Portugal. Interesting trip. Our destination was the beach but we had awful rainy weather. Our hotel was right at Playa Algarve, which is absolutely gorgeous but would have been more so had we had nicer weather. One day we had sun for a few hours and that was lovely. It reminded me a bit of our family trips to Cayucos and the hikes we take along the coast. Lagos, the town we were in, was pretty small and there wasn't much to do. I was surprised by how different Portuguese sounds from Spanish. I can understand it alright when it is written, but spoken I have no clue. So we didn't really get to meet any native Portuguese people. I was hoping to meet some relatives :) We did have an INCREDIBLE meal one night. Usually Jackie and I hit up supermercados (grocery stores) and buy bread and meat for every meal to save money. So we did that the first day and then found out there were no refrigerators in the hotel. Let's just say I ate a lot of bread and meat that night. We decided to splurge and eat a nice meal. I got halibut and it was delicious. Our table was piled with all kinds of food. And our waitress gave us some wine on the house so that was nice and unexpected. But really I have little else to say about this trip. I wanted to buy some cool Portuguese stuff but the day we had to shop around was Sunday so all the cool stores were closed. Bummer.

We came back, had a day of school and then Feria began. Feria is crazy. It's basically a huge week-long party. My hostsister and her friends absolutely thrive on it. As do all the youth of Sevilla. There's one part of the Feria that's like any Ventura fair-rides, greasy food, middle school kids mackin on ferris wheels. Then there's the big, cool part-the casetas (tents). Tons of tents are set up and families can rent them out as a designated hang out place during Feria. The thing that sucks about it is that, if you don't know anyone with a caseta you can't get it. Fortunately for me, I have a bomb host family so we've been in tons of casetas. They are a blast. They all have a bar, food, and dancing. My favorite day was Tuesday when we went out with Maria, Charri and her husband Joselete. Maria is a really good flamenco dancer (which we've been told repeatedly by everyone who knows her /observed ourselves) and it was so fun to watch her dance with her dad. Charri even got in there and danced at one point. All the women are dressed in flamenco dresses and they all look so beautiful and colorful. I don't think I've ever just sat and watched people so much.

You all have probably heard about the volcano in Iceland that has caused epic travel woes. Jackie and I experienced some of this ourselves because our flight to France was cancelled. We were supposed to leave Tuesday night. Didn't happen. The main reason we were going was to see my favorite band, Mumford & Sons, perform live. But don't worry! I think it actually might work out for the best. I was a bit bummed to be leaving for Feria so at least we're not just stuck here with nothing cool going on. And I recently saw M&S are going to be playing in Rome next weekend so we're going to try and make that work. A dedicated fan I am. Plus Rome's amazing I hear.