Arrived in the Algarve:
Took the train from Sintra to Albufeira without a hitch.  Stopped at the train station in Lisbon to retrieve my big bag and guitar from the lockers there where I´d left it.  Had three hours to kill waiting for the train, so I walked a block to the coast of the Atlantic and played some guitar and sat out under the sun and watched the boats go by and even managed a late-morning nap.  Not at all a stressful way to start the day.

The train to Albufeira.  With the addition of a Portuguese phone card, I had made arrangements for an ocean-view cottage and a pick up at the train station.  Once there, I met James, a cook and traveller who had left Canada to come here to do a sailboat delivery back to north-eastern Canada.  He was looking for a place, and I had booked something outside my budget, so it was perfect.  We´ve been doing the day to day here, which consists of going to the beach in the afternoons, going for a swim then getting into town in the evenings for the chaos that is Albufeira night-life.  The town at night reminds me entirely of Mykonos, Greece.   Narrow alleyways twist through the pedestrian part of the town and connect the main square to lots of shops-bars-restaurants and eventually lead to the ªtunnelª to the beach.
The sangria here is amazing and everyone makes it fresh when ordered.  People in general are friendly.  The people-watching is a good 9 out of 10, especially in the later hours. I´m likely the whitest person on the continent!
James, Jessica, me.