A pretty normal, yet awesome finish to the shitshow

Woke up at 10:30 to Jessica stumbling into the room. Yep, she was still drunk. She shared with us the fact that she had puked in her sleep all over her clothes and bed in the middle of the night and had no idea about it. I told you Lagos was a shitshow. She said that that had never happened to her before. She had cleaned it all up pretty well, but had missed a few whole mushrooms on the floor. Oh man. I have no idea how she got so drunk. We all decided to try our luck at the booze cruise, but not without another good fat kids' breakfast. We got ready and headed over to the restaurant/bar. It was much quieter than the day before, probably because it was earlier, or else because everyone was getting ready for the booze cruise. There were seats, but none that were together, so Melissa and I shared a table with this group of Portuguese people who spoke English and made awkward conversation with us. I mostly just watched "The Simpsons"...I was in no mood for awkwardness. Our food was taking a bit of time, so we just decided to screw the booze cruise and just eat our fat kids' breakfast and go to the beach. We spent some time re-capping the crazy night we had had and trying to make sense of it. Jessica was not excited about handing Mom her soiled sheets and asking for new ones and Courtney didn't get back until 8 that morning from Jamie's and how she heard George come home that morning and he never made it to the rave in the forest. A shitshow, I tell ya. I got what was called camel toast which consisted of toast, cheese, ham, egg, pineapple, and honey mustard. Courtney and Melissa got bloody marys but we decided to skip out on drinking that day. We were already pretty burnt out. We stopped by the hostel quickly before heading to the beach where Melissa and Courtney drank more wine. We then were off. We decided to hit up the beach next to the one that we went to the day before because it was supposed to have bigger cliffs conducive for diving. We got there to find that it was pretty small and not as nice as the other one. Oh yeah, and naked. Almost everyone was either topless or naked. Most of the women and girls were topless, old men were naked, and children were naked. It was pretty, well, strange. It was obvious that this was not a tourist beach. I guess that in Portugal the bikini top is expendable. We laid out there for awhile. Katie and I decided to get up and take a little excursion to a cave on the perifery. It turned out to be more of a circular rock alcove that was gorgeous. It had a huge hole on the top so that plenty of light flooded in and lit up the entire place. It was so peaceful and the wildlife was really cool. We saw a baby crab and were completely fascinated by it. Katie and I joke about how we should have been environment majors because natural phenomenon such as this fascinate us and we just want to learn everything about it. We spent a good amount of time in there just really taking it all in and then headed back to the blankets to lay out some more. We were there not much longer when we decided to walk next door to the beach we were at the day before. This one just didn't compare. So we packed up, walked up and caught the path. Courtney drunkenly led the way and ended up taking us down this narrow, steep, overgrown path that was impossible to walk on in flip-flops, especially with all of our stuff in the deadly heat. Also, there were thick bushes all around with loud rattling...snakes! It was so scary. I wasn't ready to die. There were also swarms of huge bees. We were not happy with Courtney. She just thought it was funny. Funny my ass, Courtney. We thankfully made it in one piece and grabbed spots. The beach was less crowded, and we noticed the booze cruise sail by. It actually didn't look as fun as it was hyped up to be. So ha. We laid out for awhile, but the sun was so strong that it was impossible to lay under it for more than five minutes. So we mostly sat until Melissa, Courtney, and I decided to go swimming. We got foot deep and Melissa decided that it was too cold and went to the bar to grab herself a couple beers to last her. Courtney and I went all the way in. It felt amazing and we were giddy from it. You know, that I-just-dunked-in-freezing-cold-water exhileration. But immediately afterwards Courtney decided that she had had her fill and headed back to shore to dry off. I, however, decided to stick around, just me and Mr. Atlantic. I just love the water there. Maybe it's my inner Pisces expressing herself. The water was really soothing especially since I was still pretty shaken up from that terrible walk. So I swam the length of the beach twice, just taking in the sights and becoming present to how lucky I was to be there. It is seriously one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I also just stopped and floated around for awhile. I was loving every second, every moment, every detail of Lagos. It was also really nice to just have some time to myself to