Sorry old man, I don't do 70+

So this old man in the park. As I said in previous blog, I was just enjoying the sun in this beautiful park in Porto, lying on some rocks (it was comfy I swear!) and this old man walks past. He comes up to me and starts talking portuguese - I explained I can't understand him so he just smiles gently and leans over to kiss my forehead. Slightly weird, I thought. But I'll let that one go.

Then he points to some seats in the sun so I oblige and let him lead me there. I'm sitting there and he sits next to me. Kisses me AGAIN on the forehead after more failed attempts to talk to me. Then gets my arm and puts it across his shoulders. A little more weird. I pull away, saying 'too hot too hot', not wanting to upset the poor old man. And I'm talking old. At least 75.

Undeterred, he then tries to grab my hand and sit there hand in hand with me. I've just met this dude. WTF??? So I pull my hand away gently. Maybe the old geezer just wants a friend. So I continue to sit there cross-legged looking at the view of the Douro river and Porto town. He then offers his lap for me to lie down again. I refuse and immediately start to think of evacuation plans. After he offers to take a pic of me with my camera, I decide it's time. I bail. Luckily he doesn't follow.

But WEIRD right?????????

The city sights

OK, so I've been already three days at my new Couchsurfing host's house so there is a little bit to write... I will divide it into a few posts though, because I know how blind a computer screen can make you.

I caught the train into the centre - and I mean the centre, R's place is SMACK BANG in the action - and after some waylaid directions, I finally found the right address, albeit with sweat coating all my clothes and my mind about to explode with frustration. R sorted me with my bedroom and then we headed down to an outdoor cafe to watch the football. We met his friends there then they invited us to their place to watch the second game, which was nice - more cheese and bread for me (yay!), and a lovable chien, a rare white boxer. Was really interesting looking but drooled worse than that glob from Ghostbusters. I almost fell asleep after a few consecutive 'not common' cigarettes (as my former Couchsurfers called them) but revived myself enuf to head to R's friend's house for a big Greek dinner!

Oh, the food at this place! Ai ai ai!! It was really funny, there were about five nationalities at the table, all speaking mixtures of Portuguese and English, while I just shoveled food into my mouth. Especially when the talk turned into an intellectual/political debate. And I'm OUT.

Next day I allowed myself a big sleep-in and rolled into action at a leisurely pace, just strolling around the city which I hadn't really done yet. Found the big park R and his partner L had suggested (they say they're the most beautiful in Portugal) and found a rocky outcrop with an incredible view of the city to lie on. Then along comes this sweet-looking old man - and I'm talkin' mid-70s easily here - who says something in Portuguese, I tell him I don't speak Portuguese so he just smiles and leans over and kisses my forehead... weird?? Read my next post to see just how weird he got...........

The hottest girl I've met in Portugal

And of course she was dating the singer in the band! Just LOVED her get-up :) Almost good enuf to distract u from my hideous suburnt face

Leaving the house of love

I write this as I go through the final stages of packing (again, urrrghhh) to head to another Couchsurfing friend's house right in the centre of town in Porto. Although I am sad to be leaving these guys, I don't want to out-stay my welcome and they've been so generous and kind to me so far, I don't want to spoil it! What a great first Couchsurfing experience!!

Last night T, T, new couchsurfer M and I went to a club in a terrace house (god help the neighbours) which played Latino upstairs and indie rock downstairs - of course, though, we didn't leave the house til about 1am. It's so different to London!! As you can imagine, I vacillated between the two levels and got my groove on amongst the dredded masses. Yes, I was home. But strangely, I just can't seem to grasp the whole Latino dancing thing - I think the more I concentrate on it, the shitter I am. I will get it one day. Maybe in Brazil I'll meet a gorgeous Brazilian boy who will teach me all the steps. And then we'll leave the bedroom haha... kidding. Or not.

Anyway, that club combined with the rockabilly/rock n roll guys from the previous night made me like Porto even more and ensured I was dancin' up a STORM when I could! I also met the hottest Portuguese girl I've ever seen at the front of the rockabilly show, of course she was dating the singer and of course I looked like death warmed up, having not even put on make-up to go out. Ahh, such is life. I got a photo with her, actually I'll upload it now!

