Lisbon, Porto and Faro, Portugal 2019

After we’d bought our flights for what we hoped was one of the warmer areas in Europe over the holidays I messaged a friend and asked about what to do in Portugal. “Don’t go in December, it’s the rainy season,” was the first thing he said. After a quick Google to confirm that, yes, my Portuguese friend knew a thing or two about the weather in his home country, I steeled my resolve and admitted that it was too late. I had already booked flights. After a bit of finger-wagging, he sent along a list of things to do and wished me luck.

I forgot about the expected weather to come until two days before the flight when the airline sent a message about our upcoming flight: 

Weather Conditions in Portugal

Due to the adverse weather conditions in Portugal, air traffic is heavily conditioned and may cause delays or cancellations on flights from or to national airports.

TAP Airline Services - 12/21/2019

Despite our last-minute fears there was nothing to do but hope for the best.

Luckily for us, the best was all we got.

After arriving in Lisbon we made sure to take advantage of the good weather by exploring the whole city on foot. We hit all four of the biggest churches, dodged streetcars on Lisbon’s impossibly steep hills, and sank our teeth into some of the city’s local food. On our last night in town, we timed it perfectly—along with what felt like every other tourist in Lisbon— to watch the sunset over the Torre de Belem.

On our way to Porto the next day we stopped at Cabo Carvoeiro, a peninsula that holds an ancient walled city along with a Rip Curl outlet for the surf tourists that come for the point break with never-ending Rights. As we clambered over the rocky cliffs and watching the surf I couldn’t help but feel like I was standing somewhere on the California coast. The water, the sun, even the ice plant beneath our feet felt like home.

After exploring the peninsula for a few hours we charged straight to Porto for the next adventure.

Our first day in Porto was spent taking in all of the sights (read: more churches). On day two we explored the Serralves Estate’s museum, mansion, gardens, and farm before making our way to the coast for the final sunset of both 2019 and the decade.

After enjoying our time up north we headed as far south as you can go for some R&R in warmer weather. On our way south to Faro we happened upon an ancient hilltop fort with views for miles where we sat down for a quick canned sardine picnic before continuing south.

Feeling rested and ready for one last push before flying back to Berlin we made our way to Cabo da Roca, the western-most point in Europe for the final sunset of the trip. Again, it felt like half of the tourists in Portugal had the same idea—bus after bus of tourists piled onto the already crowded cliffs surrounding the lighthouse at the point.

Torn between the prospects of actually seeing the sunset and the inevitable traffic-jam leaving the Cabo we hustled back to our parked car to get a head start on the mad dash back to Lisbon. The winter sun set quickly as we zoomed up into the hills towards the city, with Big-Sur-Esque views unfolding around us.

Costa Rica 2018

The original inspiration for this trip was to get scuba certified. I’ve always wanted to explore beneath the waves that I’ve spent so much time in, and Costa Rica seemed like a great place to do it. Unfortunately, after arriving in Central America we started to drop like flies to an unknown sickness. A sickness that claimed five of the six of us, sparing only me.

After arriving in San Jose late the night before on the tail end of a long travel day from Berlin, we woke up early for our bus ride to the mountains for white water rafting. Along the way our bus driver made sure to pull over and snag some fresh tamales from a woman standing at the kitchen window of her village home.

After suiting up and getting on the water we got our asses kicked by a drill-sergeant of a raft guide on our way down the river. No matter how hard we paddled it was never hard enough in his eyes.

From the river, we made our way into the rainforest for a few days of hiking around volcano basins in search of birds, insects and monkeys.

As we chased monkeys through the trees by following the sounds of their screeches we were forced to dodge the water droplets falling from leaves above our heads. We couldn’t help but notice that the water always seemed to only drop where we were standing, as if the monkeys were waging war on us outsiders.

From the lush, wet forests we made our way to the coast for a few days of sun and sand before heading back to cold, dark Berlin. While at the coast the three of us that weren’t sick (yet) got our scuba certifications in murky water with hundreds of fish, eels and sharks. The two others that had just completed their certifications with me promptly fell ill the next day.

Surrounded by sickness on New Year’s Eve I walked to the beach alone and watched the sad fireworks show of the local sailing club by myself. The show—orchestrated by the sailing club owner with a barbecue lighter in his hand and 2019 glasses on his face—consisted of a few barrages and maybe two dozen roman candles bursting loudly over the bay.

After taking pictures I wandered back to the sleepy house we were staying at and promptly fell asleep, ten minutes after midnight.