Portugal

We waved off our last students from Barcelona, returned the tattered vans and got our own more economical wheels to decompress in Portugal—it was our last stop on our 8 month around-the-world journey.  Here we wandered around San Sabastian, journeyed down sections of the Camino trail, and explored Porto.  We loved the views and the trails, but interestingly, struggled to find lunch, which had become our main meal over the last year.  We learned the Portuguese love to drink wine at all hours, and they reserve the right to tell you when you’re hungry, thank you very much—and it’s not before 7:00p.m. It became our running joke as we cruised through towns casing cafes in search of lunch or early dinners.  Channing would report from the backseat window if people were only drinking, or if low and behold, actually eating!  Oh man, did we have some good laughs when we caught a person chewing!   Our hangry moments and mismatched cultural timing was probably just as well.  Our hearts were not in it all the way.  Our departure back to the States was just a few days away and our minds were drifting to friends and family back home and the upcoming school year.  Luckily, the sadness of the trip ending did not dig too deep because new opportunities to travel the globe were on the horizon in a few short months!