reflect and be there. You know, all zen-like. It was quite zen, actually. Truly. I soon swam back to shore and decided to lay out and take a nap. My eyes were killing me because I had gotten a terrible mixture of sunscreen and salt water in my eyes, and the sun just wasn't helping it. So I laid on my stomach and slept for a good half hour. I awoke to everyone (but Courtney who was full-fledged passed out) chatting with Jessica and Sara from Penn who had set their blankets down next to us. They had gone on a boat tour of the caves with Discover Sevilla and told us that it was worth it. Everyone but me headed down to the other end of the beach to talk to the man with the conch shell...so that was his job! They came back with the info: an hour tour in the caves, board right there, 8 euros a piece. Sounded like a good deal, so we packed up our things and headed over to the conch man. He hailed in a small motor boat driven by a cute, 70-something Portuguese man who probably knew 3 words of English. We boarded at the beach and we were off. It felt so good to be in a boat, I love boats! Yes, I am quite easily entertained. I am aware. The tour was really amazing. We saw all of the amazing rock formations, many of which were named after their shapes ("monkey" or "China" or "profile"). Our guide struggled to say each name, but it was really hard to understand him. It's okay, his cuteness made up for it. We also saw lots of awesome fish, and we even went inside a bunch of caves. It was incredible. I can't really describe much more of it since it was all just so visual. I have plenty of pictures, though, so that will give you an idea. We also passed many other cave tours like ours, one of which was driven by Speedo Man drinking a beer and being rowdy. I love Speedo Man! Soon we headed back into shore, we paid conch man (which was a confusing little ordeal), and then headed back to our blankets. Courtney and Melissa wanted to lay out more, but Jessica, Katie, and I were beached out. Plus, my eyes were really bothering me and would not stop watering. So we decided to pack up and go explore the town a bit. I had some errands to run anways, such as go to the ATM so I could pay Mom, buy souvenirs, and go grocery shopping. We walked back to the hostel, put some things away, changed into some real clothes, and then headed out. It took awhile to find an ATM, but we found one. But the screen wasn't working. I thought that it had eaten my card so I kind of freaked out a little bit, but pressed some random button and got it back. Phew. Soon we found another and I successfully withdrew some money. We then did some souvenir shopping. On the way we ran into Jenny and Jessie from Cornell who told us about the horrors of the booze cruise. I guess the boat anchored in the middle of the ocean so people could swim, and Julia was in the water and some guy back flipped right onto her head. She was okay, but her back was hurt. The boat didn't have a back board nor lifeguard (luckily there was a certified lifeguard who jsut happened to be on the boat), and, in fact, there weren't even any lifejackets. WTF?? Could it be anymore unsafe??? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen! Plus, why would they let a bunch of drunk college kids swim around in the middle of the ocean? Without any certified lifeguard? Maybe I sound like a mom, but come on, it's common sense, people. Ugh. Thank god I didn't get on that thing. Julia ended up going to a doctor, she was fine, but just in a lot of pain and needed some heavy painkillers. Jenny and Jessie looked pretty shaken up by it. Ugh, terrible. A bit flustered and concerned, we headed to a souvenir shop. The first one was a really cute, large dish store that had so many nice mugs and plates that were pretty inexpensive. I would have loved to buy something there, but I'm no good with fragile stuff. In fact, I was afraid to move in that store for fear I'd knock something over. After that we headed into your typical souvenir shop where I bought a couple Portugal flags and a bottle opener with a rooster on it. Then we went to one of the only open grocery stores to buy ingerdients for dinner and snacks for the bus/train ride. Did I mention that our meals, with wine, only cost 2.50euro each a night? And we ended up with a surplus every night. Gotta love it. Anyways, at the store we coincidentally ran into Courtney and Melissa. We bought ingredients for a simpler pasta: penne, pre-made bottle spaghetti sauce with red pepper, onion, and mushroom. We were too tired and hungry to get as fancy as before. We headed back to the hostel where we proceeded to cook. Actually, just Katie and Jessica cooked while I went online to check to see if Robby had responded to my email. He had not so I sent him a desperate wall post on Facebook hoping he'd check his email before leaving that night. Then Courtney, Melissa, and I headed downstairs to pay Mom since we hadn't done so yet. Figuring out how much we owed was extremely difficult because Mom had not