Chapter 121: Lisboa4Life

nerd blog post #130

4Life, or at least 4aDay. It was my day off yesterday, and was much needed! I awoke at the same time as usual, as my room is also the kitchen/bathroom/dining room, but I was happy to be up then as I always wanted to walk down the road and see the sun rise over Lisbon. A few hours later, I was off to Lisbon for the day. I take a bus from a round-about that Gemma drops us off at, to a train station in Lisbon where I can catch the metro. It only has three lines so is very easy to navigate. I had a wonderful day. It was nice to be on my own and able to walk around. I found, though, that after seven straight days of physical labour, my muscles were pretty tired... Still, I hiked up to a castle atop a small mountain and had a spectacular view. I ate my micmic lunch up there before making my way down. Then, I roamed the streets, walking up and down the cobblestone and staying out of the historic centre which is full of tourists. Finally, my love of postcards got the better of me and I entered the centre, which is very beautiful, and had a coffee while writing. I also saw the port, some famous statue, and enjoyed my micmic dindins while watching boats near the harbour. I was there about eight hours, and it was great. It was, however, the hottest day we have had here so far, reaching almost 40º! Today is also hot at 36º and the week will continue like this. I love it.

Other notable points:
-Gemma has three little kittens that she is planning on breeding. They are super cute and very small and playful. The other day, I went into my room because there were meows coming from within. I entered to find the smallest of the three, Latina, all wrapped up in a fly strip! It was pretty hilarious, but impossible to get off of her. Now, days later, she is still sticky all over her fur... We tried washing her and even cutting some of her fur, but she is a sticky mess.

-There was a mother and foal in the field and the mother was really skinny and needed to come to the farm to eat more and not walk around so much so she can gain weight. It's amazing how the behaviour of the stallions has changed since she arrived. When she walks past, she doesn't give them a second glance, but they go absolutely crazy. They neigh, stomp their feet and even go up on their hind legs. And Malagetta just walks on by..... Piri-piri, who doesn't even reach my waist (a mini-Shetland) is the most in love, though he could never stand a chance. He thinks he's the biggest stallion of all - what a complex.

-Marie leaves on Sunday and I will be very sad to see her go. We have become very close and talk a lot, and her being here balances out the three of us nicely. I will certainly miss her and hope we stay in touch. I will also miss the French. I miss Paris quite a bit while I'm here... The beauty of the city and how good I felt there, but speaking French with Marie brought me a little closer to it, so it's a shame I'll lose that.

-On Tuesday we went on a boat ride on the River Tejo. it was an hour and half and took us from the port in Alcochete to right near Lisbon. It was a beautiful, Portuguese-style sail boat and it was filled with locals from Alcochete. They played nice music on it and I enjoyed the trip very much.

That's it for today! Hope this finds you all well.

Much love,
Hincks.