Horse + South Africa + travel = AWESOMETASTIC!!!

So I am very excited right now because as I've been relaxing in T's front room all day surfing the net, I've come across some beautiful locations and opportunities to volunteer my horseriding experience around the world. Although it changes every other day - and depending on availability at said host properties - I am now thinking I could work on a Romanian Lipizzaner horse stud for a few months before it starts to cool off then head to South Africa to assist on horse safaris through the natural park. Can you IMAGINE what it would be like to live that life for a while??? Get up, ready the horses, jump on, ride through wild landscapes and catch a glimpse of a rhino or lion on occasion.... wow is all I can say, wow. UPDATE: Always read the fine print - they charge 995 euros A MONTH for this amazing experience. What a crock!!! You work your ass off and they still pocket almost a thousand euros. Grr grr grrrrrrr.

Then there's next year... I'm thinking of going to South America for February as it's Carnivale season, then I'm told by my new Brazilian friend they start to look for people to hire doing things like teaching English. So, if all goes well, I could be living in South America for 6 months or something, just absorbing the culture, the people and the energy of the place. So many opportunities abound!!! I must remember to bookmark this blog to come back to in my moments of doubt about my gypsy adventure.

Fingers crossed, please get back to me!!!

Last night at T's house, then I'm off to meet another Couchsurfing contact, R, to stay with him for a couple of nights. Then flying to Madrid, then straight to Budapest for my bday and pre-Exit festival exploring :) :) :)

Junkie-esque nosebleeds, impromptu dance-offs... I guess nothing changes

I sit, as I type, looking out to the balcony of my newfound friends in Porto, people I met through the Couchsurfing website who have opened their doors and hearts to become my new best buddies, just out of the goodness of their souls.

Last night I arrived in Porto after an almost 8 hour bus ride from Lagos (not so bad, had the whole backseat to myself on the first leg and a front row seat on the second). After asking multiple people the direction of the metro and getting a multitude of answers, I found a man who spoke a little English and gave me not only good directions, but a spare travel card to load up at the station (giving me half price travel, like a Oyster) and a metro map. Sweetheart!

Got to the station near my hosts' house and they picked me up - the driver of the car was a cutie but as I got to find out later that evening, he was quite sweet on the good looking flatmate so I was out. Oh well.

As soon as I arrived, they escorted me to the balcony and said 'help yourself to drinks and food'. I knew I was in for a good night. As more people arrived, the music kicked up a notch and i somehow found myself Youtube DJing Australian music to give them a taste of good quality ;) - cue Blue King Brown etc... We ate traditional Portuguese food and it was gooooood. They said we were going into town but at about 1:30am I thought, well that idea is shot. Not to be, however, as just before 2 they said 'vamosh' (or something) and we were out the door. It being the celebration of Porto's patron saint, Joao, the metro was open all hours and we jumped on to head into town.

An impromptu dance-off with T in the street and several more beers later, I found myself dancing to a Cut Copy tune (of all music to play!!) and watching people dressed as giant sardines on a balcony. Fun times. A guy called for me in the crowd and I stopped to talk to him with M-S, but when he realised I didn't speak Port he just spoke in his language directly at me. I blinked blankly at him before my friend said something vicious to him in Port and whisked me away. She tells me he said 'I want to have sex with you all night at my house'. Ha!

We decide to call it a night (or a morning) about 5:30 and once home, I go to the bathroom to discover I am experiencing the most hectic nosebleed of my LIFE. God knows why that happened. So with everyone running around trying to help and me just wanting to pass out (from drunkenness, not loss of blood, although...), I eventually got a mattress sorted and bam. End of evening. Dry, blood-soaked tissues are certainly not your ideal bedfellows in the morning. *shudder*

So I was the last to rise, of course, and we decide to go to the beach so T and T drove me and Sarah, a pretty, lovely French girl also couchsurfing. Just when I think I have a tan, these Port people show me up. Every time. I swear to god. I am just going to give up.

So that's it for the moment. We're having a big BBQ cook-up and then who knows what will happen - I would normally say that's it for the night because it's midnight but these people keep some crazy hours!

Stop-off on my scooter adventure by an old fort