subtracted the downpayment and whatnot and she couldn't understand what we were trying to communicate, so Mario had to help a bit and whatnot. It was quite the ordeal. But we paid and it was all good. Soon dinner was served and we all sat on the porch and ate our feasts. It really was a feast...there was so much pasta, and we didn't even eat all of it! We sat outside and ate really slowly since we were all tired from the weekend and from being in the sun. Courtney was a bit lightheaded and ate super slowly. She started to have second thoughts about leaving on Tuesday and thought about trying her luck at getting a bus ticket in Faro the next day with us. Therefore Melissa would probably have to come with, too. Then this cute guy from Cornell came and sat with us and we talked to him for awhile. He studied in Sevilla, too, and I say studied past tense because he was in a different program and they had just finished up. So weird. We talked to him for awhile until deciding to do dishes and go shower. None of us were feeling up to going out except Melissa. I mean, we were exhausted from the drinking, the sun, the lack of sleep, and not to mention the fact that we had to wake up at 5:30 the next morning. However, Melissa was determined to get us out and said that all we needed was a shower and we'd be all better. Well, we got back, showered, and that only made it worse. The shower relaxed me and just made me tired. All I wanted to do was cuddle up on a couch and watch a movie. Courtney was not feeling up to anything at all and said that she was too crabby to go out and just wanted to sleep. Melissa was all done up and ready to go and started getting angry at all of us demanding that we go out. We all were lost causes, but Melissa just kept prodding at Courtney thinking that if anyone's mind would change, it'd be Courtney. But she said no. The Melissa started to pout and say fine, that she'd just try to find Jen (her Sevilla roommate) or just go herself. The remaining three of us decided to try to watch a movie at the Rising Cock on their flat screen...as long as nobody else was using it. We got over there and first decided to buy one of their sweet Rising Cock Hostel t-shirts. They didn't have the one I wanted in my size (which was another whole confusion since she had me try them on when it really wasn't necessary. Oh Mom and your crazy Italianness.), so I bought the next best one. I just really wanted one to always remember that hostel. Plus, on the back it says, "It's our business doing pleasure with you". I mean, come on, how could I resist? Vivik soon walked by, was drunk yet again, and started making house music bass sounds and talking about how much he wanted to dance and then started doing really terrible dance moves on me which he probably thought looked really good at the time. I just rolled my eyes once again. Well, at least he doesn't remember how much I was hating on him the night before. Then he and his friends left. Oy. Then the three of us headed upstairs. People were watching TV, but not too intently. We looked through the DVD collection to find that they were all either really serious depressing movies, or violent boy action movies. All we wanted was to watch some Billy Madison or There's Something About Mary. Don't people watch comedies? Well, lucky for us, just as we had given up hope, we heard the theme music of "Family Guy". "Family Guy" was on! Life could not get any better. This was a coincidence since before we walked over there I told the girls how I either wanted to watch a really cheesy comedy, or family guy. Well, well, well. I was a happy camper, and there were 2 episodes on! The first one I hadn't even seen before. I was way too happy. Then "The O.C." started right afterwards, and I thought that my life had hit a new high. I miss "The O.C." more than you know. I mean, what happened this season??? Then some obnoxious drunk guy who thought that he sounded cool went, "Ugh! Get this shit off!" and then changed it. I gave him a really dirty look because he didn't have to be so effing obnoxious about it. Then he went, "Oh, sorry, did you want to watch that?" politely, realizing how annoying he was. But I just said fuck it, and the three of us headed back to the apartment. When we got there we found Jamie standing in the doorway talking to Melissa and Courtney, who was all dressed up and holding a cup of wine. I guess Melissa must work miracles because I never thought that Courtney would get out. There was really no time for explanation because right as we came in, they were out. They did, however, tell us that they were still coming with us and that they were just going to stay out all night. Okay, whatever floats your boat. We got ready for bed and then crashed at around 12:30. I was exhausted. It had been one hell of a weekend. I had experienced every emotion and mental state and I was beat. It was a definite unforgettable vacation, perfect last hurrah before the academic tortures of May begin. Oh, Lagos, I shall never forget thee.