Woah sorry folks. I am back in AMERICA! (I will comment on that later) But I have decided to keep blogging because I have a lot to tell and I want the story to be complete!
By our third day in Lagos, we had practically exhausted all that there is to do in Lagos. (But, you say, all you have done is lie on the beach, how could that be?) Well really all there is to do in Lagos is lie on the beach. We spent the morning of our third day exploring the last bits of the beautiful walled town that we had not seen yet. We went into a lovely church/ museum and learned a little about the history of Lagos, which was once a jumping off point for famous Portuguese navigators, then turned into a charming fishing village. The church was beautiful if a little gaudy, and the museum was an odd assortment of different things, including a very large currency collection of hundreds of countries. It is always delightful exploring little towns because they always have little gems like this. A bit of travel advice- stick your head into every little museum you come by! Especially the ones in Portugal. They are always worth the couple of euros to enter.
Next, we checked out the fort, which was open. There wasnt much to the complex; the fort itself was tiny, with very few rooms. Only Casey, Laura and I ventured inside, and it was worth the visit yet again. It had a charming little chapel in it with bright blue tiles, a interesting exhibit on a work of art with an unknown artist, and a beautiful outdoor sculpture gallery. This gallery is what truly made the visit worthwhile. The gallery was on the roof of the fort, and consisted of metal wind sculptures that were truly beautiful. They shone in the sun and moved elegantly in the wind. My favorite was a bird whose neck moved up and down when the wind turned its wings. It also had little people riding on it.
We left the fort and joined the beach loungers. I continued reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, a remarkable book about the start of the HeLa cell line, the first immortal cell line, that came from a poor African American woman without her consent. A truly remarkable book. I then went on a walk Caitie and explored the rocks and beaches around where we were sitting. I slipped on a rock and cut up my shin a little bit, which made me laugh because I could just see how much professor Geier would disapprove. I went on another walk with Sammy and Ken later on, and we wandered in the opposite way we usually walked. Instead, we climbed up higher along the cliffs. Ken and Sammy seemed skeptical when I suggested we go down a strange road with graffitied walls, but my sense of direction served me well. We popped out onto a coastal path that led along the cliffs and made for truly spectacular views of the ocean. We saw kayakers and boaters, and lots of beach goers. We wandered down onto the beaches and saw some topless women, which was a bit alarming for Ken. When we returned, we reported of our adventures, and everyone else accept a few went off to explore the path as well.
I went back to reading, and when everyone came back, a few of us tried the topless beach thing, since its apparently the thing to do in Portugal. Several other people on our little secluded beach followed our example, and we all felt quite liberated, except for Ken who couldn't avert his eyes from his book and was wearing a fleece to protect his skin from more sunburn. When the clouds made it too cold to sit on the beach anymore, we went and enjoyed some Mojitos, then headed to a boat ride along the coast.
The man who ran the boat rides realized we were cheap students and therefore easily coerced. He dropped the price for us by three euros, and we couldnt resist. ken, Laura, Sammy, and Casey hoped in one boat, and Maria, Caitie and I got into the second one. The boat ride was completely touristy, but really fun. Our guide pointed out rock formations that looked like a boat, buddha, a fat lady, elephants, etc., and laughed at us for enjoying ourselves so thoroughly. He took us through little nooks in the rock formations formed by waves, and even showed us some wildlife. Definitely worth the money.
We ended our day by purchasing or bus tickets to Lisbon and getting gelato. For dinner, we ordered pizza! ( I know, so lame of us, but we were all tired and had a very early day the next day.)
