Lagos (and most of the rest of the world too!).

Upon arrival at the Lisbon station, where I was to make  my transfer, I tried to keep myself awake during my hour wait, being terrified I would miss my connection if I napped. This worked for 55 minutes, and in the last 2, after I had already turned off my alarm, but before the bus had actually arrived, I succumbed. Thank God for the kindly driver, who seeing me in the banks of chairs closests to my bus's stop, shook me awake. I don't know how long I would have had to wait for the next bus, but I do know how angry I would have been with myself! Underway to Porto though, I did nap a bit more, and feeling a bit better, checked into the Porto Spot Hostel, winner of multiple awards.

Some street views in Porto.

The hostel is amazing. Clean, spacious, and very well kept. It has a bar in the basement, and a big kitchen, which I love as I plan to save on meals mostly in this city. I hit the supermercado, and got a steak and some broccoli for a nice, cheap and wholesome meal. I cheated just a little by buying chocolate, but there was no dairy in it, as it was extremely dark (70%), and a girl's got to have a little comfort this far from home no? The internet connection is amazing here, and Sean and I managed a long and wonderful talk, which makes me miss him all the more, but I love all the same. With such a good connection, and so much uncertainty surrounding what kind of wifi is available in Kenya, I am going to take full advantage! The hostel has organized a happy hour, as well as a pub crawl tonight, so in the interest of meeting new friends, and getting out into the city, I will participate (duh).

The view from my hostel window out into the beautiful surrounding neighbourhoods.

An odd name for a bank no? Put your money in Jesus people!

Kenya is very close now, only 2 nights away... It is hard to believe I have been travelling already for a week, and sometimes hard to believe it has only been that long. I am still loving the vagabond thing, but I do like the idea of being settled somewhere for a few weeks, and Nairobi seems as good a place as any. The work I'm going to be doing there is going to be life-changing, and I know I'll adjust to it.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my last few days in Portugal, and tomorrow take a walking tour of the city. I met another Vancouverite with the potential to be a buddy whilst I'm here, whose name is Taylor. She's already been going for 2 months, wow! I'll be sure to send another update soon, and lots of love as well.

xo!